39695 Sun Sep 18 04:03:18 -0700 2005 46 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 189153 Despite the fog, the overcast sky, and the chilly weather, over 70 hounds - posters, lurkers, and guests - came out to Golden Gate Park for The Greatest Potluck Ever Held, otherwise known as the Chowing With the Hounds Picnic. We chatted, we matched posting names to faces - but most of all, we gathered around picnic tables turned groaning boards crowded with delicious-beyond-delicious appetizers, main dishes, and desserts to enjoy the impressive cooking and shopping skills of our fellow hounds. The offerings ranged from lumpia to fried chicken to wok-fried corn cooked on-site; to Mexican candies and Filipino rice and coconut sweets wrapped in banana leaves, both hand-carried from their countries of origin by intrepid traveling hounds. We drank much excellent wine (special thanks to winehound Melanie Wine for contributing several casefulls from her cellar, as well as to all the others who brought bottles). We tasted and compared over a dozen chocolates (special thanks to Stephanie for organizing the tasting and providing a terrific guide to how to taste chocolate; I'll post the names of all the chocolates tomorrow). All of us give major thanks to everyone who worked hard to organize this year's picnic (and I hope someone will post a complete list so we can give them their proper due), but especially to Nick ("nja") for taking the lead and to Michael and Rochelle for creating and maintaining chowingwiththehounds.com. Please post all your thought about the picnic here - we want to hear from everyone! - and look for some upcoming detailed reports. If you want to request a recipe for a dish you tried at the picnic, or discuss anything cooking related, please do so on Home Cooking thread linked below. The wheres and hows of any locally purchased dishes should be discussed in this thread. On a personal note, because of circumstances (mostly) beyond my control, I only arrived as the picnic was winding down, and sadly missed out both on some awesome-sounding dishes and on meeting a lot of hounds. I've been reading and posting on the SF Bay Area board for five years while living in New York as a Bay Area native. Now that I'm newly back in the Bay Area, I'd hoped to meet more of the great posters whose chowhounding I've admired (and whose posts I've summed up for ChowNews) - and I still hope to meet you all in the future. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/279828#1484850 Sun Sep 18 04:03:18 -0700 2005 0 Caitlin McGrath 1 189156 Late or not, glad you made it Caitlin! Sorry the sun didn't come out (well unless you count the 20 seconds at five pm :-)) In the interest of trying to keep this to one thread on each board (here and home cooking), I am linking to this post from Janet, and hope everyone will respond with their thoughts, here and on Home Cooking for recipes! As for me, will come back after breakfast to add more thoughts and the list of volunteers...in the meantime, please, post your thoughts here! Sun Sep 18 11:48:48 -0700 2005 189153 0 susancinsf 1 189157 This was my first chowhound picnic and only second CH event (first was a small chowdown in Sacto). I enjoyed the picnic and the many friendly people I met. I thought the food and variety was wonderful! I especially liked the shrimp salad and Nathan's amazing lasagne. Fred's corn was wonderful! Thanks for being so welcoming to a newcomer everyone! Sun Sep 18 11:49:27 -0700 2005 189153 0 dimsumgirl 1 189181 This too was my first Chowhound Picnic -- and what a picnic it was! I saw some old hands (read: Melanie, Ruth, David, Yimster), invited some guests, and made some new friends. We had all kinds of great food from David's stellar carrot pudding (a side, not a dessert) -- sorta like a more moist and more carrot-y cornbread, ranging to some soothing gazpacho and a really great Thai-style peanut noodle dish. Post-entrées, we sampled 14 kinds of chocolate, including three white chocolates, six milk chocolates and five dark chocolates. (My numbers might be slightly off.) Each was labelled 1-14 in a blind taste test. Stephanie Gelman did a great job of organizing the chocolate tasting and provided us with tips on how to go about tasting chocolate ("very much like wine or coffee"). She commanded us that the only rule was to not chew and to just let the bits of chocolate melt across your tongue. We had 3 oz. cups of water and Saltines as chasers. From my vantage point, having