Food coma has set in. SueF has fallen asleep with her laptop on her lap, I'm having troubles keeping my eyes open.
So much good food

Little magicks:
* The tiny pepper skewered with the watermellon
* The tomato jam on the BLT crostini
* The wonderful ma la from Gary's Ma Po Tofu
* The mint/cucumber/dill ice which tasted of frozen pickles
* Four different basil lemonades (I think I tasted three)
* A sweet, spicy beef short rib that whizzed by so quickly I didn't get the ethnicity
* Black Bear Lettuce and Tomato (couldn't get past the little voice yelling "unclean!" to eat the Camel)

Special thanks to:
* Whoever brought Reddi-Whip for the Cherry Cobbler
* Whoever brought the keg of Sprecher's root beer

And thanks to all for the community we've built.

Great food all around - special props go to Ronnie for those italian sandwiches and to whoever assembled the tomato/lobster (!?!?) salad. Plus the deepfried spring rolls and the various briskets and the outstanding BLT crostini. Plus the everything and the everybody. You are all nice!

Another amazing LTH picnic and the joy of tasting, tasting, tasting, and more tasting, with old and new friends.

Cathy - you even got the weather gods to smile and provide us with a glorious day!

Thank you all.

Jyoti

Thank you everyone for array of food and drinks. Everything worked out great today, the food, the weather, the drinks, and most of all, the LTH community.

There were too many dishes for me to remember and thank each individual properly. However, Dansch, it is mighty impressive frying and serving cha gio with all the proper accoutrements from the side of the building on the ground. Hats off to you, can't wait to tell my sisters about your feat. The only missing elements are the wooden/plastic stools and straw hat.

As always, Jimthebeerbuy came up with the goods. As good as this purchased batch of beer was, your home brew is even better. You found your calling.

Jen/Boudreaulicious, you have such a deft hand with salad dressings. Each salad was delicious, but the apple/pear thai salad was exceptional. Thank you for allowing me to contribute to the effort.

Jimswide, Vangie, and Shay, as always, thank you for seeing me home safe and sound. Hope your commute home was not too bad. Pleasure meeting your Beemer mom, very cool.

Final thanks to the organizers and LTH for a great bash!

Thank you for a wonderful and filling day. Everybody was welcoming and nice to the newbies. This was my first picnic/event with the group and it was delightful. Food and variety of food was so diverse and appealing. It was truly a foodie's delight. Now to just relax in a state of food coma.

What a feast!! I can see why you all have talked about this all year

So many special things, I feel bad even mentioning any specifically since, for every one I remember, there were probably 2 items I'm just too tired and full to recall. But a few favorites that I can think of now that haven't been mentioned yet--the lettuce, kimchi, pork belly dish; Alan's Nero Cavolo; Steve's brisket, Gary's mapo tofu, everything that the guys with the tricked out cooker did; JustJoan's flatbread and orange cake, Mary Beth's potato salad, jimswide's korean wings, attrill's prosciutto wrapped sausage (ingenious AND delicious!!), the negroni and grapefruit flavored ices (ooooooh those were amazing!!). I seriously ate enough for a week.

Several folks asked for recipes for the salads (and Seth--it was shrimp in the tomato salad, not lobster--love you people but I'm not bringing lobster to a picnic for you ) Should we post them and, if so, where?

MUCH thanks to Petite_Gourmande for her help with all the salads--I never could have finished in time without you. And to Cathy, Mary and Michelle for all their labor in putting this together. Bravo!!

Now it really feels like summer's over --bring on pumpkins, crunchy leaves, halloween, soup and fall!!! And the Christmas party

I've started a recipe/request thread over in Shopping and Cooking.

Another wonderful LTH picnic! Food was fabulous, people wonderful. It was great to meet more LTHers to match names with faces. Thanks, Cathy, Michele, and Mary for organizing so wonderfully well. Everything John and I ate was excellent and resulted in seriously necessary food-induced naps when we got home. I loved the Excited Pig; maybe we can institute the David Hammond Most Phallic Food Prize, to be awarded annually.

Evy

Fabulous event as always! Thank you to all those that coordinated such an amazing feast and to those that graced the table with your delicious eats. Here's some pics we took along with our thoughts of today's events...






Josephine's Portuguese Turkey


Steve's Tender Brisket


Gary's MaPo Tofu


There were some really interesting eats that were highlighted at the picnic including...

