The Mommy List

The Mommy List

Kim Ricketts of Kim Ricketts Book Events and I are putting together an exclusive membership club for moms. To get on The Mommy List, sign up on our blog.



Opening Event:
An evening with Emily Franklin, the author of Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with one Mom, 4 Kids and 102 Recipes

One part David Sedaris, one part Julia Child, Emily Franklin’s Too Many Cooks is a happy mix of recipes, memories, and good storytelling. A foodie and former chef, Franklin wants to pass on her love of food and cooking to her kids. Over the course of a year, she introduces her children to new dishes — some exotic, some thrown together with whatever she has in her cabinets — with varying degrees of success, sharing with readers over 100 original recipes. Along the way, she discovers how a delicious (or even disastrous) meal can bring families together and feed the soul.

Emily will share her experience on managing a mom schedule, with tricks, humor and anecdotes on feeding your kids while keeping your sanity.


Join us for snacks, wine and an evening filled with ideas, raffle prizes and inspiration.

July 13, 2009
7pm-9pm
$20
Location: Bustle on Queen Anne
535 W. McGraw St. Seattle
98199
(Ticket price includes wine, snacks and a raffle ticket)
Buy Tickets Here



*Books will be available for purchase at a discounted price.


*Raffle prizes include 5 inspiring books autographed by famous authors and other mommylicious gifts.

More about The Mommy List

The Mommy List is an exclusive club for members only which aims to give moms a fun night out. Membership is free. Once you are on the list, you'll be invited to monthly, sometimes bi-monthly events.


The Mommy List events include meetings with authors, inspirational book events, wine and cheese events, spa events and other motherly outings.


How did The Mommy List come about?


The Frantic Foodie (a fresh new mom) and Kim Ricketts (mother of three) of Kim Ricketts Book Events were discussing life as a mom. They both love connecting people, inspiring others and both revel in the joy of organizing events. Together they created The Mommy List.

Can I bring my kids?


Every event is different. Some events will be with the kids but most events will be for moms only. As much as we love those bundles of joy, we believe moms need a night out in order to replenish themselves and gather energy for the hectic mommy life.

Babe in arms are welcome (little babies who need to be close to mom).



For more info, email us at : info@themommylistseattle.com

Ana Luque at Metropolitan Market

Ana Luque, author of The Yogurt Diet will make an appearance on June 26th from 4-6 pm at the Admiral Metropolitan Market. She will be talking about her book, the importance of yogurt and signing books. There will be samples of yogurt, courtesy of the Greek Gods Yogurt.



Have you signed up for Foodportunity yet?

This Month at a Glance

Thank God I have pictures to remind me of what I did all month.

My month started off with one of my Seattle Food Blogger Events.

The destination this time, Beecher's Cheese. We met at the Beecher's headquarters for a mini behind the cheese tour, headed to the Maximus Minimus pork truck and ended with a party at the Sugar Mountain headquarters.
This is Kurt Beecher Dammeier, the owner of Beechers, Maximus Minimus and all the other Sugar Mountain establishments. Here he is talking to the bloggers about how he got started. The Maximus Minimus pulled pork sandwiches were packed with umami flavor which made it hard to believe that no MSG was involved. I am ultra sensitive to MSG and don't eat at many places because of this. I felt great after this meal and have been craving another Max/Min sandwich ever since.








Happy Hour at Ponti

I tried out some of the happy hour items at Ponti. A great place for some happy hour snacks($5-$7 items)and a romantic view of the water.





Tutta Bella Issaquah is now open


We took our baby with us to Tutta Bella Issaquah's new location for a special blessing of the oven ceremony. Tutta Bella is Seattle’s first Vera Pizza Napoletana
certified Neapolitan pizzeria, and with this new location, it is the first one on the Eastside. Each oven was blessed and named by Father Bryan Dolejsi of St. Joseph Catholic Church and School in Issaquah. The tradition was inspiring especially with the people swaying to the music being played live by Michael Gotz, Casey MacGill’s Blue 4 Trio, The Tarantellas and the soloist performances by Jadd Davis and Richard Gray. My baby was enjoying all the people clapping to the music.
He thought that they were clapping for him.

The Winner of the Chocolate Contest is.... Francine

The winner of the chocolate contest is Francine.
One of the things that I like the most about this blog is getting comments. All these stories have put a smile on my face. Readers, take the time to read the comments and Francine, email me with your last name to claim your prize.

Did you get your tickets to Foodportunity?

Win Tickets to Chocolate Salon!

