Summer Updates and Teasers

My patio herb garden is out of control, and I'm craving the sweet acidic taste of tomatoes.

Summer is here.

And so far it's been a busy one that I haven't had much time to blog about.

I went to Florida on a trip with my Pops. We had fish and chips overlooking the Naples waterfront at M Waterfront Grille. To try to explain how important that meal was to me is for another blog post, which will happen soon.

A few weeks ago, I attended a going-away tea party for a very dear friend. Our ladies lunch at Clara J's at 219 in Maumee was delectable and delightful. I still need to share what a wonderful gem Clara J's is.

My brother and I went to Quarry Hill Winery--another (quite hilarious but slightly unfavorable) post that must be written at another time.

FD and I have made some great late spring/early summer dinners that use as much asparagus as possible.

And this past week I went small lake fishing with FD and Big F, my father-in-law. I figure if I'm a fan of locally caught crappies I should learn how to catch them. I brought the first crappie on the boat at 6:30 in the morning;I was baiting my own hook an hour in and handling--very slimy--live fish by the end. I wouldn't say I'm a natural, but I'm definitely going to go fishing again and learn how to filet a fish. We just didn't have enough time after this outing.

But the most exciting summer news yet is that I'm the Food Columnist for BGNews, our university newspaper. My weekly column is so much fun to research for and write. I only hope my readers enjoy it as much, if not more, than I do.

The June issue of Connotation Press rocks too! The contributors to From Plate to Palate outdid themselves. Read it for yourself. I promise the July and August issues will deliver just as much awesomeness.

The summer event I'm head-over-heels about happens tomorrow night. My all-time favorite restaurant, Revolver in Findlay, is hosting another celebrity chef event with wines of ampelography. Here's the scoop, and I quote from their Facebook page,

Revolver will be hosting a Celebrity Guest Chef Tasting Dinner on Thursday, June 3, 2010. There will be two seatings (5:30 and 8:30). The cost of $120.00 per person includes a five-course tasting as well as a complementary wine tasting. A portion of the proceeds will go to benefit the Franciscan Earth Literacy Center http://www.earthliteracy.org/default.html.

Celebrity Guest Chefs for this event include the following:

Erin Mooney, Pastry Chef, BLT Steak (Atlanta), http://www.bltsteak.com/

Valerie Bolon, Season Four Top Chef Contestant, private chef, http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/valerie-bolon

Andrew Maykuth, Chef, The Admiral (Asheville, NC), http://www.theadmiralnc.com/

James Lohse, Chef de Cuisine, Rathbun (Atlanta), http://www.rathbunsrestaurant.com/

Please call Revolver at (419) 424-4020 to reserve your seats for what is certain to be a exciting culinary experience. We hope to see you there.

Let's just say, I'm so giddy to attend with FD that I don't think I'll be sleeping much tonight because I'm going to dreaming about the good food and good times we'll be having tomorrow night. I feel like I did when I was a kid trying to the sleep the night before going to Cedar Point.

I promise a long blog post about that event.

In the meantime, happy reading and even happier eating!


*Photograph from Revolver Restaurant's Facebook page