My side dish will be a wild rice salad.

Suzy

I'll be there, plus one, and a dessert of some sort - either brownies or cookies, to be determined.

in for 1.

i'm be there. probably only with some brownies which i made and put in the freezer. because i return late the night before from vacation, i doubt i'll have the energy to go shopping and cooking early saturday. sorry. justjoan

The Progeny and I plan to be there. Undecided as of yet on what to bring--maybe some "Will Specials?"

--Matt

Beth and I are in. We'll probably bring ice cream and maybe some good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies.

What will be the grilling/smoking situation? I was thinking of getting some hotdogs and polish garlic dogs from Romanian Kosher. I do have a small propane stove I could bring, if people prefer them steamed or boiled.

d4v3 wrote:What will be the grilling/smoking situation? I was thinking of getting some hotdogs and polish garlic dogs from Romanian Kosher. I do have a small propane stove I could bring, if people prefer them steamed or boiled.

Last year Bruce had his big smoker there (not sure about its status this year), but there were no grills for cooking char dogs. I brought a case of natural casing Viennas but there was no way to properly cook them, so we threw them in the smoker.

I have a 25 year old weber kettle I could bring. The legs are a little wobbly (nothing a little duct tape can't fix), but it is still functional.

Actually, I have a small pickup truck with a cap. I'll be coming from Rogers Park, so if anybody else on the far north/northwest side has a grill they would like to volunteer, I could transport it. We could probably put 3-4 webers to good use. Send me a PM.

Hi,

So far there hasn't been any real need to bring Bruce's smoker. While the transportation issue isn't insurmountable, there also has to be the justification.

I know there are will be at least one full size Weber grill, 1-2 WSMs which can do double duty as grills. We also seem to have a lot of appetizers, salads and desserts, which sometimes make quite acceptable picnic food.

I will update the list shortly to see how things are playing out.

Regards,

Mhays is helping maintain order by updating the spreadsheet, these are the people attending and what they intend to bring. Please review before submitting your ideas. Perhaps we are a bit main course light?

Course - Screen name - Dish - # of people
Appetizer borborigmy prosciutto and figs 2.5
Appetizer eggplant interesting appetizer 2
Appetizer jygach as yet unnamed appetizer 1
Appetizer Mhays Lengua a la vinagreta 3
Appetizer Ramon Isaan sausage and crudites 3
Appetizer Saint Pizza Salsa, crema and chips 5
Appetizer SGFoxe Chui Quon Bao 1
Beverages jpschust 2-3 cocktails 2
Beverages Kennyz Home-infused vodka and mixers 2
Beverages Saint Pizza Grapefruit soda
Bread Hellodali Argo bakery bread
Condiment Cathy2 Sorghum
Condiment JoelF Roasted tomatillo salsa 3
Dessert Amata namoorah 2
Dessert David Hammond world's greatest cookie II 2
Dessert eatchicago ice cream sandwiches 2
Dessert Fleurdesel tbd 2
Dessert gleam Ice cream and old fashioned chocolate chip cookies 2
Dessert GypsyBoy chocolate dessert
Dessert happy_stomach brownies 2
Dessert Hellodali fruit in rosewater syrup 2
Dessert justjoan Brownies 1
Dessert RomanticCynic zuppa inglese 2
Dessert sdritz pecan tarts 4
Dessert Stevez Baylor watermelons 2
Dessert Suzy Creamcheese Brownies, cookies or ? 2
Entertain Ramon Pinata and acoustic set
Main Cathy2 SonofaBitch Stew 4
Main d4v3 hot dogs and polish garlic dogs from Romanian Kosher 1
Main mhl Will Specials 2
Main Ronnie_Suburban Charcuterie 3
Main sdritz Italian sausages
Main Trixie Pea Tamale-Corn dog casserole surprise 1
Salad dicsond Roasted potato, mint and garlic salas 2
Salad Foodie1 Chopped salad with balsamic chicken 2
Salad Foodie1 Strawberry chicken chopped salad with cinnamon vinaigrette
Salad Giovanna Potato? Beet and Feta? Salad 2
Salad Saint Pizza Taffy Apple Salad
Side dish GypsyBoy World's best baked beans 2
Side dish nr706 stuffed mushroom 1
Side dish sdritz Rice salad
Supplies dicsond 40 plastic cups
Supplies happy_stomach paper plates and (good) napkins
Supplies Saint Pizza 40 foam plates
Undecided Freakin'Korican 3
Undecided germuska 1
Undecided gp60004 1
Undecided Gwiv 2
Undecided Jazzfood 2
Undecided King's Thursday 3
Undecided Leek 2
Undecided m'th'su 1

Total People coming so far: 84.5

Regards,

d4v3 wrote:What will be the grilling/smoking situation?