Cured Pig's Leg (?)


Cavalo Nero (black kale stuffed with grapes, ricotta cheese, farro & pancetta)


CLT's (Camel, Lettuce & Tomato)


Homemade Spaetzle cooked in duck fat


And what's a picnic without some grills?! These foodies definitely weren't playing around and did some serious grilling...






Here are some other food porn shots... although it's kinda hard to think of the names of all the dishes, especially if you're in a state of food coma like I am now. But trust me, everything was incredibly delicious...

A chocolate cake like no other...


Focaccia with fennel, agrodolce & cured pig


Watermelon Salad


A keg of beer...root beer that is!


For the picnic, we contributed a few dishes as well. Since Filipino cuisine is so underrepresented, we offered up some Filipino inspired eats such as...

Chicken Adobo Sliders (soy sauce chicken with pineapple & cilantro)


Pork Mechado Sliders (braised pork with sweet bell peppers & carrots)


Jackfruit (Langka) Cupcakes


A special thanks to all those that coordinated such a fabulous event (as they do every year) and to all those that participated, contributing such an outstanding spread of food. I can't wait until next year!

Thanks as well from our family to Michelle, Cathy and all the other organizers of this great picnic.

On a different note - we picked up a big green plastic ball at the end of the picnic. Does this belong to anyone? If so - PM me, and we can arrange the return.


Had a great time as always, and looking forward to next year's.

What a wonderful event today! Thanks so much to all the organizers for the work they put in.

JoelF wrote:A sweet, spicy beef short rib that whizzed by so quickly I didn't get the ethnicity

I believe those were Nancy's spicy North African ribs (sorry if I'm getting that wrong) and I agree they were amazing. There were so many good things and I'm sure I'm forgetting some but some of the highlights for me: boudreaulicious's apple salad, brendanr's Thai chicken thighs, DRC1379's cochinita pibil, Kennyz's focaccia, Dansch's spring rolls (I agree, a true labor of love to be standing over a hot vat of oil during the picnic), Cathy2's spanikopita. And geno55, if you ever need a taster to come sample your sorbets, I'd be happy to offer my services. My guest wanted me to mention how much she loved Cynthia's shortbread.

And of course, the company was unbeatable--what a great group of people.
Thanks everyone!

foodie1 wrote:Fabulous event as always! Thank you to all those that coordinated such an amazing feast and to those that graced the table with your delicious eats. I've created a blog post with some pictures we took which can be viewed here:

Chicago's Ultimate Foodie Picnic

Very nice write-up, Joelen!

Grrr! Lost my post.

I'm already on countdown to next year's picnic.

What's the date?

Thanks to everyone for their efforts and willingness to create and share good times and great food.

Hi,

Pending receipt of picnic permit in January, plan on Sunday September 11th. Jewish Holidays will be late in September next year.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Pending receipt of picnic permit in January, plan on Sunday September 11th. Jewish Holidays will be late in September next year.

Regards,

Fantastic!!

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

Pending receipt of picnic permit in January, plan on Sunday September 11th. Jewish Holidays will be late in September next year.

Regards,

It's on the calendar now!

Cathy, thanks so much and I can't wait to see you and your canning next month.

So much great food today! I kept saying I was done, but then I managed a bite of something else. Highlights for me included BrendanR's Thai chicken thighs, SueF's flourless chocolate cake, DRC1379's cochinita pibil (with a side of their bing cherry crisp) and geno55's Juliet & Romeo sorbet. Oh yeah, I loved SteveZ's brisket and JoelF's brisket sliders, the Will Special, and ReneG's artisanal mother-in-laws. There's more that I enjoyed, but my brain is over-stuffed too. It's always great to see longtime and new LTHers and friends. Cheers to all!

The GP wrote:ReneG's artisanal mother-in-laws.

oh man I *knew* there was something I wanted to get that I missed. Probably needed to get there pretty early to pick this one up, huh?

I tell you what though, the food that I *did* have was pretty great though. Thanks everybody! And special thanks to Cathy2 who does such a great job organizing the shindig. Also thanks to everybody who stopped by and chatted with me today.

Hi,

I am who was once known as Panther's Bride but I have now created my own account so I can share some pictures I took today at the picnic.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5 ... e027ee8313

Enjoy!