sampled all of the 14 chocolates, the top two were #14 (I missed what that was), and #9, which turned out to be Trader Joe's bittersweet. (You know, those big bricks of chocolate that they sell -- I believe imported from Belgium.) #14 had a bold and full dark chocolatey flavor that stayed with me as I felt it creep across my taste buds. #9 melted evenly and had a very rich and dark flavor. #5 (Cadbury's, I believe), had a very gritty texture to it and was generally considered to be the worst of the lot. #12 I also thought was interesting as it had a slight sour and cherry flavor to it. As you let it melt, the fruit flavors began to emerge. I didn't get a chance to be given the key, but if somone could post it that would be great. All in all, I went home yesterday and napped for about 90 minutes and had half of a salad for dinner (from Intermezzo, if you must know. ;) ) Also of note were the two desserts that were flown in from various exotic locales, Mexico and the Philippines. We had a very good Filipino dessert that was sort of a sweet nutty pie almost that came wrapped in some kind of leaf -- which confirms my theory that anything wrapped in a leaf/husk *has* to be good. Also there were fresh Mexican dulce de leches and other Mexican sweets from Mexican Independence Day that were much appreciated. Also, Melanie Wong brought probably one of the last surviving mufaletta sandwiches from New Orleans (she admitted that she'd been saving it in her freezer), but it was still great. Very salty, but meaty and generally amazing. Also in the Filipino crowd were some roasted peanuts that were cooked with garlic and salt. A lucky few of us got to munch on those as we came in to the picnic. Someone mentioned that the Berkeley/Oakland contingent should start a mailing list about when we're headed out to eat or whatever to invite other hounds to join us. I thought that was a good idea, but also, I wanted to see if people wanted to help me put together a Berkeley version of the piPod (http://pipod.sliceny.com/) for local eats. If you're interested email me. Also, on a side note, Michele and Liz, please email me -- I don't know how to find you. Sun Sep 18 14:44:58 -0700 2005 189153 0 Cyrus Farivar 2 189185 Here it is: 1. Guittard White 2. Drost White 3. Lindt White 4. Baretfini White 5. Cadbury Milk 6. J Schmidt Belgium Milk 7. Lindt Swiss Milk 8. Scharfenburger 62% dark 9. Trader Joes Bittersweet 10. Perugina Dark 11. Valor Dark 70% 12. Lindt Excellence 70% 13. Drost Extra Dark 14. Cadbury Royal Dark Some of the Chowpups in attendance were seen taking home the leftovers, and looked to be in absolute heaven! :-) Sun Sep 18 15:00:52 -0700 2005 189181 0 susancinsf 3 189187 oops, make that number four Baretfini Milk, not Baretfini White...proof read it three times, still missed it. Hope that is the only one, and sorry, still on a food hangover... Sun Sep 18 15:04:28 -0700 2005 189185 0 susancinsf 2 189249 Many thanks to the 'hounds whose volunteering spirit and chow foraging skills made this such a wonderful day! I regret that I was tied up at the wine table for so much of the time opening bottles. . . only 21 (including two magnums). I appreciate the new faces who came over to introduce themselves and chat a spell. Next go round, I'm appointing Steve Timko sommelier for the day to man the corkscrew in my stead. (g) Here's a link to my post on the NOLA board about the Central Grocery muffuletta. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/129138#700178 Sun Sep 18 22:40:05 -0700 2005 189181 0 Melanie Wong 3 189361 An extra special thanks for bringing the muffaletta, Melanie. It survived its time in the freezer remarkably well and it was a real treat to have the genuine article at a time when it is particularly difficult to obtain. Mon Sep 19 19:44:09 -0700 2005 189249 0 Peter Yee 2 189409 I agree - it was a fabulous picnic in every way. I especially enjoyed Yimster's sticky rice, Fred's corn, and the tuna empanadas and the Filipino rice dessert - unfortunately, I don't remember who brought those. Does anyone know if that Filipino dessert is available anywhere closer than Manila? Tue Sep 20 02:12:00 -0700 2005 189181 0 David Boyk 3 189455 Pia brought the Filipino dessert. From a brief conversation I had with her, it sounds like you would be hard pressed to find an authentic version here. Tue Sep 20 15:14:41 -0700 2005 189409 0 Peter Yee 4 189550 That's the sense I got from her too - it's a bit hard to get freshly produced coconut milk and