Yum, Yum! and for a Good Cause

On Wednesday, July 13th, D.W. and I went to dinner.

So what?, you ask. Everybody does that at some time or other.

This dinner was the "2011 Guest Chef On The Waterfront" event to celebrate Washington Chefs and for the purpose of raising money for FareStart, http://farestart.org. More later.

There were 23 restaurants or caterers, 17 wineries, 4 breweries, and 6 other vendors (coffee, water, soda, produce) represented. Everything from appetizers to desserts. All presented in a "taste of" style, and a pretty even distribution of meat, seafood, cheeses and desserts [the cutest dessert were the thumb sized ice cream cones]. It started at 6PM and went until 9PM.

Several tables ran out of their goodies before time as word of mouth spread the "that was S-O good", i.e. Starry Nights "Irish Cake Bombs: Chocolate Cake Balls with Guinness and Jameson Caramel (I know, how not?!) They still had their Cherry Cake Bombs with Brandied Cherries to tide them through the evening.
The gentlemen at Roxy's Diner/The Backdoor at Roxy's told me that they FORGOT to bring the Kale Chips which were to accompany their Hot Pastrami on Rye. The pastrami was quite good.

I think my personal favorites were: the Cold Smoked Columbia River Sturgeon, on Yakima Corn Pancake, with Horseradish-Lemon Cream Cheese, and Caviar Creme Fraiche presented by Chef Jay Bartleson and the catering department of the Bell Harbor Int'l. Conference Center, and the Fess Parker Winery 2008 red blend Big Easy [who me prejudiced? just because I'm a member of their wine club?] They grow good grapes in Santa Barbara County.

D.W. didn't say what his favorites were. I'm thinking the Irish Cake Bombs or the Barking Frog at Willows Lodge offering of Jivara Cremeux, Peanut Butter Powder, Caramel Mousse, Fleur De Sel had to be up there at the top someplace.

Back to THE CAUSE

FareStart has been around for nearly 2 decades but they are not nearly well enough known outside of the food industry environs. [I learned about them first through a women's help shelter that my company works with.]

Their missions statement is to "provide a community that transforms lives by empowering homeless men, women, and families to achieve self-sufficiency through life skills, job training, and employment in the food service industry."

They have provided millions of meals to those in need. So we went out and spent more than we would have at Shari's but less than we would have at Palisades and supported a good work in the process. Do we pat our backs or rub our tummies?