Alice Waters signing/appetizers @ Prairie Grass Cafe, 10/3

Hi all,

I just learned that Alice Waters will be signing books (and appetizers will be served) at Prairie Grass Cafe on Wednesday October 3, from 3 to 5 pm.

The cost is $15 per person. Please rsvp at (847) 205-4433, as capacity is limited.

=R=

Prairie Grass Cafe
601 Skokie Boulevard
Northbrook, IL 60062
847 205-4433

How cool -- I can't go, I got a day job.

However, my cousin Karen did Alice's first restaurant (interior design) -- and I would like to signal a big cheeri-hi

SGFoxe

Just a heads up that this event has been moved from 10/4 to 10/3. I've edited the subject line and my initial post to reflect the change.

=R=

If you can't make this, Waters is in town Oct. 3-6, doing a variety of events:

Alice Waters Chicago schedule

Very disappointing event. Chef Waters was well over an hour late, and spoke for no more than 10 minutes before going straight into a non-personalized book signing. Sarah Stegner was her usual sour self, and all at my table - food professionals and/or authors all - agreed that the kitchen's execution of recipes from Waters's new book was painfully subpar, as was the distribution of the food. We all agreed at the end that it was not worth the fifteen dollar (plus tax!) cover charge - in fact, one of my tablemates left without even getting her newly-purchased book signed, proclaiming the event to be pretty much a "cluster____" - and she was affiliated with a sponsor!

The chocolate crinkle cookies were good, though, and I got another Xmas present purchased and crossed off the list, so it wasn't a total loss, but it could have been executed far, far better.

Hi,

I arrived around 4 PM just after her talk. I only got two cookies, though I was still responsible for the $15 tab. IF you wanted more than water, then it was cash bar.

What made it worthwhile was standing in line with Suburban Ronnie, Louisa Chu, her sister Annie and people from the Reader.

I, too, got a Christmas gift score by purchasing her children's cookbook.

Otherwise I wasn't very impressed, too.

Regards,

sundevilpeg wrote:Sarah Stegner was her usual sour self

Not only do I completely disagree with this but I hate these kinds of personal comments, in general. If anything, my guess is that she was probably just nervous because Ms. Waters was so late. Beyond that, she's a fairly shy person to begin with.

Sheesh!

=R=

I strongly concur with Ronnie. Sarah is a really lovely and dedicated chef. I've worked with her through the Green City Market and she is such a down-to-earth and kind person so this representation is unfair and inaccurate. That being said, from what I'm reading, I'm glad that I called about going to this too late. I knew that I was going to be unable to attend any of the GCM events as I was emceeing the Healthy Kitchen at Naturally Healthy Children's Expo all weekend and had hoped to participate in at least one of the events.

On the subject of Waters' visit, does anyone know whether she met with Common Threads or Organic School Project while she was in town? My organization's only involvement with the visit was a contribution of pictures to the slide show presented during her meeting wtih Daley. And I'm pretty certain that she did not meet with Healthy Schools Campaign as they were crazy busy with their marathon event. I'm a little intrigued by the announcement about the 6 Edible Schoolyards that she's supposed to be involved with in Chicago. While I think that the program is a worthy one, for an advocate of eating locally and supporting local producers, I do hope that she's involving local people as there are a lot of really fantastic people (in addition to those involved in Slow Food's Dawe's garden in Evanston) working in this area and doing grassroots work in schools.

MAG wrote:I strongly concur with Ronnie. Sarah is a really lovely and dedicated chef. I've worked with her through the Green City Market and she is such a down-to-earth and kind person so this representation is unfair and inaccurate. That being said, from what I'm reading, I'm glad that I called about going to this too late. I knew that I was going to be unable to attend any of the GCM events as I was emceeing the Healthy Kitchen at Naturally Healthy Children's Expo all weekend and had hoped to participate in at least one of the events.

On the subject of Waters' visit, does anyone know whether she met with Common Threads or Organic School Project while she was in town? My organization's only involvement with the visit was a contribution of pictures to the slide show presented during her meeting wtih Daley. And I'm pretty certain that she did not meet with Healthy Schools Campaign as they were crazy busy with their marathon event. I'm a little intrigued by the announcement about the 6 Edible Schoolyards that she's supposed to be involved with in Chicago. While I think that the program is a worthy one, for an advocate of eating locally and supporting local producers, I do hope that she's involving local people as there are a lot of really fantastic people (in addition to those involved in Slow Food's Dawe's garden in Evanston) working in this area and doing grassroots work in schools.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/ ... 4553.story

I read the article, which in part informed my question. She spent some time at GCM and went to the Edible Farm, but it doesn't seem like she spent any time visiting with the local organizations who are already working in the schools and in at-risk communities.