• Rutabaga, Celery, Dill, & Smoked Chicken Soup
  • Matcha Whoopie Pies with Sakura Buttercream Filling
  • Chicken with Oyster Mushrooms, Portobellos, & Napa Cabbage
  • Mushroom Chicken Pie
  • Pistachio Wasabi Beets
  • Sichuan Chili Oil, and variety of cold-chicken-based lunches
  • Lemony Pea and Radish Salad with Mint
  • The Fort Greene
  • East African Sweet Pea Soup
  • Lazy, Rustic, Haphazard, and Amazing Sour Cherry Pies
  • Malaysian Chicken Satay
  • The Wildman’s iPhone App
  • Welsh Cakes with Dried Apricots and Candied Ginger
  • Farmhouse Pork with Black Beans and Green Peppers (and Trotter Gear)
  • Black Pepper Tofu with Pork
  • Peposo
  • Toasted Hazelnut Chai
  • Kentucky Coffee Spread
  • Banana Guacamole
  • Spicy Shrimp with Wine Rice
  • Double Ginger Chocolate Chunk Scones
  • Artichoke and Blood Orange Salad (with frisee, parsley, and cardamom)
  • Chevre Truffles
  • Clementine Sassafras Ice Cream
  • Jack is Closed (but you can vote for our pie on Sunday)
  • Our Wedding
  • Pecan Mole
  • Son-in-Law Eggs
  • Saffron Turmeric Cake with Meyer Lemon Sorbet, Argan Oil Whipped Cream, Almond Brittle, and Thyme
  • My Triumphant Return, with a Book Giveaway!

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NYC Food Blogger Potluck (Post-Potluck Report)

Last Saturday night, I hosted the first-ever (to my knowledge) an entirely fabulous NYC Food Blogger Potluck. It was a smashing success, and I think we are all looking forward to making this a recurring event.

I made my french onion soup dumplings, though I should go back and edit that post now that I have developed a new technique. I took Rose’s mother’s advice on freezing the soup into a slush to make it easier to fill the dumplings, and it worked beautifully. I intend to do it that way from now on. Alternatively, you can make an extremely gelatin-laden soup, and just fill the dumplings with gelled cubes of it. The soup will liquify when the dumplings are steamed. That’s a somewhat longer process involving many chicken feet, though.

The photo of my soup dumplings above was actually taken by Vanessa, who kindly gave me permission to use it in this post.

I only mention my contribution first because it set the scene for the party. I was still wrapping dumplings when the first guests began to arrive, and as people walked in they washed their hands, sat down at our kitchen table, and began to help me put together the soup dumplings. It became an enjoyable, hands-on group project, and the perfect ice-breaker to get the evening going. I was apologetic for my disorganization at the time, but in retrospect I think the timing was absolutely right.

After all, once we’ve made dumplings together, we’re already automatically old friends. Isn’t it nice how things can work out that way?

Nicole, who blogs on Livejournal as nex0s, made the pumpkin-filled leeks shown in the photo above. She pureed the pumpkin with a spicy honey, steamed the leeks, and served the leek-wrapped pumpkin with a pomegranate sauce. It was complicated to eat, but very delicious.

Nicole has offered to host the next NYC Food Blogger Potluck, as soon as we come up with a date that most people can agree on. Rotating hosting is probably for the best. My father always said (and he got this from his father, who was in the Navy), “RHIP RHIR: Rank Hath Its Privileges; Rank Hath Its Responsibilities.” Well, hosting a potluck has both its privileges (delicious, bountiful leftovers) and its responsibilities (clean-up duty) as well, and I would feel guilty about hogging them entirely for myself.

Vanessa (from Vanesscipes) brought a vegetarian casserole made with black beans, chipotle, sweet potatoes, and spinach, with a masa harina crust. I’m not usually one to fill up on vegetarian fare, but this casserole was tasty and satisfying in every way. Vanessa was wonderful at getting us to actually discuss our blogging, with her great energy and enthusiasm and interesting questions for everyone. You can read her thoughts on how the potluck went here.

Jessica (from Su Good Eats) brought chocolate-filled macaroons. They were tiny and darling and I think they went so quickly that I didn’t even manage to snag one for myself.

Julie (from A Finger in Every Pie) brought a huge variety of treats for us. She brought parma ham bundles, green fattoush salad, pumpkin apple bread, and Korova Cookies (a/k/a World Peace Cookies). She hasn’t posted the recipe for the bread (yet?), but she did post several delicious-looking squash recipes for us to play with instead.

Lisa (from Homesick Texan) brought us a pot of Texas Red. This was chili like I have never encountered it before, dry and stringy and tender all at once, with a texture like Indonesian beef rendang or Cuban ropa vieja. She posted a two part explanation of how to make it (Part 1; Part 2), which would be a shame to pass up. After all, I’ve been eating leftovers of this for lunch all week and I’m not sick of it yet, which is really saying something for me.

