3rd Annual NJ Potluck and eG Society Fundraiser

[Rachel Perlow]

Many people have been asking me if we are doing it again this year...

I was just waiting for confirmation of the date from Bobolink, it is in, so here we go!

Third Annual NJ Potluck and eGullet Society Fundraiser

Date, Time, Location: Sunday, September 18, 2005 at 12:30 PM. Bobolink Dairy, Vernon, NJ <-- Click link for directions.

Like last year, I think it is a good idea to get a tent and tables for the food area. In addition, people should bring tents, tables, chairs, blankets, or whatever else they'd like to make themselves comfortable (if you have extras, it would be great to bring them to share, too). Please wear comfortable shoes, avoiding high heels, we will be at a working farm and there's a walk down a hill to the restroom.

This event is also an eGullet Society fundraising event. Therefore, the charge for this event will be $20 per person (kids under 12 free). This amount covers about $5 for rentals and a $15 donation to the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, depending on attendance.

We are requiring attendees to use our secure online payment system to make payment, links below. You may pay by major credit card, PayPal direct transfer or e-check. This enables all accounting to occur automatically and prevents the need for awkward handling of cash at the event. Please consider buying your tickets at the earliest possible date, so that we may put a deposit down for the rentals. We do not plan on selling tickets at the door, but if the need arises, these will be at a higher price.

You may now begin RSVPing and posting what you intend to bring to the potluck! We have decided to skip the professional BBQ this year as there is so much food just from the potluck and I'm sure there are many experienced smokers & grillers out there that want to show off their talent. There's even a grill available if you need to finish off your dish on site.

For the newbies, if you'd like to read more about our previous events at Bobolink, here are a few threads to check out:

Second Annual eGullet NJ Pig-BBQ & Potluck, 9/12/04, to skip directly to the post event discussion and pictures, click here.
eGullet NJ Pig-BBQ & Potluck, Sunday, 9/21/03, to skip directly to the post event discussion and pictures, click here.
Also, in case you haven't read it, this is the thread that educated us all about Jonathan White's Bobolink Dairy.

Here are the payment links:

Potluck Admission - $20 per person ($5 rentals + $15 donation)
Bread Lover Admission - $35 per person ($5 rentals + $30 donation)
Cheese Lover Admission - $50 per person ($5 rentals + $45 donation)
Cow Lover Admission - $75 per person ($5 rentals + $70 donation)

Can't wait to see you all in September!

[Fat Guy]

Ellen and I are going to try our darndest to come, but will have to hold off on the formal RSVP until early September. We're expecting a new arrival at the end of August, so with an anticipated very small person on our hands it's a little hard to predict our level of mobility. But if all goes well in terms of health, etc., we'll be there, and we should know for sure in early September. If it's okay, I'll hold off on specifying what we'll be bringing until then -- that way we can act as utility infielders, taking up some of the slack if there's a need for more dessert, paper products, soft drinks, whatever. Hope we'll see you all there.

[jmcgrath]

I'm in! I've made my donation. If folks want to do some serious barbecue, I can tow down my trailer mounted Klose pit. The cooking chamber is six feet long and two feet wide so it will more than accomodate anything folks want to smoke.

If folks want to do serious stuff like butts and briskets, it will mean starting the cook on Saturday evening and staying up all night tending the fire, and perhaps drinking a few beers. I'm coming from Concord, MA which is a pretty good drive. I won't bring the pit unless some serious interest is expressed.

Jim

[Rachel Perlow]

That's very generous of you, Jim. I've put in an email to our hosts at Bobolink to make sure this would be permissable. I'll let y'all know.

[alanz]

I'll check with Lauren to see if we're available on this date...

I could bring some BBQ (perhaps a smoked corned beef, or pork butt, or the like...)

We'll see how our schedules work out. We missed last year, but very much enjoyed the first event.

[hillbill]

I'd love to attend but I have two caveats before buying a ticket:

1. I don't know how to cook anything except microwave popcorn so I'd like to know if it's okay to bring staples from the supermarket like soda or chips in lieu of a potluck dish.

2. What's the deadline, assuming there's one, for signing up? I'm going to be away earlier in the month at dance camp in Maine, and I'm pretty sure I'll be back before the 18th but I'd like to know if I can postpone signing up until after I return from Maine in September (i.e. are there a limited number of tickets being sold?)

[Rachel Perlow]

There's plenty of room for all (or at least we'll let you know if we get too many sign-ups). We had just over 80 last year, I'm sure we could get upwards of 100 without a problem. For now, let's say the deadline for prepayment is September 13th.

If you can't cook, other potluck contributions are welcome: soft drinks, beer, wine, and drygoods such as paper and/or plastic plates, utensils, cups, napkins, paper towels, tablecloths, etc.