Last July, I was asked to be one of the judges at The Seattle Chocolate Salon. So I waddled to the Chocolate Salon event, 7 months pregnant with lots of room for the chocolate. I ate until I couldn't breathe anymore and the baby was doing summersaults in my belly.

This year, the Chocolate Salon is back.
If you like chocolate, you will be in heaven. So many different types of chocolate and unlimited amounts of every kind of truffle, dark, milk possible. There were flavors like blue cheese, tequilla, lime and so many more.

Seattle Chocolate Salon
Sunday July 12th
11:am-5:pm
Bell Harbor Conference Center

You think it's your cup of cacao? Well, I have two tickets to give away to this event. Let me know what your favorite chocolate is or tell me a funny chocolate story?
Add it in the comments section and I will choose the winner by Monday. Tell a friend about it and you have a better chance of winning. If they win, they can take you.


Did you sign up for Foodportunity yet?

Foodportunity and Networking

As many Foodportunities arise, I just discovered Biznik and joined their community. Biznik, A social networking website for business networking. I need to do more online networking.

Speaking of networking,do you all know Girl Power Hour? Darnell Sue puts on events for women that you won't want to miss.

Foodportunity is a lot of fun. On the way I discovered Mise en Place by Kyle is now helping out with the event. Also I discovered Tours Northwest.

FYI, Washington Trollers Association will be donating marbled chinook salmon to the event, delivered straight from fisherman Geoff.
Tom Douglas Restaurants will be doing something special with the salmon.

Tickets are selling really fast so if you want to get a ticket, get it soon

Click here for more details

Weekend Events and Art of the Table

Hey everyone,
I posted this week's event list for MY NORTHWEST.COM

Another event to sign up for this week is this One Pot Dinner with Dustin Ronspies from Art of the Table.

I copied the press release because well, the way it's written is part of the charm.

Press release:

the swimmerly dinner next tuesday is getting more interesting by the moment.

expect a lesson in dramaturgy by implied violence that involves sharks (you might have heard of them - they won the genius award last year...), a short chat with randy lewis about the history of fish-ins (randy invaded and occupied fort lawton/discovery park with bernie whitebear in 69), a new piece of slam poetry by matt gano entitled "things that swim" (matt is the reigning grand slam poetry champ), and a couple blistering stories by john boylan (the reigning champ of the roundtable).

and then of course the most delightful watery setting ever... and brilliant aquatic food by dustin ronspies...

3. one pot + art of the table + things that swim = june 16th

dustin ronspies, the chef at the art of the table has been garnering heaps of praise over the past couple years – and we finally have a spare moment to host an evening together. the setting will be unreal – directly on shilshole bay – at the shilshole beach club- overlooking the puget sound and peering up at the olympics. the club is also home to seattle's center on contemporary art (COCA) – and we will have a chance to spend time amongst new work by tracy boyd.

dustin just got back from a mind blowing eating tour along the coast of spain - add in the watery setting – and we decided an evening in honor of those lovely "things that swim" would be perfect. expect a few courses. and a few surprises.

$45/person. cash bar.

Send an email to reserve a spot: onepotorg@gmail.com

Foodportunity

Hi Readers,
I wanted to tell you about an event that I am putting together. It's called Foodportunity. Details are below, sign up for the speed networking event by
emailing me at info@foodportunity.com


“Foodportunity”
To Connect Seattle's Vibrant Food Community

Seattle, June 8, 2009: The inaugural “Foodportunity,” a networking event for Seattle food professionals, will take place July 22, 2009, from 6-9 pm at Palace Ballroom in downtown Seattle.

Tom Douglas, awarded National Restaurant of theYear by Bon Appetit magazine & James Beard-award nominee, will provide his Palace Ballroom facilities to host the event, organized by Seattle food blogger Keren Brown. It will feature appetizers from Seattle's most talked about restaurants, the chance to network with food company representatives, a panel discussion on the topic of new media, as well as a “speed networking” event for the first 40 people to sign up.

The Q&A session on new media will be lead by editor Mina Williams (Northwest Stir) and will feature several of Seattle's best-known writers and bloggers: Nancy Leson (Seattle Times), Rebekeh Denn (formerly of the Seattle PI), Matthew Amster-Burton (Hungry Monkey) and Ronald Holden (Cornichon).

Appetizers will come from several sources, including Tom Douglas' restaurants along with a line up of Seattle gems such as Rovers, Andaluca, Olivar, Art of the Table, Dinette, Maximus Minimus and Serafina. Columbia Crest and Vin Du Lac wineries will pour their wines and other beverages will be available for purchase. A range of food products will be on display.

