Quorn Dinner at Staple & Fancy

A few weeks ago, I was invited to taste Quorn for the first time at a media event at Staple & Fancy.  I am a huge fan of all of Ethan Stowell restaurants, especially Staple & Fancy and How to Cook a Wolf.   It was in the private dining room called The Cellar.

I have to admit, I was really curious about trying Quorn because I eat quite a few meatless meals a week on a daily basis.  I recently found out that Quorn foods just  launched in the US and can be found in many grocery stores.

The product is made of Mycoprotein. Quorn is  known as fungal protein, is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “the albuminoid which is the principal constituent of the protoplasm of the cell.” “Myco” is from the Greek word for “fungus” (from Wikipedia).  To read more about it on Wikipedia, click here.

In most of the dishes, you could not tell it wasn’t actually real meat. The meat sauce actually tastes like ground beef especially alongside the hand-made pasta.  It is actually pretty amazing that you can get this flavor without meat.   There was a also a mock chicken dish that tasted very close to chicken. I have to say that the ground beef was my favorite but the chicken was a nice substitute too. We also tried chicken nuggets and Quorn nuggets and it was hard to differentiate between them ( very close in taste) though I wouldn’t eat chicken nuggets anyway.

 

It is nice to know that there is an option if you are not eating meat, that has a flavor that is close to meat flavor. As somebody who is lactose-intolerant, I have tried every type of “fake” cheese and I have not found a brand that actually tastes like real cheese, I wish there were other options. I do still eat cheese with a lactose pill but it would be nice to be able to just swap a slice of cheese for something with a good flavor.

The event was orchestrated by  the folks at Quorn along with Traca, from Seattle Tall Poppy, and they brought some amazing people together to break bread and try  Quorn.

Macy’s Food Truck Visits Seattle

Photo taken at Foodportunity.

Macy’s Food Truck is serving free food this Thursday and Chef Tom Douglas will be hosting it!

When: Thursday, September 1, 2011
5:00pm-8:00pm

WHERE:
Bumbershoot Visual Arts Exhibit Preview
Seattle Center Pavilion,
(south of Key Arena and corner of Thomas St. & 2nd Ave. North)
Seattle, WA 98109

Food:
Crab Foo Yung
Octopus with Green Papaya Slaw and Cilantro Sesame Vinaigrette
Prosser Farm Watermelon Thai Basil Ginger Ale
Emeril’s BaBam!as Foster Ice Cream Pops

MORE:
While the chef’s dishes are free, guests can support a good cause by donating to Feeding America ®, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization. For every $1 donated, Feeding America can help provide seven meals to those in need on behalf of local food banks. More information can be found here

What’s for Lunch?

The options for evening dining in Seattle may be overwhelming but quick and inexpensive lunches are sometimes harder to find. Paseo is my favorite on-the go- option (if you don’t count the time waiting in line) but I am always interested in extending my list with new choices to try.

Serafina, Eastlake’s romantic Italian hideaway now has a panini window, where you will find options like the Porchetta, made with roasted porchetta on Macrina ciabatta with pickled onion and salsa verde, or the Salami made with fontina cheese and artichoke olivada on baguette as well as the Caprese with heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil pesto and balsamic on housemade focaccia. The sandwiches are priced at 8 dollars.

Homey and inviting Dinette on Capitol Hill has been serving sandwiches since the beginning of summer, owner and chef Melissa Nyffeler knows how to dress up any sandwich with items like the Cubano; Carlton Farm’s braised pork shoulder, smoked pork loin, caramelized onions, gruyere, red pepper and mustard, or the Curry Chicken Salad made of free range chicken, dried apricots, blood orange mayo & pickled carrots. The long list of sandwiches are priced under 9 dollars.

And just this week, Blue Moon Burgers opened a Capitol Hill location on Broadway, where they serve Long Valley Ranch’s 100% Pasture Raised Beef served in a myriad of ways; with signature burgers like the Blue Hawaiian with Teriyaki Glaze, pepper jack cheese and a grilled pineapple ring or the The Code Blue, two beef patties topped with 4 slices of bacon, 2 slices of cheddar cheese, peanut butter, sweet red onions and the special Blue Moon sauce on brioche. Gluten free and vegetarian options are available.

Lunch has never been easier. Pick up your sandwhich and find a spot to enjoy the sun while it is still visiting.

Food Lovers’ Guide Book Launch Party and Fundraiser for Farestart

One of the things that people always ask me is why I chose to have a fundraiser for a book launch party. When I was a kid, I had a friend Izzy, she had such a big heart and we did everything together. What I loved about Izzy is that she would go up to the homeless people on the street and buy them lunch, then sit with them and listen to their stories. I always admired her for that, I was too scared to start up conversations with people I didn’t know but I would live vicariously through her conversations. Over 4 years ago, when I started blogging, I had this brilliant idea, it was called “brunch a bunch” or something along those lines. I was going to choose a day and make sure on that day that everyone I knew would buy someone homeless lunch. The only problem was that I didn’t know many people so it ended up being just a few of my friends who actually did it. Fast forward four years later and I know more people and have a book coming out, so Farestart was exactly the non-profit that I wanted to work with. They take disadvantaged individuals and teach them culinary skills. I wanted to make this a fundraiser that nobody had to think twice about. So $5 was a way that everyone could give a bit and together we raised
$1,241.
Now that is a great way to make a difference. The event was sponsored by Fonte. They made it possible to do this and gave out coffee, prizes and more. All the photos are by the fabulous Jackie Donnely Baisa of Baisaphoto.com. The location is the beautiful Shilshole Bay Beach Club in Ballard. Thank you to everyone who participated, all the restaurants, all the companies and thanks to everyone for supporting my book. Thank you to Tiffany Ran for her editing skills. Thanks to Micaela Surdi, Yale Gadin, Meg Landies and Felice Lam for helping me so much on this journey. Special thanks to Fonte Coffee and Shilshole Bay Beach Club.

Did you see this write up in the Puget Sound Business Journal or this one in the Seattle Times?

Everyone was buzzing around the wheel of Fonte. Wouldn’t you want to win a year’s worth of coffee?

And a giant twister game. What kind of party is it without games?

Did you miss this? Come meet me at some of the other signings.