Dave,

I'm bringing a WSM and a Weber 22.5-inch kettle. The WSM will mostly be in use for waves of buttermilk brined chicken, but the kettle will be open for general use.

Enjoy,
Gary

There's nothing old fashioned about the cookies, they just aren't fancy ancho-chile-spiked-valrhona-chip cookies.

I'm not really sure you want to classify this year's World's Greatest Cookie (v2, tm, patent pending) as a "dessert." The prototype contains bacon, though I'm still refining the recipe. My goal is always to create a cookie that would work as an app, entree or grand finale.

Sadly, we will be at a wedding in Milwaukee that weekend and unable to attend. Hope all will have great time, wish I could be there.

Buddy

David Hammond wrote:I'm not really sure you want to classify this year's World's Greatest Cookie (v2, tm, patent pending) as a "dessert." The prototype contains bacon, though I'm still refining the recipe. My goal is always to create a cookie that would work as an app, entree or grand finale.

I have seen crisp bacon in figmolly's truffles as well as crisp bacon substituting for peanuts in peanut brittle. Just cause there is bacon, doesn't make it a main course or appetizer either. Bacon is worming its way into desserts at an alarming pace.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

David Hammond wrote:I'm not really sure you want to classify this year's World's Greatest Cookie (v2, tm, patent pending) as a "dessert." The prototype contains bacon, though I'm still refining the recipe. My goal is always to create a cookie that would work as an app, entree or grand finale.

I have seen crisp bacon in figmolly's truffles as well as crisp bacon substituting for peanuts in peanut brittle. Just cause there is bacon, doesn't make it a main course or appetizer either. Bacon is worming its way into desserts at an alarming pace.

Regards,

Alarming?

HI,

Of course, it is not a "Chicken Little the sky is falling" alarming. Perhaps it is more on the "Surprising, now I have seen everything" scale. Who knows maybe the world is ready for candied tripe or pots de brains (instead of creme)!

Just amusing myself with random thoughts.

Regards,

Gentle reminder:

One or more picnic attendees definitely will have nut sensitivities, so please note if your dish will be containing nuts.

Of course, 'twould be even more magnanimous to provide a nut-free sample as well, but no pressure--I expect there'll be plenty of non-nut alternative items available. (After all, an LTH picnic would be more about a superabundance, rather than a lack, of great alternatives, no?)

If anyone is coming with a different food sensitivity, this might be a good time to post about it, too, in case prior ingredient adjustments are practical.

Thanks,

--Matt

mhl wrote:Gentle reminder:

One or more picnic attendees definitely will have nut sensitivities, so please note if your dish will be containing nuts.

Of course. Last year all ingredients of World's Greatest Cookie V1 were posted prominently above the cookie dish, and it was my intention to do likewise this year.

mhl wrote:Gentle reminder:

One or more picnic attendees definitely will have nut sensitivities, so please note if your dish will be containing nuts.

Of course, 'twould be even more magnanimous to provide a nut-free sample as well, but no pressure--I expect there'll be plenty of non-nut alternative items available. (After all, an LTH picnic would be more about a superabundance, rather than a lack, of great alternatives, no?)

If anyone is coming with a different food sensitivity, this might be a good time to post about it, too, in case prior ingredient adjustments are practical.

Thanks,

--Matt

Ah, Matt, thank you for bringing up this subject.

I have put this auspicious event on my calendar, however I have hesitated to make a decision. You see, Mr Views has celiac and can't eat gluten without causing damage to his body. Definitely not nut allergy in terms of intenstity, but definitely takes the fun our of trying to navigate events like this when he doesn't know anyone here.

I would so much love to come. . .and with Mr Views. I have gone back and forth in my head so many times about whether I should post about this or not.

What, in the past, has been the protocol? Or has this not come up before? If there is not a protocol, is anyone willing to provide ingredient lists ahead of time if asked? For example, I can automatically tell that brownies will not be gluten free and wouldn't ask anyone to try to make them that way, lol. But, beet and feta salad, other salads, and grilled meat likely do not have gluten and it should be relatively easy to determine. Baked beans may or may not, but again, if I know the ingredients of some of the dishes that are most likely to be naturally GF, I can quickly determine.

Thanks again, Matt, for bringing it up. . .it gave me the courage to ask. No hurt feelings if it's not possible.