roasted pinipig in this part of the world, amongst other things. Wed Sep 21 10:43:51 -0700 2005 189455 0 JojoA 1 189193 First I am sorry I did not get to meet you, since have never had a chance to meet. But I have meet you Mother at a chowhound book signing. Here is my input for what it worth. Love the eggplant appetizer, tuna turnovers, mushroom and liver pate. They were all good but could not sample everything because there was so much more to try. The carrot pudding was outstanding it too will be on Thanksgiving table. Love the fried chicken our discussion on this was it was better than Nellie's. The squid salad outstand out also. The wok roasted corn was out of this world. In fact after lunch I will be going the cooking supply store to get the information for you Fred. Maybe next year if you will have the stove there I will do the full verison of the Chicken Sticky Rice dish. Can not cook ahead that dish. After making these notes my mind went into Auto pilot mode and I just ate everything in sight All were good but I can not believe I ate the whole thing. The only thing better were meeting all the wonderful hounds. Sun Sep 18 15:58:13 -0700 2005 189153 0 yimster 1 189203 As others have said, this was a great picnic and I first want to thank those who organized the event for all of us to enjoy. The site was easy to find, parking was no problem, and the food was plentiful and diverse, as expected! Too bad it didn't get sunny and warm up, but I get plenty of sun in my part of Santa Cruz. :-) This was my first picnic, and I was happy to reconnect w/ people I'd met at a few prior chowdowns and meet new hounds whose posts I've admired and appreciated. I'm sorry that I didn't personally meet and talk w/ everyone, but am sure there will be future opportunities. I was wondering who had travelled the farthest for the event, and am impressed that Janet from Reno et al. drove out for the day (sorry we didn't meet!). I was happy to meet a number of people whose names I didn't recognize and who said they never or rarely post, so I hope they post more and share their opinions and discoveries. I've said before that I generally loathe potlucks for various reasons, but this was probably the best food I've ever had at a potluck. The variety was wonderful, and the care that hounds put into making and presenting their personal dishes was obvious. I truly liked everything that I sampled, and my favorite dishes were the carrot pudding, eggplant soup (steamy hot to warm me up!), squid salad, and lasagna. Note: I've made a few recipe requests on Home Cooking. I was really enthralled w/ and appreciative of the special sweets from Mexico and the Philippines too. I'm sorry that my limited stomach wouldn't allow me to try EVERYTHING there like the wok-fried corn that smelled and looked amazing. I also appreciated doing the book exchange, as I was able to unload a few unused books of mine (am curious who ended up w/ my aphrodisiac book...) and to pick up Tom Colicchio's book from Stephanie. Thanks to Melanie for the wine and to the hound who organized the chocolate tasting. I made it to taste #4 and my tired palate just had to stop, confirming that I'm not a chocolate lover. OTOH, husband tasted EVERY piece there and liked the Guittard white and the Lindt Excellence the most. It was nice having an excuse to get up to the city, and thanks to Nathan P. for driving me and my husband up. I hope his car doesn't smell of curry fried chicken anymore. We hung out in the city for the rest of the day and made it to Aziza for a delightful dinner that we will report on soon. There are so many eateries around Clemente (we walked by Burma Super Star) and Geary (near Aziza) that I was curious and jealous about. I'm now regretting not picking up a moon cake or two while we were up there... If this is the right forum for suggestions for future picnics, my suggestions would be: 1. Have a late afternoon picnic (say around 4pm). It would be easier for same-day food prep (I was frying chicken at 7:30am!) and for those travelling from a distance IMO. I'm personally a late eater so would have a larger appetite and a taste for wine in the afternoon/evening. 2. It sounds like there was a decision to have less organized activities than last year, but I actually like some organized activities since they get more people involved and mingling. I'll put my action where my mouth is and say that I'd be happy to organize a sub-event if I attend next year's picnic. Chow on! Sun Sep 18 16:26:55 -0700 2005 189153 0 Carb Lover 2 189209 You know, I think I said a few words to you as I was sampling a desert (I thought that wonderful raspberry tart was yours....was it??)