Let's try to avoid store bought prepared food, except in extreme cases. A good example would be jhlurie brought some fabulous baklava last year from a specialty bakery, a "no no" would be Costco apple pie.

[Rachel Perlow]

Someone asked me this via PM, and I thought the answer would benefit everyone...

I do have a few questions, and I don't have the attention span to read what seems like 50 pages of posts.... We are all supposed to cook a dish or dessert of some kind?  What do people typically bring--or how much food does an individual bring?  Enough to feed 4/8/12/etc?

I culled some posts from the previous two potluck threads, linked in my first post, above, to answer this:

Rachel, can you give us all a sense of how much food we should bring?  I think we can count on the eG members to bring way too much    but my friends are already asking if they should buy/make (Who am I kidding?  They'll BUY) Costco-sized batches of food. 

I realize that none of us are expected to make enough of our dish to feed all in attendance, but I'm betting that some basic guidelines would be appreciated by many who are coming to the event for the first time. 

Thanks!

Curlz

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but my friends are already asking if they should buy/make (Who am I kidding?  They'll BUY) Costco-sized batches of food.

Curlz, I'll leave the quantity guidelines to Rachel, but just my two cents:

last year, as a cleaner upper, I noticed that the few store bought things from Costco were almost untouched..with all this food, the precut carrot sticks with ranch dresssing in the costco container, or the ready made pies, just sat there, forelornly hoping for someone to take a slice. you might want to suggest that they bring bread or rolls for the pig, or sign them up for fresh fruit, or a monster melon. It's just that last year, there was a considerable bit of waste, so I thought I 'd try to limit it as much as possible.

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I think that if one person or couple makes enought for 8 to 12 people that we will have more than enough food.

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Rosie's quantity suggestion sounds about right. We figured it out last year that if everyone brought an actual portion of food for each person, we would have enough food to feed around 4000 people, or something like that. Around 75 people attended last year, I think we definitely had enough food to feed at least twice that many....

The point being that while you don't need to bring 75 portions of food, you want to bring enough that everyone who wants some will get some. If enough people bring leftover containers, and actually take some leftovers, there shouldn't be too much waste. Last year I brought those flat aluminum take out containers, others brought those disposable Glad or Ziploc plastic containers, they all work great.

Think of a lasagna pan, bring approximately that much (depending on the dish). However, if you are bringing something fancy, small, and individual, like Truffles, it is only fair to bring enough for everyone to have one piece. However, this wouldn't apply to pastries like the baklava or cupcakes, because they are each a form of cake, say, and there'll be a wide variety of them to choose from.

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[Rebecca263]

OK, Kiddle and I want to attend. We're newbies, how do we decide WHAT to bring? I'm thinking vegan yebra (stuffed grape leaves, my own special recipe, lol) and some fruit breads, she says cinnamon and cumin roasted chickens and home made potato chips... we have a tiny kitchen and even fewer pots and pans, so...... how do we narrow it down? AND, how do we heat things when we get there? Is there a handbook for this event? hahaha.... I'm only halfway kidding....

[Fat Guy]

I have one of those single-burner tabletop catering stoves. Would be happy to bring it or get it to the Perlows before the event. It runs on Butane cartridges. I think I have a few of those too.

[Rachel Perlow]

I think I need to work on a Potluck FAQ.

Rebecca, everything you just mentioned sounds great, bring any or all. As more people RSVP, we will compile it all into summary posts with the food organized by course. That way, people can see where gaps need to be filled in.

Reheating: There is a grill, a house oven and a brick bread oven on site. We set the house oven at around 325 F and people heated stuff up in there. The bread oven will probably be available a little later in the afternoon, after Bobolink has finished baking for the day, and it is a bit hotter, more like 400 F. If you have a crock pot or something like that to plug in, I believe they would let us plug in, but bring a long, high voltage extension cord. Generally, food that still tastes good at room temperature is a good thing to consider.

As for keeping stuff cold, there is a cold room by the bread oven, kept at around 50 degrees. And one of the things a non-cook can do is provide lots of ice.

[Rebecca263]

All right folks, kiddle is out of town and unavailable for consulting until next Sunday. Til then, I'm definitely attending, perhaps plus one kiddle... I'm assuming that the dairy is within a four hour drive of us, but who knows! We're bringing at least one large tray of completely vegan and kosher stuffed grape leaves.... almost anyone can eat these little bundles of love!... Also, a tray of cumin and cinnamon roasted chicken, not a huge amount, 'cause we're poor single girls, but I'm keeping an eye out at the kosher butcher's for bargains from now until the event! We try to bring kosher stuff and something vegan to potlucks because who knows if someone is kosher or halal or vegan.... and there should always be something for those folks, right? Plus, although they're not needed, obviously, a few loaves of my famous banana loaf. Stacks of recipes included! I hope everyone brings their recipes for sharing, that'll be BIG fun!

