Liege-inspired waffles with preserves, Cauliflower with saffron, & beets w/ raddichio, orange & onion. Driving up now.

Rene G wrote:

BrendanR wrote:

Rene G wrote:I'm bringing my pickle juice already packed in plastic. It's simply not worth taking any chances.

Are you really bringing those? I love pickle juice. What I wouldn't give for packetized olive juice.

I have only two Pickle Pops left but I'll be more than happy to bring them along. It's not so easy finding people who appreciate them. Olive ice pops? Sure, I'll bring those too.

nice! I'd eat an olive pop any day!

In addition to my home made egg rolls, I'll also bring fried won tons.

The canapes will be crostini with pisto, white anchovies, and balsamic reduction.

Why must I fail at every attempt at masonry?

My ambitious project turned sour. I am bringing Delicious But Ugly Tartlets. And napkins, to cover my shame.

Hi,

I had to get up early to take care of something else, I am now printing labels ...

There will be blanks at the picnic to write in your name or recipe.

If you brought something else or made additions, please note it here. After the picnic, I want to make a final list of food brought for posterity's sake. If you take a pic of your food, that would be great addition, too.

Regards,
CAthy

Note from the picnic:
Please don't bring canopies or tents.
Tents require a special use permit from the forest preserve district.

Just in case anyone's paying attention
My Daughter Rachel and I will try to be there around 3:00 or so.

Cathy,
Amazing afternoon. Thank you again for your hard work. And accolades to everyone who helped make this the awesome event that it is every year.
This year is the best yet. I am dazed and happily befuddled from all the wonderful food. I didn't try a third of the offerings. Some I have yet to savor. The variety and originality of many of the dishes was impressive. I will be on a sugar high for days.
The gazpacho was perfect. As was the foccaccia with garlic!!!! Please post recipes. Egg rolls. Ymmmm! Chicken on that oiless grill, whew, more perfection. Rum raisin cookies, yes, yes, yes.
Cornbread, creamy, tender, filling. Recipes please. Ava, Liege waffles, recipe?
It is nap time.
More to come. So much good food.
Thanks,
izzy

Thanks to Cathy2, The GP, & everyone else for an awesome time.

Also big thanks to GNR The Spice House for the party favors, they will be lovingly cared for & yes I will stop by this week to replenish the saffron I depleted in my cauliflower saffron salad today.

Standouts for me would be the awesome stuffed chard from Carolyn Berg.

Justjoan's- Strawberry Limeade
Chouxfly's "shut the front door" rosemary garlic focaccia ( this will Make anyone swear off a Paleo diet)
Ms. Ingie's pesto crostini
Antonius Chickpeas & Swiss Chard
Boudreaulicious- Potato salad
Jazzfood's- Farmer's Market Performance Art of pulses, grains, greens, herbs & all imagination of wonder & delight from the Plant Kingdom
Sue & JoelF's- Corny sweet cornbread
Stevez's- 4 cheese Racque

Mr.pairs4life loved

RAB & REB's-- loving spoonful sopa elote
bjt's- Garlic Shrimp
Laiokm's- Amazing hot broth & also the Penang Laksam in aspic
Jimswside- Chicken thigh tacos
Octarine's- Momofuku's Pork Shoulder! Bo Ssam ( I read the article in NY Times earlier this year & I think Cathy2 wrote about making it at home on a thread here as well)
Tkent's on fire Thai sausage stuffed cucumbers
gleam's,awesome as always, beef jerky
razbry's fried sage

pairs4life MIL ( seriously, I didn't even think she liked food) raves

Creole Rice Salad
The little sweet bites that had chocolate & fruit in them
Sausage ( I didn't see it but sounds like Uncle John's Hot Links)

Thanks to all the organizers and cooks who made the picnic potluck a scrumptious success!

This was our (BBQ Jim, our wives, and myself) first time attending and had a great time meeting everyone and tasting great food.

izzy wrote:So much good food.
Thanks,
izzy

Had I known you were coming, I'da brought your bowl.

Indeedy, thanks to all the organizers and bringers of food. Our bellies are very pleased and the cat is jealous.

We are planning to come next year too, and stay longer!

My first time and it was GREAT!