...but didn't formally introduce myself. My bad, sorry. I'm not sure about a later picnic: weather might be more of a concern, and it would make it difficult for it to be a day trip for those of us driving longer distances.....I do like organized events, but not contests...makes people reluctant to bring food they cooked if they know its going to be judged. Last year's trivia contest was a lot of fun....I would love to volunteer to do something like that with you (I agree its fun to do things that help people meet and mingle...). You could also do a scavenger hunt of sorts, only with people (Find someone who regularly bakes bread; find someone who has lived in another country; find someone who is a professional cook, stupid stuff like that). I only have one further comment, and its sacrilege, so I apologize in advance: Would the organizers maybe consider Tilden Park or someplace like that as a location? It might help more East Bayers (or even Sacto folks) decide to come; its central to the entire Bay Area, and the weather would definitely be warmer....just a thought. Sun Sep 18 18:13:03 -0700 2005 189203 0 janet of reno 3 189210 Let me add my two cents, how about the south bay? As soon as I left Daly City the temperature pick up at least 15 degrees. But the East Bay and North Bay should be reviewed. Sun Sep 18 18:19:00 -0700 2005 189209 0 yimster 3 189212 I am going to go ahead and start the process to reserve the same spot tomorrow, since it should be done a year in advance, but will give that suggestion some thought, after talking it over with some of the other organizers and looking at the registration list to see where people actually came from....Unfortunately, parts of Tilden are not very accessible by public transportation. Let's keep the on-line discussion to the Chow, but if you have suggestions in that regard, and/or if you are willing to join the planning committee for next year, please email me off-line and let's discuss! p.s. back to the chow: The rasberry tart was Caitlin's (and it was both beautiful and delicious, in fact it was the only dessert I had room to eat!). Carb Lover was responsible for the incredible fried chicken....which was one of the reasons I had little room for dessert! Sun Sep 18 18:28:48 -0700 2005 189209 0 susancinsf 4 189250 Yes, I knew the raspberry tart was Caitlin's...I misread who had posted. And yes, I knew the chicken was carb lover's. Both were delicious! I will volunteer to help for next year; we'll talk. BTW, we had the corn recipe for dinner tonight....yum! Sun Sep 18 22:58:54 -0700 2005 189212 0 janet of reno 5 189255 Oh, I'm sorry I missed Caitlin's raspberry tart (and meeting Caitlin herself!). I was thinking along the same lines of what you suggested for activities, Janet, so we can discuss co-organizing when picnic planning rolls around next year, if you're interested. I know some people don't like those hokey "ice breakers" or games, but they do open the doors for mingling IMO and can be quite fun! Susan, I didn't realize that that particular site has to be reserved a year in advance! Wow. I certainly wouldn't be opposed to moving it closer to the South Bay or even around East Bay. I understand why it can't be held later in the day for the Golden Gate park site. Just wanted to toss the idea out there though... PS. I forgot to mention yimster's sticky rice. It was a treat, as I am clueless about cooking Chinese food at home. I will say that it does taste better inside that chicken though... Mon Sep 19 00:39:29 -0700 2005 189250 0 Carb Lover 6 189268 How hard can it be to make the sticky rice? If I can anybody can. Mrs. Yimster always said "he not as dumb as he looks, nobody is that dumb". I need to right down the recipe and method down. The sad part of the sticky rice yesterday morning my fumble away one of the containers of goodies so the sticky rice had only have the ingredient. What was missing was King Oyster Mushrooms, dried scallops, diced carrots and green peas. One hound said "what about the five second rule" but cannot recover finely chopped ingredients. Mon Sep 19 02:38:08 -0700 2005 189255 0 yimster 2 189211 Thanks for the feedback and we will definitely remember the offer to organize something next year! One suggestion that came up was the idea of a limited or optional contest (ie a pie cook-off