Monday, April 25, 2011

Hip Girls Party

I attended the most wonderful party on Friday night, hosted by From Scratch Club. It was part dessert potluck, part food swap, part book signing, and entirely awesome!

My orange biscotti is in the giant mason jar in the top-left of this picture

The dessert potluck part highlighted many gluten-free and dairy-free offerings. I made gluten-free biscotti, then dipped them in chocolate (which probably wasn't gluten-free, oh well). To be honest, I'm not very familiar with cooking or baking with special dietary needs in mind, and I'm very lucky I don't have to typically be conscious of such things. I love milk and wheat too much.


The book signing portion of the evening was to celebrate the release of Kate Payne's "The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking." I had the chance to speak at length with Kate and learn about her writing process and why she chose to pen this how-to. She is one of the most genuinely sweet, nice people I've met, and still seems so grounded despite all her success!

The food-swap was the brainchild of From Scratch Club (who also hosted this soiree). I brought homemade sweet and sour salad dressing, and received macaroni and cheese, hummus, spinach tarts and paneer palak. Yum!

For more info on the wonderful party, please head over to Christine's amazing blog, Unspeakable Visions. All pictures are courtesy of this lovely lady!


7 comments:

Prippy Handbook said...

So awesome! Looks like a fantastic party and I love the whole concept behind the From Scratch Club.

Lynn said...

Sounds really fun and the food looks super yummy! I may also need to go pick up the book - I'll take all the help I can get.

Deanna (Silly Goose Farm) said...

PH - the ladies at From Scratch Club are a hoot! The ideas they come up with are pretty great. I know you would have loved Kate!

Lynn - Definitely grab the book! Let's exchange our thoughts on it! Maybe a little virtual book club? I think you'd really like Kate's humor!

Cat said...

Yum...that sounds like fun! I wonder if there is a "made from scratch" club that I could join (or start up) in my neck of the woods...it would be right up my alley!!!!

xx Cat brideblu

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhh Deanna, your biscotti were out of this world. I REALLY wanted to be in your food swap group so I could score your dressing...next time.

Thank you so much for coming, posting about your experience and bringing such delish offerings. And yes, Kate is one of the most down to earth people on the planet, truly an amazing experience having her visit with us for two days.

By the way, I snagged a ginormous handful of your biscotti for Kate to enjoy the next day at our Saratoga Farmers Market Event :)

We will need to do that again! -Christina

Deanna (Silly Goose Farm) said...

Hi Cat! Thanks for stopping by. You should definitely start up a club if you don't have one. I'll look into it for you - maybe something is already out there. Your local farmer's market is a great place to start. BTW - How did you find out about my blog? I hope you'll stop in again soon!

Christina - Yes, let's definitely meet up again soon and find time to chat. I would love that! Glad you stole some biscotti! Still have some here. I like to just stick my head in the jar because it smells SO GOOD. I'll post the recipe soon. Send you address to sillygoosefarm@gmail.com and I'll mail you some dressing. Thanks again for organizing such a wonderful event!

Kate said...

Deanna,
I coveted and savored your biscotti for coffee outings with friends over the last few days in NYC. I'm not sure how the chocolate could've had gluten in it, especially for a dipping glaze, and they didn't make me sick (obviously, since I kept eating them!!) so you made a fab gluten-free treat, m'dear!