What I made for the swap
My haul
My first time attending the Chicago Food Swap was a success. I made all vegan items: grapefruit cookies with grapefruit Malört filling (2 cookies x 15 bags), creamy & garlicky sunflower spread (4-oz. jars x 12), and biscuits (2 biscuits x 8 bags). Well, I definitely made too much, but it’s a rookie mistake. I gave away most of what was leftover to Chopping Block staff (Thanks, Curtis!) and neighbors! Also, since this was a bigger swap, there were more things for swappers to eye, so I feel like more stuff would have been spoken for at a smaller one. I made 2 savory things; a tip from Ian, because there was A LOT of sweet stuff. The more exotic baked goods had more interest than biscuits or cookies. Case in point: my most requested to swap for item was my grapefruit malört cookies. Only one person signed up for my boring biscuits (though they are very tasty). I walked the floor at least 3 times and every time I saw something that I hadn’t noticed. I am so happy with my haul, but I think I am most excited about the stilton bleu cheese dressing, the pinot noir jelly, the madelines, and the egg pasta. I’m not sure how, but it seems that there has to be a better way than “start swapping” and then a mad dash to try to get your favorite items. I’m rarely a competitive and aggressive person, so hot ticket items at this one that I wanted to swap for, but went too quick were chicken eggs, the bourbon caramels, and ricotta. A swapper named Dora made little stickers with her name and what she made and this was SUCH a good idea and saved the time from writing down your name and what you made as many times as you found items you wanted. Another thing I can recommend is having multiple sizes of items to barter a better trade with, or if a swapper thinks they won’t be able to use all of a perishable item before it goes bad. I had such a great time and am so looking forward into digging into my goodies! I am in love with food swaps now. Thanks to Ian for telling me about the Chicago Food Swap!
Since Z and I dated for many years before getting married, we are not throwing all those years away. We used a gift certificate given to us by Brianne, one of my bridesmaids of awesome, to go to Girl & the Goat to celebrate! This was a stellar meal and it turns out our waitress was a friend of a few friends. Chicago world is the smallest world! The potstickers were TO DIE FOR, but the cauliflower with mint might have been my favorite thing overall. Very accommodating for vegetarians, but not much for vegans on the menu.
What an absolutely great and well-rounded week I had. USPS Meeting organized by Steve. Girl & the Goat! Finally filed my taxes online with H&R Block. Saw Dogs in Ecstasy/Platinum Boys @ Tall Pat Records presents Cuddle x Cuddle West @ Empty Bottle. Had brunch with my friend Christa in town from Philly at John’s Place. Chicago Food Swap. Dinner @ Quesadilla and then Jordorowsky’s Dune @ Music Box.