was one idea)...apparently the big contests where every dish was automatically entered were both very difficult to organize and to participate in... and maybe intimidating to some.... I must have had too much wine as I found myself volunteering to take the lead next year: which means finding a date and reserving the site (we will make every effort to get the same site as it has a lot of advantages, including easier parking and closer bathrooms than nearly any other reservable site in GG Park). Unfortunately, a four pm start time is too late: the restrooms are probably closed and locked around six, and they won't let you stay after sunset, which is at around seven), but we may compromise by starting an hour or so later. (However, to be honest, with the traffic what it was yesterday and the Giants in town, starting much later might not have allowed most folks who had to come from elsewhere to get a much later start...). It also makes the day a very long one for the volunteers, since according to the GG Park website technically if you don't have someone on the site by nine am, you can loose it, even if reserved and paid for....(we were admittedly a bit later getting there this year, but we did have to chase off a group trying to use one of our picnic tables. Afterwards, though, I sort of regretted not inviting them to stay to see what was in the crock pot they had with them...) Perhaps you should consider running an (optional) contest for best make ahead dish! :-) I think technically Janet, Jerry and Steve did drive the furthest (are you sure you didn't meet Janet and think it was me? :-)) but they weren't the visitors who were from the farthest away! I believe that honor goes to Betty and Norm, Celery's parents visiting from Florida, who got right into the CH picnic spirit by dressing for the fog (well, they are from Seattle originally) and bringing the delicious shrimp salad that someone has already raved about! Sun Sep 18 18:20:04 -0700 2005 189203 0 susancinsf 3 189256 I just to say it was a personal pleasure to meet Celery's parents - both Norm and Betty were wonderful to talk to and showed that great love of food we all do - and I'm glad they were able to make it out to our little shindig. Mon Sep 19 00:40:50 -0700 2005 189211 0 JojoA 4 189266 I totally agree! and now that they've been to one, I think they should come on out next year too! :-) Mon Sep 19 01:48:00 -0700 2005 189256 0 susancinsf 3 189262 Was there more than one Shrimp Salad? 'Cause we brought a shrimp salad. Greens and Thai seasoning, smoked tofu, etc. Mon Sep 19 01:09:36 -0700 2005 189211 0 Kim Cooper 4 189265 hmm...well yes, maybe! and maybe it was yours they were raving about? I didn't get the official dish list, just happened to be chatting with Betty when she put hers together. (It was really a green salad with shrimp, and it certainly looked and tasted really good, but since it was the only one I saw..I have to admit, I don't remember seeing anything with smoked tofu! Yours must have disappeared too fast! :-)) Mon Sep 19 01:45:47 -0700 2005 189262 0 susancinsf 2 189481 It would appear that we have traded books. I got your aphrodisiac book and you got my Tom Colicchio. I love the book, the recipes look terrific. I've already got a menu planned for my partner's birthday. He's never going to know what hit him. Link: http://www.stephaniegelman.com Tue Sep 20 17:39:38 -0700 2005 189203 0 Chefanie 3 189485 Yay, so it was a true exchange, after all. I'm glad the book found its way to you; sounds like things are heating up already... I got it as a fun bday gift. It was a fun book to flip through, and I enjoyed the artsy, sensual photos, but I don't think I made one recipe from there. After you make the meal, you'll have to share your menu on Home Cooking and let us know if the recipes "work", hehe. Tue Sep 20 18:12:39 -0700 2005 189481 0 Carb Lover 1 189214 This was my first Chowhound event, and I have to say I was pleased to learn that Chowhounds are also great cooks and conversationalists. My family and I enjoyed ourselves immensely. There was such a huge number of dishes that I'm sure no one could have tried all of them--I know I limited myself to a select few. But the standouts for me included the crostini with chicken liver and fig, the roasted eggplant soup, the squid salad, the sticky rice, and chocolate number 11! My daughters, on the other hand, proclaimed chocolate number 11 gross but loved the Mexican treats. Many thanks to those who did such a great job of organizing this event. Sun Sep 18 18:33:51 -0700 2005 189153 0 Liz 1 189217 This was my first Chowhound picnic, and I had a wonderful time! My favorite dishes were the fried chicken (yumm), the corn, the eggplant appetizer, Nick’s goat cheese tart, and Ruth’s pate. Actually, it was all great! My only disappointment was that I didn’t try Nathan’s lasagna: I was getting full, there was a crowd around it, and I thought to myself, ‘how good could it possibly be?’