January 12, 7:00 1st LTH small household food exchange

Hi all:

Before we all get caught up in holiday travel and hosting, I thought I’d post the announcement for the first LTH Small Household Food Exchange

Monday January 12, 2009
7:00 pm
Sahara Kabob
6649 N. Clark St.

Please RSVP by January 5th to let us know you’ll be in on this month’s exchange. We’ll cut off RSVP’s at 12. By January 9th, please post with what you’ll be bringing.

RSVP’s for January
Hellodali - Moroccan chickpea and lentil stew
Cathy2 - blinchiki and spaetzle for Leek's stew
DavidHammond - Mulefoot pork and beans
dansch - Carolina pulled pork or Vietnamese braised pork
jygach - Red Cabbage Salad with Apples and Pepitas and Tabbouleh
RAB - Four bean chili
leek - sausage and sauerkraut
foodie1 - Filippino Chicken Adobo
GAF - vegetable curry

To refresh our memories, here’s what we agreed to in terms of organizing the exchange:

Gathering time: Second Monday of the month, 7:00 pm

Location: GNR restaurants to be determined each month

Number in the group: We have 17 people interested in participating however we will cap attendance at each gathering at 12 so that participants are never making more than 12 servings of anything. Couples will be counted as one serving.

The food: Participants will bring one pre-portioned serving of their food for everyone who has RSVP’d to come that month. A serving is whatever you think it is for your food item. For soup, it may be two cups say; for pastrami, 4 oz. (or more if you make more generous sandwiches). The priority will be for entrees, meats, soups, salad, stews, pastas, grains, etc. One dessert is OK each month, we just didn’t want 6-7 dessert offerings as everyone was mostly interested in main meals. There will be no restrictions on the food – we’re an omnivorous bunch. WE DO HAVE ONE MUSHROOM ALLERGY IN THE GROUP SO IF YOU MAKE SOMETHING WITH MUSHROOMS, PLEASE INFORM THE GROUP WHEN YOU POST WHAT YOU ARE BRINGING. IF ANYONE ELSE HAS ANY ALLERGIES, PLEASE LET US KNOW. Again, that doesn’t mean that the ingredient is off limits, it just means to let everyone know if you are using it that month. We decided we don’t want to start running any list of off-limit foods or ingredients.

The containers/delivery system: Everyone in the group will buy 12 or so of the Gladware 3 1/8 cup plastic containers (it’s the approximately 7” x 7” square). You’ll portion your food into those containers to bring and hand out at the gathering. You can freeze them or not depending on your schedule and when you make your food. There is no need to fill the container, just put in whatever is a serving to you. If you use something else to deliver your food that month (Ziploc bags, plastic wrap, etc.) you should also return the empty containers from the last round so that everyone always has a stash of these containers for the exchange and doesn’t have to run out and buy more.

The process:

Each of us will take turns being the organizer each month. Each time we meet, someone will offer to organize the next month’s gathering.

Approximately two weeks before the next gathering, the organizer will post a new thread to the events page announcing the date and the location for that month and asking for RSVP’s.

Participants will need to RSVP their attendance by one week before the monthly gathering. They will then need to post what they are bringing by three days before the gathering. This is to help make sure we get some balance in the food so that we’re not all bringing something that has to be eaten in the next 2-3 days; that there’s a balance of stuff that can be frozen for later, or eaten sooner.

The organizer will monitor the thread to see what people are bringing. The organizer will also make reservations for the group at the restaurant where we will be gathering. People can choose to stay for dinner or just come and exchange food and leave. Just let the organizer know so they can get an accurate count for the reservation. Other LTHers are welcome to join us for dinner, even if they are not bringing food to exchange.

We all agreed to stay relaxed and flexible with the exchange as there will likely be some bumps in the first few months and questions we haven’t thought of will come up and we’ll have to figure them out. Remember that the core purpose of the exchange will be for a group of LTH’ers to exchange good food they’ve made with minimal hassle and restrictions.

HI,

I plan to attend. What I will make will be advised later.

Thanks!

Regards,

I'm in.

I plan to bring (mulefoot hog) pork and beans.

I'm in as well. Dish yet to be determined.

-Dan

I'm in. Dish to be determined.

Jyoti

Me three. DTBD.

please confirm me also

I'd like to participate in this as I don't have a swap scheduled for my group in January.

I will be preparing Filipiino Chicken Adobo over garlic fried rice for each person. Looking forward to it!

I am making a sausage and saurkraut dish similar to what GypsyBoy posted about just recently
(I think if it's just sausage it's more bohemian than hungarian, but whatever)

Wondering - the serving suggestion is over boiled potatoes or dumplings, but I don't imagine either of those will freeze well. Should I include a baggie of chopped cooked (or whole raw?) potatoes with each serving, or leave it up to the user to add his/her starch of choice? It does not, after all, take very long to cook a peeled and chopped potato in the microwave.

leek,

I think you could skip the potato. If you were making spaetzle type dumpling, I think they will freeze just fine. I'm not expecting either, just thought I would throw in my 2-cents about freezing dumplings.

