CaliPoutine

Its for a foodie group( Gay Foodies) I belong to thru meetup.org. They do a lot of fun events, but this will be my first potluck. The event is on March 27th Thanks for all the great ideas.

Here are the full rules. I dont eat raw tomato so I wont make anything with that. Same with raw fish. We cant do any cooking on site, only reheating. 1) Nitrate-free (as your resident nutritionist, we should stay away from nitrates for their health risks). This means your cheap grocery store bacon is going to disqualified for this potluck. Trader Joe's has an inexpensive "applewood smoked" bacon that is nitrate free. You have other options in this bacon challenge--please read #2. 2) You choice of protein can be loosely defined as bacon. I had a delicious salad with toasted serrano ham and it tasted like lean bacon--thus the idea emerged that bacon can be defined as: any kind of smokey pork -- canadian bacon, serrano ham, prosciutto; turkey bacon is qualifiable, but no veggie bacon please (sorry I've tried them and they don't taste good). 3) You can bring things like Vosges chocolate bars with bacon, and as yummy as that is, it will not qualify for the Iron Chef Challenge. You must cook/create something with a secret ingredient. Sprinkling bacon on top of a salad may not count, unless you've done something fantastic with the salad. Bacon-wrapped dates is already assigned to a member, so you'll need to pick something else! Avocado: 1) Guacamole does not count as a dish. If you make guac, it must be a relish or something on top of an entree. Last time I had tomato as a secret ingredient and people chopped tomatoes for salsa--that's too easy, sorry. 2) Creative things like spiced pistachio avocado ice cream is desired! Who has an ice cream maker?? 3) If you are stumped for ideas, you have several weeks to use websites like www.epicurious.com or allrecipes.com where you can type in your desired ingredients to search for recipes. My chef friends at realfoodhascurves.com wrote a collectible ham book that got published last year if you need creative smokey pork ideas. 4) You are welcome to bring extra dishes that do not have the secret ingredients and you know your foodies will enjoy that! Sorry, those dishes are additional and will not count for the votes. THE VOTING PROCESS: 1) When you arrive, everyone puts the name of their dish on an index card to label the plates. Anything special, please note on the index card. Please make an effort to try a taste of every dish in order to fairly vote. 2) After we are well-fed, everyone gets to cast 3 votes for their top 3 favorite dishes. These are done by tallies on the back of the index cards. 3) I will collect the votes and announce the top 3 winners! Small prizes will be given as tokens of their win! For all dishes: I encourage you to find a way to include veggies in your entries, which will help us digest better with this bacon extravaganza. Please cook things with fun and love. The energy of the food has the energy of the chef in addition to ethical farming etc. If you are cooking with anxiety, those of us with sensitive stomachs will feel your stress. Please bring your dish ready to serve--that means bring your own platter and servingware and be prepared to track down your own dishes to take home because your hosts will not be able to remember your goods when we are cleaning up. Michael has an oven for reheating if you wish. The address will be sent a few days before the event to the confirm attendees. As usual, no flakes (please "early cancel" if you are sick that week). Drink and wine? Yes--please bring what you want. Ok, that about covers the guidelines about our secret ingredients! Let the Iron Chef Challenge BEGIN!!!

We cant make a salad with bacon sprinkled on top. That doesnt count.

Im participating in an Iron Chef challenge with Bacon and Avocado. The recipe doesnt need to contain both. For bacon, it has to be nitrate free. It can also be ham, canadian bacon, etc. For the avocado, it cant be guacamole, unless that is the topping. They would like the dish to contain at least 1 vegetable. I think someone is making an avocado ice cream so I dont want to do that. What do you have?

I do a variation of this all the time. Its called meetup.org. I belong to about 4 different foodie groups and I sit with strangers all the time. Its not for everyone, but I dont mind. I will say this, there are a lot of weird people in Cali!!

I've been back in the States now(back from Canada) for almost 9 months and I'm proud to say I havent eaten at Subway. I ate there a lot in my small town in Ontario because it was either Subway, McDonalds, KFC( no way, no how) or Tim Horton's. Subway seemed the healthiest to me, even if I wasnt fond of their cold cuts. Now that I'm back in Cali, I'f I want a sub, I go to Jersey Mike's. Much, Much better if not slightly more expensive. A 6inch turkey and provolone with a coupon( I always have a coupon) is 6.50.

I agree. Love it. Dont love the vanilla or cherry as much. I especially love it from the fountain.

Michigan has this law. Ive used it many times when I shopped there( while living in Ontario).

OMG, When I lived in Ontario, I used this every single day. NO JOKE!! My Indepedent grocer( division of Loblaws) was NOTORIOUS for overcharging. I have gotten so many things for free because of this. On one hand it was good for me, but I know there were so many ppl who had no clue they were being overcharged.