Everything I had was fantastic:

Greek Potatoes – Ramon
Chicken & Delicata Squash Curry – JoelF
Frito pie with lamb chili – bean
Med salad & grilled eggplant salad – boudreaulicious
Chicken satay – Panther in the den
Everything Jazzfood brought
Hungarian sausage – mrsm
Stuffed peppers – Antonius?

I promise to contribute more next year than ice and water (and to be on time )

And thank you to Louisa for entertaining us with her wonderful squirrel chasing dog!

What a great time! Thanks to the organizers, and dedicated food lovers who cooked, grilled and lovingly labored over their offerings.

I printed off the "offerings" and had a game plan to hit as many dishes as I could. (Yes, I am a little obsessed!) I was only disappointed by a couple of dishes... because either they got scarfed up before I could get to them, or I couldn't find them (or maybe they came after I left).

"Most Missed"
* eggroll (this made me really sad to miss)
* Nem Chua (Viet fermented pork)
* Burmese tea salad
* Chicken Satay
* Puparuol mbuttnumat (what the heck was this? I even Googled it with no luck)

Best Showmanship and tasted great
* Jazzfood's- Farmer's Market Inspiration
* Penang Assam Laksa in aspic (served in champagne glasses no less)
* Octarine's- Momofuku's Pork Shoulder! Bo Ssam
* Sue and Joel's Dutch Oven cooking
* Everything served on trays...a really nice touch

Foods that WOWED me:
* Rosemary garlic focaccia
* Gazpacho with tomato & olive oil sorbet
* Marinated chicken thigh tacos with mango slaw
* Some sort of Benet with a savory stuffing (was that the pan bagnat?)
* Limeade with strawberry puree
* All of PairsforLife preserves
* Pear Crisp
* Giant chocolate chip cookies
* Those lacey flat brown cookies (what were those?)
* Infrared cooked chicken (what was the cooking gismo? I might have to invest) Very TENDER

Foods that were inventive and tasted great too!
* Tapas de castillo blanco (took me awhile to get it)
* Skewered Port tongue

Foods I would have never had a chance to try without this picnic (All Yummie)
* Dukkah
* Goat Cheese stuffed Peppadw Peppers (I had two!)
* Pate Champagne
* Chicken Liver pate/mousse
* Veal bologna
* Llama Sliders
* Baylor Watermelon
* Thai sausage stuffed cucumbers

My only regret is that I couldn't eat it all, and there were so many things I didn't review that I loved. Thanks everyone. It was such a memorable experience!

Thanks to everyone who put so much into making today's picnic such a success. So many astonishing treats. Of course, this is when I start looking over everyone's lists of favorites and thinking, "Wow -- how did I not see that," "that must have disappeared before I got there," or "sorry to missed that." Which is not to say I'm unhappy -- had so many outstanding dishes -- and look forward to being reminded of things as others post.

Splendid day -- nice people, good food, perfect weather.

A thread to post recipes from the 2012 picnic is here.

Fantastic food, great weather, wonderful people. The hallmarks of the LTH picnic. I'm still thinking about the corn soup by RAB/REB and Teresa's mini-s'more tarts.

zoid wrote:I promise to contribute more next year than ice and water (and to be on time )

Me too.

Thank you, Cathy2, for all your hard work and masterful organizational skills! Another amazing LTH picnic for the memory books...

I changed my mind in the last few days but didn't update here, and per your instructions: my contribution was a Thai noodle salad (I'll put a link to the recipe over on the new thread). I'll also poke Chouxfly to post that focaccia recipe...

Many thanks to all the amazing cooks in our group! I started to make a list some of the highlights and realized it was not only getting really long, but I was certainly missing some highlights, so forgive me... I am just boggled at the sheer number of hours and skills represented along those tables. You all are so passionate and talented, and I feel so fortunate to have had this chance to sample your offerings.

More memories surfacing; Just Joan's strawberry limeade, very good. Teresa's s'mores, recipe, please.
Teresa, you mentioned that you made the graham cracker base. It was lovely. More to come.

it was a fabulous picnic, as always. but i think someone keyed my brand new car. a deep curved slash on the driver's side passenger door. did anyone else have this happen to them?? i can't swear it happened at the picnic, but it seems likely as i would have noticed it pretty quickly. LTH'ers, of course, are not suspects. bummer.....

Sorry to hear about the car. My sister-in-law had the same thing happen to her recently! Sorry we missed you...we saw you and couldn't find you again. But we also loved the limeade.