Regards,

My dish will be a spicy four-bean chili. No potatoes necessary.

Lee - I think you can definitely leave the potatoes or dumplings up to the recipients.

Hi,

In the background I offered to make spaetzle to accompany this dish. Once I know what quantity leek will be providing, I will provide a bag of spaetzle.

Meanwhile, I need to decide what I will be contributing in addition.

Regards,

I would fill up a container per person (leaving headspace to freeze). Or should I leave space in there for the spaetzle? If it's a 3.whatever cup container, I guess I'd put in 2 ladles of content.

So if we don't have 12 people coming, do we still bring 12 servings? And just go around until you get 12 total servings of something? Or just one per RSVPing person plus ourselves?

My thinking is we just make enough for the people who have RSVP'd. No need for 12 servings if there are only 8-10 folks.

I will join you: Vegetable Curry - perhaps not Uru-Swati quality, but hopefully creative in its own way.

Just a bump for a final reminder to RSVP for the first LTH Small Household Food Exchange if you haven't already done so. I'll make the reservation at Saharah on Tuesday. And remember to post what you'll be bringing by January 12th. I've updated the original post with what I know so far for RSVP's and dishes. It's a tasty sounding combo, so far....

Hi,

I am bringing Blinchiki, which are crepes filled with meat, then folded into neat bundles and fried to color them. Normally, they would be served immediately with some sour cream. These can be reheated in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees for 10 minutes with no ill affects.

Blinchikis are very portable food like our sandwiches. I have seen Russians eating them on picnics as well as trains. Of course, they are never better when eaten fresh from the pan with some sour cream.

I will also bring spaetzle for leek's stew.

Regards,

I will either be bringing Carolina-style pulled pork or Vietnamese braised pork. Not sure which one yet, but either way it should be porky and delicious.

-Dan

Ok, definitely doing Vietnamese braised pork belly with fried tofu and eggs. Something about frying hard-boiled eggs and then braising them just intrigued me. As best I can tell, this dish is called "Thịt Heo Kho Tàu"

See you guys Monday.

-Dan

I assume that, given the attendance, we bring eight portions.

Hellodali wrote:The containers/delivery system: Everyone in the group will buy 12 or so of the Gladware 3 1/8 cup plastic containers (it’s the approximately 7” x 7” square). You’ll portion your food into those containers to bring and hand out at the gathering. You can freeze them or not depending on your schedule and when you make your food. There is no need to fill the container, just put in whatever is a serving to you. If you use something else to deliver your food that month (Ziploc bags, plastic wrap, etc.) you should also return the empty containers from the last round so that everyone always has a stash of these containers for the exchange and doesn’t have to run out and buy more.

The prescribed Glad Ware containers are on sale at Dominick's (I forget the price).

I plan to put a tag on each container with the name of the food item and maybe an ingredients list; that seems a better plan than writing on the containers every time.

Oops - just realized I forgot to post what I am bringing.
I decided to bring two salads:
- Red Cabbage Salad with Apples and Pepitas
- Tabbouleh

I just hope the snow holds off - otherwise driving from the suburbs may prove to be nightmare. Anyways, after I have completed all the chopping, I will have my fingers crossed for good weather.

Jyoti

That is a very tasty sounding collection of plates we all have coming. And yes, eight portions is what we'll all be bringing. See you tomorrow at 7 at SK.

As for labeling, I got these things called "Label Once". In theory they don't wash off or fall off in the freezer or microwave. You write on them with a sharpie (or other permanent) marker, which can easily be erased with a white plastic eraser.

Process question - if we have fewer than 12 attendees next time, can a household RSVP as a double? So make and bring 2 different things, and take 2 of each? Not for this time, obviously.

Looking forward to seeing you all!

Looking forward to tomorrow night. Could Mr. Foodie1 attend with me? We live in the area and have been meaning to try SK. If reservations have already been made, no worries... I can attend solo.

leek wrote:Process question - if we have fewer than 12 attendees next time, can a household RSVP as a double? So make and bring 2 different things, and take 2 of each? Not for this time, obviously.

Excellent idea. I vote yes. (Do I get a vote?)

foodie1 wrote:Looking forward to tomorrow night. Could Mr. Foodie1 attend with me? We live in the area and have been meaning to try SK. If reservations have already been made, no worries... I can attend solo.

I'm sure we can squeeze one more in. I vote yes. (Do I get a vote?)

I agree with RAB on both points.

Ditto from me on what RAB said.

I forgot to say I was bringing Mr Leek with me! Hope that's ok, otherwise I can just drop, trade and run.