So, so far:

stuffed grape leaves

cumin and cinnamon roasted chicken

banana loaf

Is that an OK start?

And, yes, Rachel, please make a FAQ, pretty please with a fully dressed bagel on top?

[Rachel Perlow]

As more questions come in I'll try to compose one, but it would be great if people could scan the previous threads before asking. I'm sure we've answered them all over the past three years.

[hathor]

Many thanks for the invite, and its lovely that you are co-ordinating this fun event again, but I can't make it. 'cause we're still in Italy.

Have fun everyone!!

[kenrbnsn]

Darn! I can't make it this year.

Helena and I had a great time last year even though her health was already starting to decline.

Hopefully, I will be able to attend next year (don't make it on the 1st or 3rd Sunday -- I'm already booked. )

Ken

[Rachel Perlow]

FAQ

How is the event scheduled?

Not Labor Day weekend, as most have family/friends events to go to. Not on or in between the Jewish High Holidays, as we have many Jewish members who like to attend, myself included. There's usually a choice of two or three weekends during September or the beginning of October that work, I then give Bobolink a choice between those dates.

[Rachel Perlow]

FAQ

What should I bring to the potluck?

Anything that you like to make, especially if it is always a big hit with your family and friends. It would be great if it is appropriate for the season and atmosphere of the event, which is a big casual picnic/BBQ party on a farm. Please post what you plan to bring as soon as possible. This will be compiled onto a master list so that others will know what's been covered. If you still haven't a clue what to bring, consult the list and see what's missing that should be at this type of party. If you can't cook, there are always other options, like bringing dry goods, drinks, or buying something of high quality (see below).

Can I buy the food I bring or does it have to be homemade?

Obviously, homemade is the best way to express yourself in food at the Potluck. However, if you can't cook and know of some really high quality purchased item that you feel the need to share with your fellow eGullet Society members, then of course that contribution would be welcome as well. Examples of acceptable store bought items that have been brought in the past were some wonderful chocolate truffles and baklava from a specialty bakery. Unacceptable items would include Costco pies or preprepared veggie & dip platters. These types of items generally sit untouched and are just a waste to bring. However, a veggie & dip platter that you prepare yourself with an interesting variety of fresh vegetables and a homemade dip might prove very popular.

[iwakura42]

Posting to register my interest. I, too, am holding off on RSVPing until I figure some things out, but it sounds like a fantastic time. What to bring, what to bring.

[Weissman]

I think I will attend. The event is only twenty miles and about 5 turns from my house. It's nice to put a barbecue found raiser in an area of NJ that many people aren't familiar with. I am from Ringwood, and in a location that is close to NY state as well as upscale Bergen county, and mid town Manhattan. And it is convenient to me. By the way, my house might just be the half way mark from NYC to Vernon.

As to what I would make, I am not sure yet. A lot of competion LOL!! I will not, however, make a rainbow jello mold. I like the presentation!!

[Rachel Perlow]

Ah, someone who has done his research!

[Rachel Perlow]

Just a heads up to everyone... I need to confirm the rentals by September 1st, so please sign up and pay as soon as possible, so we have a realistic headcount. Thank you.

[lesfen]

I REALLY want to come but I live too far away to actually drive in and make it back in time for work the next day... where is the closest airport and what time do the festivities usually die down?

[ronnie_suburban]

I've booked my flight and will be attending.

I'll sign up officially, asap.

=R=

[Rachel Perlow]

I'd fly into Newark if you're going to fly. Ronnie could forward you a lot of info that I sent him with regard to timing.

[rlibkind]

I'd fly into Newark if you're going to fly. Ronnie could forward you a lot of info that I sent him with regard to timing.

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Anyone thinking of flying to this event should at least consider using Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, NY, rather than Newark. Stewart is about half an hour closer to Bobolink than Newark. Although it's a smaller airport offering fewer flights, it does have non-stop service from some hubs: Chicago (American Eagle), Detroit (Northwest), Philadelphia (US Airways Express), DC-Dulles (Independence), and Cincinnati (Delta Connection).

From Akron/Canton, US Airways offers a $170 fare (including fees, taxes), with a change in Philadelphia. It gets you to Stewart at 1 p.m. Sunday (or Saturday if you want to fly out earlier) and there's an early evening return flight.

Since there are no non-stops from Akron/Canton to either Newark or Stewart, and the fares to Stewart are actually a little less expensive, it may be worth golng to Newburgh rather than Newark. The fares out of Cleveland, rather than Akron, aren't any better, though there are Cleveland-Newark non-stops.