I dont like toasted bagels so I only toast if I have to. I make my own and they are great untoasted on the 2nd and sometimes the 3rd day. I make them a lot smaller than the original recipe calls for ( bread baker's apprentice). When I do toast( a bagel shop bagel). I cut it into 3rds because I find that when only cut in half, its not toasted enough( before burning).

Awwwwwww, Andie, your compliments literally mean the world to me ! You're one of my eG heroines When I was first researching CSAs a couple of years back, I was blown away by how few there were that service Long Beach. At the time I think there was only one, and even that had a pick-up location in Orange County. Now there's a few more, but I'm so delighted with The Growing Experience and its values, I'm not going anywhere. You grow so much of your own produce though, you're YOUR own CSA The fish was IQF cod from TJ's ! I think they're frozen fish is great. I'll keep my eyes open for the Vallarta. There's a Northgate Supermarket in town that gets pretty good reviews on Yelp (for whatever, *that's* worth....) that I had in my back pocket to scope out this week, but ran out of time and steam. I'll be paying them a visit soon though. Thanks again for the kind words and your contributions to the blog. We gave a Vallerta in Santa Clarita that I like. I love their fresh tortillas. When I lived in LB, I shopped at the Mexican market @ 10th/LB Blvd. Is that the Northgate? It compares favorably to Vallerta.

I agree with you. I wont purchase anything there anymore, however, I do have 2 free coupons which I'll redeem. I just wont give them my money.

I think the last time I went into a 99 Ranch market was in Culver City in the late early 90's. I dont think we have one here in Santa Clarita. Thanks for reminding me about them. I took copious notes re: your pierogi making. My partner is Polish( from Wisconsin)and she hasnt had a proper pierogi since leaving home. Thanks for a great blog. I *LOVE* Breakfast burritos. My favorite is from The Coffee Cup Cafe on 4th/Termino.

Hi Roberta. I wish I would have seen your teasers before today. I would have recognized Signal Hill since I used to live in Long Beach and very close to Signal Hill. Looking forward to your blog as I'm in Long Beach at least 3x a month( I still have family and friends there). Maybe I'll discover something new.

Omg, hysterical. Glad to see I'm not the only one who threw out "less than perfect" baked goods for the squirrels to enjoy. I did once leave a pan of toblerone topped shortbread out to cool( in the middle of winter) and came back to see feet marks on top.

If you want some High Gluten Flour( for bagels). I'm getting a 50lb bag thru a caterer in LB. My aunt works for him and he is letting me order it. Just let me know.

I didn't realize that you could buy the peppers in Michigan. Will stop on our way home from Utah next time and load up. I have a young friend who works at a Krogers in Imlay City and I could check with her first. Could stop in Lansing, Flint... You must be in heaven being back in SoCal. You can buy all the ingredients you need for Mexican food every day! I bought them at Meijer( cheaper than Kroger) in Port Huron. You can also check at Superwalmart. Yes, I'm in Heaven being back in Socal. I've only cooked some basic mexican food. Its so inexpensive and there are so many Mexican restaurants where I live. I will miss the lilacs this year, we dont have those here as they need a cold winter.

David, Have you tried the Burnt sugar cake with butter instead of crisco? I dont really like the mouth feel of crisco.

I havent seen this recipe, but have you tried Cook's Illustrated's? Its awesome. They also have a fresh ginger/coconut variation which is awesome as well.

Hahaha, I remember those days, living in Exeter. I was dying for some proper authentic Mexican food. Thankfully, I was only an hour from Michigan and could buy anaheims and poblanos there. I used to buy avocados in Exeter or Grand Bend. 10 for 1.00 because no one every bought them. I guess Guacamole was too exotic too.

Here is mine. A salt box( made in Japan) that my gram gave me about 12years ago. She is gone now, so its even more special. http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs286.snc6/181442_500454467615_517192615_6291616_1759573_n.jpg

I'm surprised its not your big Butcher Block that you found on the street.

I sold 3 years worth of Saveur on Ebay for a nice amount.

When I moved back to California from Canada, I didnt have the pleasure of packing my own stuff. My ex packed 14 boxes of magazines . I would have never taken them all because they were heavy and the international move was very expensive. I ended up only keeping chocolatier, Food and drink( free magazine from the LCBO) and Food Network magazine. Oh, I kept everyday food too. A few months before I knew I was leaving, I sold a few years worth of Saveur on Ebay for a nice amount. I cut out what recipes I wanted from Food and Wine and Bon Appetite. Gourmet too. I get CI and at the end of the year, I buy the cookbook( which is the magazine in bound form) and sell the 6 issues on ebay. Usually for what I paid to read it.

My partner cut herself the other day with our brand new Ken Onion Shun Knives. Wow, she litterally cut off the tip of her finger. The cut would have been much less severe had the knife been dull.