Foodportunity is open to food journalists, bloggers, public relations professionals, restaurateurs, farmers and all food-passionate people. Admission is $25 which includes bites and two glasses of wine (plus tax and fees). Tickets are available at brownpapertickets.com. Space is limited. Palace Ballroom is located at 2100 5th Avenue in downtown Seattle. More information at www.foodportunity.com.




Foodportunity Schedule

6:00-6:30 pm: Meet and greet, snacks provided by a selection of food companies

6:30-7:30 pm: Reaching Consumers Through New Media
Learn how to communicate your Message effectively Through Blogs, Twitter and Facebook
Q&A session
Moderator: Mina Williams, editor of Northwest Stir, Industry news of the Northwest for culinary professionals

Panelists:
- Nancy Leson, Seattle Times Food Writer and KPLU food commentator
- Rebekah Denn, James Beard Award winning food writer, formerly from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Matthew Amster-Burton, food writer, author of Hungry Monkey and contributor for Gourmet magazine.
- Ronald Holden, food writer and creator of Cornichon.org, named among the Top 10 food blogs according to GourmetFood about.com

7:30 – 9:00 pm: Networking time, raffle prizes and bites from Seattle restaurants. Food companies will provide booths and snacks as well.

8:30- 9:00 pm: An optional "speed networking" session for the first 40 to sign up led by Rachel Belle, food writer and former KIRO radio restaurant reporter.

Rewind to the Last Month or So.

I have had a very busy month lately so I will try to summarize it in this post. I went to the James Beard Celebrity dinner,a dinner hosted by the Executive Chef of the Columbia Tower Club, Chef James Hassell featuring James Beard Award Nominee and reknown Chef Ethan Stowell (Anchovies and Olives, How to Cook a Wolf).

The view was breathtaking and the dinner was very well executed with each course plated like a work of art and layers and layers of flavors. The sugar business card in the back was because we sat with the owners of Sugar Bakery. We also sat with Sheri and Barnaby of Foodista, an online encyclopedia that you can edit. Do you remember my little contest? The winner posted about it. I love her blog.



A few days later was my Ruth Reichl Event, which will forever be a milestone in my life. I met one of the people that I most admire in the food world and got to bring 50 other people together for this.

The next thing that happened that week was the I.F.B.C, International Food Bloggers Conference by Foodista's Sheri and Barnaby.
They did a wonderful job at putting it together, with lots of useful information on many diverse topics (you can watch it online on the link above).
It was like summer camp for bloggers. I got to hang out with great people for two full days. After the weekend, I kind of tried to keep a low profile for a few weeks.

It was very intense and when it turned into a claustrophobic cliquy after-party on twitter with people tweeting every minute of the day, I knew it wasn't my thing. I elegantly reminded myself that I have a family, work and my own projects to do and only popped in and out of twitter occasionally. No offense to anyone but I could totally see a Dr. Phil episode happening, where a man had stopped socializing with his family and stopped leaving his room because he had been sucked in by the Twitter hole.
Much more has happened since then, so keep checking back soon. I can't wait to tell you about my experience at Maximus/Minimus.

Sheri and Barnaby

Free Tomatoes

Do you want free tomatoes?




Free plants will be given away to anyone who would like to become a TomatoFare2009 grower & participant, and to others interested in growing heirloom tomatoes. Send email to:martinringhofer@aol.com
Martin still has some plants here in Seattle so think fast. Email him before Thursday evening.

Growers get free plants, keep all they grow except one week's worth the week prior to TomatoFare2009 . Event will be held in Quincy, WA on labour day weekend.

Macaroni and Cheese

I found this on the Cook's World website. Let me know if you win.

***SPECIAL EVENT: MAC 'N CHEESE COOKING Contest:
Novices, serious foodies, basic home cooks and Iron Chef wannabes are all invited…'cause if you're passionate about Mac 'n Cheese (and who isn't !) we wanna taste it! Put your best 'whisk' forward and register to WIN! 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be rewarded with Cook's World gift certificates and store merchandise. Rules: Bring your finished Mac'n Cheese entry (entrée) to serve 8 people. Also, bring the recipe to share with fellow competitors. Judging will begin at 7:30 pm then we all sit down to enjoy eating everyone's entry (entrée). Wine included. Thursday, June 11. 7-9:30pm $10.00 registration fee and limited to 14 competitors.
Details: Mac 'n Cheese must include: 1. Pasta (of any kind), 2. cheese (of any kind), 3. milk or cream. We invite to you get as creative as you like with any other ingredients...go for it!!!!
Who: YOU and a 'special' panel of judges
When: Wednesday June 17, 7-9:30PM
How Much: $10.00
How: Call us at 206-528-8192 or email us here to enter