If it works out that we can come, I'll happily bring a couple gluten-free dishes, that are also nut free and any other free that anyone needs. Having a diabetic MIL and a SIL who can't eat dairy, I am the queen of special needs cooking and baking

ViewsAskew wrote:[...]If it works out that we can come, I'll happily bring a couple gluten-free dishes, that are also nut free and any other free that anyone needs. Having a diabetic MIL and a SIL who can't eat dairy, I am the queen of special needs cooking and baking

Sounds like a great opportunity for us to sample your stuff--don't you even think about not joining in with your entourage!

Seems to me like exchanging a PM or two with some of those on the list should yield a clearer idea of whether the ingredients for a particular dish would pose a problem for Mr. Views. Also, many of the dishes at last year's picnic had stickers (courtesy of the resourceful Cathy2) that were handy for noting potentially challenging ingredients. --Not exactly a formal detailed protocol, but a reasonable convention, and one worth continuing, in my opinion.

So, to put it succinctly: y'all come!

--Matt

I'm pretty sure the Baylor watermelons I am bringing will be safe for anyone to eat, but please don't choke on the seeds. This has been a public service announcement.

ViewsAskew wrote:If there is not a protocol, is anyone willing to provide ingredient lists ahead of time if asked?.... Baked beans may or may not, but again, if I know the ingredients of some of the dishes that are most likely to be naturally GF, I can quickly determine.

Uh, those are The World's Best Baked Beans®, not just "baked beans." I'm not ordinarily aware of sensitivities/allergies/etc. since I am fortunate enough not to have any. But I--and I am sure everyone on this list--will be more than happy to post or pm a list of ingredients, whatever people prefer. Indeed, I will be seriously disappointed if there isn't universal demand for the recipe.

Gypsy Boy wrote:

ViewsAskew wrote:

mhl wrote:If there is not a protocol, is anyone willing to provide ingredient lists ahead of time if asked?.... Baked beans may or may not, but again, if I know the ingredients of some of the dishes that are most likely to be naturally GF, I can quickly determine.

Uh, those are The World's Best Baked Beans®, not just "baked beans." I'm not ordinarily aware of sensitivities/allergies/etc. since I am fortunate enough not to have any. But I--and I am sure everyone on this list--will be more than happy to post or pm a list of ingredients, whatever people prefer. Indeed, I will be seriously disappointed if there isn't universal demand for the recipe.

I will be happy to post my recipe for the World's Greatest Cookies, but I don't think we can assume that the dozens of non-professional (though enthusiastic and highly capable) chefs who will contribute to this event can say with 100% certainty that their preparations will be safe for consumption by individuals with specific food allergies. I don't have food allergies myself, but one of my daughters does, and it is sometimes surprising the way potentially hazardous ingredients can find their way into dishes (for instance, what if you cut lettuce with a knife to which cling peanut particles or cook in a pan that once held peanut oil).

When you're in a professional restaurant, there is some expectation that the chefs can rigorously follow a dining protocol; when you're talking about a picnic prepared by amateur enthusiasts, the expectations are not the same.

HI,

The best way to guarantee your allergies or dietary issues are addressed properly is to bring your own food. You are assured for yourself you're safe and everyone else is free from worry, too.

Like many other LTH events, it is not just the food. It is the companionship of your fellow LTH community members.

Regards,

I'm a little surprised we're talking about stickers, warning labels, posts about what's in something, etc. when the cook is standing right there.

I do not intend to label anything I bring. I will be happy to answer any questions about it. Odds are, it will have in it exactly what you expect it to have in it (except maybe pork fat will have snuck in where you wouldn't expect it, like in a pie crust) but if there's any doubt, ask and I will be happy to tell you.

I would like to bring pie. Dessert pie. I can also bring some Natural Casing Vienna beef dogs or polish or what have you to throw on the grill, or a marinated chicken to toss into the smoker... Or a bunch of plates/ cups/ plasticware

I thought I'd responded ages ago, but apparently,I just wrote it on my calendar. I do intend to be there, but I'm still digging out my kitchen after my recent move, so I really don't know what I'll be able to bring or if I'll be buying vs. cooking. Of course, if you see holes in the menu, let me know.

I would like to rsvp for 2 adults, a 4 yo and a newborn.

We'll bring a Pasta Salad with Feta and Toasted Pine Nuts and a Sweet and Sour Coleslaw.

I'm familiar with the No Glass Bottle rules, but if we wanted to bring some Homemade Beer (I think we have a Vanilla Porter and a Doppelbock ripe for drinking) does anyone have an suggestions for bringing it along?

I can also bring a 5 gallon water cooler of water if that would help. We did our daughter's first birthday, it was handy to have on site.