Stephanie (from Scrumptious Street) brought her charming husband, and one of everyone’s favorite dishes of the evening (and my breakfast for the next week), a delicious butternut squash and roasted banana soup. We want that recipe, Stephanie, so please post it!

Stephanie (from The Adventures of Pie Queen) brought her mother’s carrot cake. She also brought the sad tale of her girlfriend who is stationed in Afghanistan but cannot actually get any Afghani food. She is stuck eating U.S. Army food instead. I really want to help out and make some Afghani cookies or something to mail to Stephanie’s girlfriend so she can eat Afghani food in Afghanistan, even if it was made in New York. Stephanie says that it usually takes 7-10 days for packages to get there, so any treats that last that long would be fine. Anyone have a good recipe we could use for this?

Tse Wei (from Off the Bone) brought a few loaves of homemade bread that everyone assumed were artisanal loaves he had purchased at some gourmet bakery. They looked magnificent. I utterly failed to try any, but they were a hit with everyone who did. There was this one moment in the evening where everyone in the living room suddenly realized that Tse Wei had actually made the bread himself, and fell to like starving cartoon wolverines.

My partner, Dave, made his fabulous garlic focaccia. He also made an absolutely perfect Queen of Sheba cake, which we served with cocoa nib whipped cream. I will post both recipes soon – I just have to get him to make that cake again so I can take photos first! He does at least half the cooking around here; I’m just lucky he lets me monopolize the food photography.

That is my youngest brother, Jordan, licking his fingers after eating one of Nicole’s pumpkin leek packets. He is in 7th grade and already a gourmand. He is the only 12 year old I can imagine who would taste our homemade sour cherry almond jam and sour cherry sage flower jam, and decide that he liked the sage flower version better because the flavor was “deeper.”

He declared all the food to be delicious, and enjoyed hanging out and getting to meet everyone. Despite being the youngest foodie there, he wasn’t at all out of place. But if he wants to come to the next one, I think he will have to cook something, too!

Thank you to everyone who came and made this such a success. There was not a single bad apple among our guests, and all the food was amazing. I look forward to more tasty potlucks, and to building more of a community among us NYC food bloggers. If any other food bloggers in the area want to join in next time, just let me know; you are more than welcome to be a part of this community.

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13 Responses to “NYC Food Blogger Potluck (Post-Potluck Report)”

  1. Stephanie says:

    Thank you so much for hosting that great party! The leeks, the dumplings, the fattoush salad, the masa casserole, the Texas red, the sesame bread, the Queen of Sheba cake….yum! I was very, very full when I went home, and very happy….it was great to meet you and all the other super-cool local bloggers.

  2. Nicole says:

    It was sooo wonderful to meet everyone and to EAT!!! Next time I make the leek packets, I will use smaller, younger leeks. I think they were too old/big and thus a mite stringy. I was pleased overall though.

    Everyone’s food was delicious. I am so happy to have been there.

  3. Hey Danielle,
    I can’t wait to share food with you guys again. My only request would be to have it earlier :-), because I was really hungry when the food was ready at 9PM. Also, there was one blogger potluck last year. But I hope the potlucks become more regular.

    Here is the recipe for my macaroons, BTW (scroll to the bottom).

  4. Danielle says:

    Stephanie – My pleasure, and it was wonderful to meet you!

    Nicole – Younger leeks might make them easier to eat, yeah. But they were definitely good even with the stringiness.

    Jessica – I prefer to have things start on the later end, because that way I get all day to prepare and I don’t end up feeling too stressed. But I’m sure we can figure out a time that works best for everyone. I just set up a mailing list to help us bring the community together and organize events in the future. It sounds like you know more NYC food bloggers, so please encourage them to join the list!

  5. Ivonne says:

    What an event, Danielle!

  6. Helen says:

    Oh I wish I lived in NYC! What a wonderful bounty of people and food!

  7. Danielle says:

    Ivonne – It was!

    Helen – If you ever come down for a visit, I’m sure we can organize a food blogger event to greet you!

  8. Kristen says:

    I came here from the comment you left on Smitten Kitchen about NYC foodbloggers and, oddly, I actually know Nicole (sort of) already. We’ve met up a couple of times to knit (and eat the ice cream at Shake Shack).

    Anyway, hi.

  9. Alanna says:

    Hi Danielle ~ I’m late to this party but it sure looks fun! Good for you, organizing the event! Maybe NY and StL and SF and Sacramento should have a battle of the bloggers or something!

  10. Su Good Eats says:

    Food bloggers’ potluck…

    Put 10 food bloggers in a room, and you get one of the most delicious potlucks ever. On Oct. 21, Danielle of Habeas Brulee hosted a food bloggers’ potluck in her Brooklyn home.
    Danielle and her partner Dave were gracious hosts, respecting every…

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