. HAH! From what others told me, I made a big mistake… As you all know, this is a totally volunteer event: everyone who came should be thanked, as all of the Chowhounds in attendence were volunteers! I won't list everyone but you were the ones that made it happen, so please, give yourself a big 'thank you' for making it happen! Thanks to your efforts we raised over six hundred dollars to support the Chowhound website, but much more importantly, we all had the chance to spend the day with a wonderful group of people eating some fabulous food! Special thanks to the following volunteers: Nick/nja: Picnic Chair Picnic Planning Committee: susancinsf (finances), Alyce Moy (Volunteer Coordinator), and Michael Alderete (Registration/website). Stephanie Gelman (Chocolate Tasting) Rochelle McCune (advice and wise counsel as last year’s Chair) Melanie Wong: wine hound extraordinaire! Photographers (look for photos on the website soon!): Allan Schreiber (people) and Liz Brown (food) Reporters: Caitlin McGrath, Cyrus Farivar Cookbook Swap: Melinda Blau It was really a lot of fun, and a lot of deliciousness! Sun Sep 18 18:55:22 -0700 2005 189153 0 susancinsf 2 189218 oh, and one more standout dish: Yimster's sticky rice! It was outstanding, and I made sure to save some for hubby who came late...of course, I am going to really withhold judgement until I get to try it inside the chicken! :-) Sun Sep 18 18:57:36 -0700 2005 189217 0 susancinsf 3 189259 Oh, yeah, the sticky rice! That was also excellent as well, as well as the eggplant and cheese appetizers (just too much good food, I tell ya'...) Mon Sep 19 00:52:40 -0700 2005 189218 0 JojoA 1 189219 I am merely going to be saying yes, yup, right, and oh yeah, to so many hounds who posted before I got to it. First, thanks to Nick for organizing and Susan for treasurying and Stephanie for the chocolate tasting organization and Melanie for the generosity with the wine. I am not a big chocolate fan and found no tastes that lifted me off the ground but was really interested in just how different they could be and in how many ways they could be different. For food: loved the lasagne and eggplant apps, loved the powa, loved Lambert's sticky rice and would love to try it inside a roasted bird. I had some of the good chicken next to it to give me the whole picture. The sticky rice dessert from the Philippines was also fabulous. And I have to stop there because this posting will become a loooong list if I keep it up. There were so many good things that I have a sense memory of but cant name. Next time I take notes. It was my first Chowhounds picnic after many CH lunches, and I also add my feelings to those expressed that the folks gathered in the fog to dine and drink together made it better than the sum of all the food presented. Reading posts from some familiar names, I am only sorry I did not get to meet by name more of my fellow Hounds. Sun Sep 18 19:05:14 -0700 2005 189153 0 al@Fairfax 2 189240 as i was saying...There were so many good things that I have a sense memory of but cant name. Next time I take notes... like the sausage stew (turns out to have been Autumn's), the mushroom pate (was Ruth's), Nick's cheese tart, Fred's corn..... Sun Sep 18 21:25:16 -0700 2005 189219 0 al@Fairfax 1 189244 Howdy, all. I post mainly on the Manhattan board but I wanted to thank you for sharing details of what sounded like a terrific time. You guys exhibit a wonderful sense of community. My hat's off to you. Regards, --steve Sun Sep 18 22:03:59 -0700 2005 189153 0 steve h. 1 189258 This is torture! I'm going to do my damndest to come to the picnic next year. Mon Sep 19 00:42:36 -0700 2005 189153 0 Dave Feldman 2 189323 Torture, indeed. I was very sad when I realized that the Chowhound picnic was the same weekend as my yearly Bass Lake trip. Now I am even sadder. Does this picnic occur on the same day each year? (If so, goodbye Bass Lake!) ::Waves to Kim Cooper, who she knows from completely different venue:: Mon Sep 19 16:07:24 -0700 2005 189258 0 Joy 3 190599 .::Kim Cooper waves back to Joy::. Wed Sep 28 00:42:47 -0700 2005 189323 0 Kim Cooper 1 189371 I'm very happy to see that everyone had a great time at the picnic. I give my thanks to every single person who attended. This is a 100% volunteer event, and everyone did a great job. All of the food and drinks were great. I hope everyone tells us where they bought their dish, or gives us the recipe on the Home Cooking thread. It's great that there's so much enthusiasm for next year's picnic (or picnics?). And we've already got a chair! If you've got an idea, or would like to help out, please email Susan so we can keep the planning and logistics talk off the board. Thanks again, Nick Mon Sep 19 20:28:36 -0700 2005 189153 0 nja 2 189681 Here's the wines from the annual cellar-culling. After a taste and a nip of each, I didn't get around to sampling many of the other bottles at the picnic. Will have to try harder next time! 1989 Gundlach Bundschu Sonoma Valley Gamay Beaujolais 1994 Steele Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 1995 Greenwood Ridge Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 1995 Pepperwood Springs Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 1995 Gabrielli "Floodgate" Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 1994 Cristom "Reserve" Pinot Noir 1994 Archery Summit Reserve Pinot Noir 1994 St. Innocent "Seven Springs" Pinot Noir 1997 Siduri Oregon Pinot Noir 1997 Siduri "Vander Kamp" Sonoma Mountain Pinot Noir 1997 Siduri "Hirsch" Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (magnum) 1995 Charles Melton "Nine Popes" Barossa Valley Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvedre 1994 Bonny Doon "Le Cigare Volante" (magnum) 1993 JL Chave St. Joseph 1994 Chateau St Martin de la Garrigue Coteaux du Languedoc "Cuvee Tradition" 1997 Joseph Swan Russian River Valley Mourvedre 1994 Sierra Cantabria Rioja Reserva 1995 Bodega Muga Rioja Reserva 1996 Egri Bikaver 1991 Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 1997 Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Wed Sep 21 21:18:59 -0700 2005 189371 0 Melanie Wong 1 189386 What they missed… The gloomy weather? My family had a great time at the Chowhounds 2005 picnic! Thanks to the alpha hounds for keeping us on schedule. We especially liked the Mushroom Almond Pâté, Thai Sausage, delicate Leek Goat Cheese Tart, Tuna Empanadas that were light, flaky with a hint of cornmeal in the crust, Freshly Baked Cheese Bread, Grilled Eggplant Rolls with Feta Cheese, Sweet and Sour Shrimp Salad, “Throw Down” Corn on the Cob which was wok fried on the BB-Q, Carb lover’s excellent Fried Chicken, David’s Carrot Pudding with Walnut Sauce, Calamari Salad, and one of my personal favorites Yimster’s Sticky Rice with Shitake Mushrooms. Hoohohoyaa. Believe it or not there were dishes that I didn’t get to try because there was nothing left by time I got through the line. Although we had our fill, the pack gently closed in on new chow, welcoming the incoming hounds as we quizzed them on their dish. We managed to find room for some Goat Cheese Crackers topped with a slice of Kadota Fig when they arrived. The desserts were terrific with the jet setters bringing in international treats. Mexican candies for Independence Day?! What a flavorful assortment—simply a sight to behold. Viva Mexico! As I heard someone in the crowd declare “I love the taste of independence” We also savored an imported warm, sticky, rice cake that was wrapped in banana leaves—directly from the Philippians. There was another dish that was very similar yet tasted different. Simply delicious! Sorry, I’m not able to note all the proper dish names, but hey, I was busy tasting. Ohhh that pecan cherry pie, AND that yum scrummy raspberry tart by Caitlin. Oink is me! The chocolate tasting managed to unit the entire group, snagging our attention for an entire hour. Thanks to the volunteers that organized the event and to all you food fanatics that turned out to offer up such a delicious array of flavors. Kudos! I would have mentioned everything I ate, but I’m afraid I’ve lost some of the fine details already. This was my family’s first CH picnic, but we’ll be back for sure. My five year is hoping whoever brought the pizza with goat cheese will bring more next year. Maybe it’s time we teach our lil hound how to make his own Za. It was a pleasure chowing with those of you who made it to the park. Hope we’ll get a chance to meet more of you next year. Chow on, isimmer Mon Sep 19 21:57:27 -0700 2005 189153 0 isimmer 2 192277 Does anyone have a recipe for "Sweet and Sour Shrimp Salad with pineapple? thank you! Stephanie Wed May 10 13:24:44 -0700 2006 189386 0 Stephanie Jourdan 1 189400 Rachel and I had a terrific mother-daughter outing at the picnic. I wasn't able to do as much hobnobbing with fellow hounds as I might have had I been solo, but sharing it all with my kid was well worth it. She helped me pick out a cookbook for daddy; she deemed the sticky rice tasty enough to give Yimster a low-five; we confirmed that she really does like squid, even when it isn't salt-and-pepper squid from Shen Hua; she earned props from all the hounds when she said "I like the brown chocolate better than the white chocolate, mom"; and today she said to her friend who came over to play, "Let's have a banana tasting!" Loved the chocolate tasting, myself. It vindicated my friend uh... art, who's used nothing but Trader Joe's for his dessert extravaganzas for years now. I wish some Valrhona had been included in the sample, but I guess I'll just have to take care of that part myself... Thank you and hip hip to all! Tue Sep 20 00:03:57 -0700 2005 189153 0 heidipie 2 189431 I loved hearing about the picnic from Rachel's perspective (obviously a future Chowhound). Maybe you should cut up some plantains and any other varieties of banana around (do they exist?) so they can have their tasting. Tue Sep 20 12:42:46 -0700 2005 189400 0 katya 3 189469 Oh, there's lots of kinds of bananas. With a lot of them, though, you have to wait until the skins are black, and then they're delicious. I'm not sure if it's the right season, but Berkeley Bowl usually has at least three or four kinds. I'm a big fan of the plantain, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to serve it to Rachel raw - I think they're pretty nasty if you don't cook them. I know I had an unripe persimmon once when I was a kid, and then wouldn't try them for 10 or 12 years because I thought they were all like that. On the other hand, Rachel obviously knows what she's eating, so maybe she can make her own decisions. Tue Sep 20 16:16:35 -0700 2005 189431 0 David Boyk 4 189478 She was content merely to compare the bananas she and her friend were eating from the same bunch. We're still chuckling over how we both really didn't like chocolate number 8. Tue Sep 20 17:17:45 -0700 2005 189469 0 heidipie 1 189402 I just want to say thanks for the gathering and organizing that took place. It is truly great to know that most passionate chowhounds can be so laid back and mellow! I really enjoyed meeting the faces behind the posts. I am certainly looking forward to enjoying some chowdowns!! I am truly sorry to have missed the fried chicken, darn. Well there was plenty of yummy chow and I thought the chow kiddies were delightfull! Tue Sep 20 00:37:05 -0700 2005 189153 0 Freddy 1 189548 Been lurking and occasionally posting on Chowhound since way back in 1999. Chowhound changed my life. Until then I felt like a maligned, food-obsessed freak in the midst of the uncaring masses. This was my first event and it was so great to meet so many warm, welcoming folks and put some faces to some names whose posts I’ve trusted for years. And put some faces to some newer names whose posts I’ve only recently begun to follow. I’m only sorry I didn’t get to meet more of you. It was such a memorable day. So many flavor memories. Count me in for future Chowdowns. Favorite dishes: Al @ Fairfax’s squid salad, Carb Lover’s fried chicken, Yimster’s sticky rice, chicken liver pate with fig preserves, wok fried corn, Nathan’s lasagna, (you could taste the hours of loving cooking) Susan’s roasted eggplant soup, the imported dessert from the Philippines and so many many more. Thanks for all the fabulous wines to taste Melanie. Wow. I had to take a two-hour nap and then hike nearly to the top of Mt. Tam the next day to recover. On another note, Thanks Al @ Fairfax for the Fairfax recommendations that you gave to my partner! We had delicious ice cream at the Fairfax scoop and enjoyed Prather Ranch organic beef burgers at that little drive-in. Forget the name. Wed Sep 21 09:49:13 -0700 2005 189153 0 veebee 1 191137 The photos from the picnic are now up on the Chowing with the Hounds website. Many thanks to Liz and Allan for their excellent work. Link: http://chowingwiththehounds.com/picnic/reports/2005/ Image: http://chowingwiththehounds.com/resources//img/cwth-logo_250.gif Fri Sep 30 19:15:31 -0700 2005 189153 0 nja