It was a wonderful afternoon, great company, perfect weather. Only wish I could have eaten more...

Lots of good stuff -- a few highlights were Octarine's Momofuku-style pork shoulder, Hellodali's dukkah, the beautiful presentation of laikom's laksa aspic, Louisa's salmon bottarga, trixie-pea's empanadas, and Giovanna's plum cake.

thanks to everyone for their contributions and especially to Cathy for organizing!

Thanks also to the Spice House for their party bags! I went home with a spicy bag and I can't wait to try out this Vulcan Fire Salt. I think it would be nice in caramel ice cream. I'll post later.

By the way, I could use some help since I can't remember what was on the sign. The spicy bag contained: Jerk seasoning, fire salt, dried chiles, and nutmeg? curry leaves? Thanks!

Hi- My friend Joan and I had a really good time yesterday. We loved the llama sliders and the greek potatoes. I had some potatoes for lunch today, along with some other leftovers I brought home with me. I also enjoyed the watermelon salad, Jazzfood's dish, the veal bologna, and the watermelon, and the cheese and pecan biscuits.

I brought some mint salsa, and some Spanish frying peppers I picked up from the Evanston market on Saturday from Henry. 10% of the peppers are hot, and the rest are mild. While I was cutting them up, before I fried them, I sampled one, and unfortunately the one I sampled was one of the hot ones, and it was really hot. Unfortunately I did not mark either of my contributions, and so most of it went home with me.

I really enjoyed the watermelon, but a word of advice for who ever brought it. It would have been more manageable for everyone, if it would have been sliced in smaller pieces, so people could pick up a slice of it. It was cut in quarters, and people dug out what they wanted, which made it really messy. It was really good though, and the take out container of watermelon that I gave to a friend of mine was much appreciated.

My friend Joan that I brought to the picnic, I am sure would like to come back next year. She really enjoyed the food, and she was interested in checking out the website when she got home. Thanks, Nancy

I want to add my thanks to everyone for all of the deliciousness and to Cathy and all for organizing. I think I am still full.

And clearly the weather gods love good food as they smile on the picnic every year!

I trained so hard for my first LTH picnic, but I was still not sufficiently prepared for the challenges the picnic presented. I thought the annual Green City Market BBQ prepared me enough, but no, not quite. At Green City, all of the food is put out at one time. At the LTH picnic, it comes out in waves. Just when I thought I tried everything, new dishes came out, and I lost track, where was I, my head was scrambling, my stomach couldn't take anymore, I was spinning in circles trying to figure it all out and escape from a food coma, despite wanting to try more and more.

When all was said and done, I had a great time. Enjoyed meeting people I hadn't met in person before but whose posts I have always enjoyed. So much outstanding food, so much creativity and so much effort and many great conversations. I'm glad I decided to give up Bears tix for a week. Thanks Cathy for organizing and thanks to everyone else for making it such an outstanding afternoon. And now I think I know how to improve my training efforts for the next picnic - I have a whole year!

Hi,

Next year the picnic will be on Sunday, September 22 due to the Jewish holidays overlapping earlier dates in the month.

You now have just over a year to prepare your bellies for the next picnic!

While I am glad you appreciate my efforts, it really is a community effort:
- If nobody purchased (or grew), cooked, brought and shared their food, there would be little to talk about.
- The GP/Mary was kind enough to help check people in.
- fifille came early to help move tables and tape tablecloths, all while wearing a pretty dress.
- All those who brought grills and shared their equipment with others.
- Ramon who initiated the pinata game at our first picnic was back to reprise his role.
- SteveZ bought the picnic permit in the early days of January.
- GAF ate his fill, then went home to take a nap. Returns a few hours later to help clean up. He's been doing this at every picnic.
- All the people who tidied up a little before they left, thank you! We felt it later in the day when we noticed the clean up load was lighter.
- Waste not, want not: very appreciative of people taking food for another meal. Very little food was tossed at the end of the day.
- Cinnamon Girl and Spice Man for the spicy party favors.

Thank you ALL for a wonderful day!

Regards,

izzy wrote:Teresa's s'mores, recipe, please.

Done and done. I posted the recipe (a "chronicle" really) in the 2012 Picnic Recipes.

Thanks for the accolades! I really had to bring my A game in order to compete with my husband's wacked-out laksa preparation.

Best,

Teresa