Steinie wrote:Hi,

I am who was once known as Panther's Bride but I have now created my own account so I can share some pictures I took today at the picnic.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5 ... e027ee8313

Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing your photos, Linda!

What a day! Everyone worked so hard especially Cathy, Michelle and Mary, a huge thank you for all your work. I almost hate to mention things I especially liked because everything was good and my stomach limited what I could eat

I loved that Panther in the Den had printed out the spreadsheet to make sure he covered what he wanted to eat. The were some very cute babies there who were clearly enjoying themselves, the next generation of LTHer's is coming along nicely. A shout out to glennpan for doing the cooking of Uncle John's sausages for Jen and myself, we owe you and all those who stood over hot grills a big thanks. My friend was hovering around the grill area in hopes of Q when I said pastrami to her she turned and headed for Mike G's table like a heat seeking missile,

Besides the pastrami, standouts for me were jazzfood's stuffed Cavalo Nero, Attrill's duck fat spatzle, KennyZ's fennel, agrodolice & cured pig focaccia, boudreaulicious & p_g's raw corn salad (recipe forthcoming), T Kent's watermelon with thai peppers and ground cherries, G Wiv's MaPo tofu, REB/RAB's BLT crosinti with homemade tomato jam, DRC1379's cochinta pibil with pickled onions and thaiobsessed's tapioca por dumplings. There was so much more, but I'd be here all night.

One of my friends told me what an amazing and generous group of people LTH is. She wanted to donate to the cost of putting the picnic on and was amazed when I told her that people covered everything themselves. What a joyous afternoon. Now I have to get over the the food I missed, big sigh.

JoelF wrote:* Whoever brought Reddi-Whip for the Cherry Cobbler

I loved the delicious cherry cobbler, but didn't see the can of Reddi-Whip!

My favorite part was the four-tray lineup of fresh salad. Almost convinced me to move to California and live with raw food hippies. Also loved the watermelon speared with a gooseberry and surprise pepper.
The colored Thai rice ball dumpling was outstanding.
The pickled grapes - so good, you can't eat just one.

mbh wrote:I loved that Panther in the Den had printed out the spreadsheet to make sure he covered what he wanted to eat.

Now THAT'S a great idea!

Just a couple "pig" issues to sort out. David Hammond...it is not your fault, but I dipped my food into your pig bath and ate it. At this moment I'm still alive. I'd like some "history" on the butcher your own hunk of pig leg. Interesting.

razbry wrote:Just a couple "pig" issues to sort out. David Hammond...it is not your fault, but I dipped my food into your pig bath and ate it. At this moment I'm still alive. I'd like some "history" on the butcher your own hunk of pig leg. Interesting.

The Wife made a cavolo nero and venison sausage casserole, and I prepared "The Excited Pig":



Not sure who brought the Spanish ham, but it was a pretty cool contribution.

Not sure who brought the Spanish ham, but it was a pretty cool contribution.

Yes it was! CrazyC and her hubby Mike brought it.

Thanks, all, for a lovely day. I'm still processing and deciding on favorites, but I would have been perfectly content with a big plate of brisket, a picnic blanket and everyone's company.

razbry wrote:David Hammond...it is not your fault, but I dipped my food into your pig bath and ate it. At this moment I'm still alive.

And I ate the Burmese treats from Fort Wayne, and I'm still kicking.

happy_stomach wrote:And I ate the Burmese treats from Fort Wayne, and I'm still kicking.

I'm not convinced that those bulbs were actually edible, but as I wasn't entirely sure what they were, it's hard to say.

Their texture was like lupini beans or something. So I'm sure they're some kind of seed people eat. Though their durian-like funk was pretty offputting.

Mike G wrote:Though their durian-like funk was pretty offputting.

But went very well with the camel.

Other favorite combos: Mike's pastrami on Kenny's focaccia, and Dan's spring rolls nestled in m'th'su's Harold's Chicken Fried Rice. Also, thaiobsessed's funky shrimp condiment and gleam's Sprecher root beer enhanced just about everything.

My thanks to laikom for the firepit; my family took two cars to facilitate naptime, and I regret that the s'mores supplies accidentally went home in the earlier car. I could not have anticipated the scale of the existing open fires behind the shelter, from which I tasted only a fraction of the array of excellent-looking meats. Special props to the Hays family for an exceptionally entertaining pinata session.