As I thought about what to write regarding an amazing Spring party, organized by Happy Girl Kitchen, at the oldest barn in Oakland California…well there’s almost too much to write. Yet I will.
The party was full of good ideas, good people, and amazing food. I had to compost my plate to cut myself off, being full of Happy Girl dry farmed tomato juice bloody marys.
1) Delivering produce from farms to a central pickup
My understanding is it’s not a CSA but more a “you want to buy a crate of organic cucumbers? Pick it up in Oakland.” Saves time, gas, and it’s farm fresh!
2) Giving classes in your craft
Chocolatiers and bakers do it. Happy Girl does it really well – teaching canning and preserving classes from jams to liquors. It’s worth taking a class if only to be at this amazing house and to meet the Happy Girl team. (Seems like a perfect Mother’s Day gift!)
3) Making food using products you previously made from recipes
One woman had made orange conserve which she used in a granola recipe and in an olive oil cake with orange conserve glaze. She’d made the conserve in a Happy Girl class then shared the recipes at the party.
PS: Buckwheat Cheese Straws, with a recipe from 101 Cookbooks, were chewy, flavorful, and dense unlike cheese straws made with white flour. If I’d seen this recipe in “print” I might have passed it by but I made sure to ask where it was from and am delighted to see Heidi Swanson’s original looks exactly like what I experience.
4) Getting drinks donated from local beverage makers
Taylor’s Tonics is a local olde tyme tonic / elixir maker whose array of interesting flavors quenced and delighted. (PS – They are going to make it big!)
5) Inviting people who will swoon over and tell everyone about your party, initiatives, and company.
😉
6) Asking for donations to offset party costs
A big pickle jar requested party donations. Why not? With good music, good people, good food – the jar quickly filled up with people wanting repeat performances.
7) Live music
(I have to upload the video) but a great fiddlin’ trio added even more old time flavor and energy. Live music is easier to arrange than we might think for a garden party.
Were you there? What else was great about this fest?
