Stormy
Today I intended to spend the day at Seattle's Cookin' expo. I had a really good time at this expo with Bruce a couple of years ago when it was held at the convention center. Chris and I took off on the bus for what should have been a straight shot to the Qwest Event Center. The weather was complete crap: periods of heavy rain, very windy, cold. We walked up to a doorway marked entrance but there was nothing, doors were locked, lights off. We wandered up and down stairs, through several levels of a parking structure, around the outside of the building where we ran into several other people who were also wandering around looking for the event, how to get in.
We finally found the place, paid our money and were let inside. Talk about disappointment! The last time I went to this thing, it was vibrant. Larry's was a big sponsor with a full grocery display; Uli's sausages were there, selling their wares. Makers of custom kitchen implements (Bruce picked up a great handmade pepper grinder), people selling their family hot sauces, marinades, spice rubs... I bought truffle oil, sausages, gourmet hot chocolate, had a bag full of literature, coupons, and samples. It was festive and fun.
This year? L A M E. QFC was a sponsor and had a chocolate fountain but having been to Salty's twice this year, it wasn't that thrilling. Oh, and they gave out paper bags. Woo hoo. Tom Douglas was selling his rubs and his crab cakes book, nothing bad but nothing new. There were gutter companies, jewelry sellers, radio stations, banks, travel agencies... The few places that had food items for sale weren't actually selling anything there: they were happy to tell us that I could buy their sausages at the Bellevue PCC Market or whatever, but mostly we were just out of luck even if their product was great. There was a wine-tasting area, but again the wineries had precious little information to take home, so even if I did really like something it was a crap shoot (and up to me) to remember when I got home. Jeez, make it as hard as possible to remember your product, why don't you.
I did see two things that were interesting enough to buy: A chick was selling a cookbook touting Glorious One Pot Meals from a technique she's created to cook meals in a dutch oven at high heat (an interesting alternative to the crock pot) and a family was selling wooden skewers that had the seasoning in the wood so that it permeated the food while it cooked. I picked up a pack of four different flavors of those.
We stuck around for a cooking demo until a fire alarm was triggered and decided we were done. Walked over to the International District, had some tempura udon and a pot of hot green tea (perfect for the horrible rainy crap day) and headed home. It's hot chai and TiVo from bed for me for the rest of the night.
We finally found the place, paid our money and were let inside. Talk about disappointment! The last time I went to this thing, it was vibrant. Larry's was a big sponsor with a full grocery display; Uli's sausages were there, selling their wares. Makers of custom kitchen implements (Bruce picked up a great handmade pepper grinder), people selling their family hot sauces, marinades, spice rubs... I bought truffle oil, sausages, gourmet hot chocolate, had a bag full of literature, coupons, and samples. It was festive and fun.
This year? L A M E. QFC was a sponsor and had a chocolate fountain but having been to Salty's twice this year, it wasn't that thrilling. Oh, and they gave out paper bags. Woo hoo. Tom Douglas was selling his rubs and his crab cakes book, nothing bad but nothing new. There were gutter companies, jewelry sellers, radio stations, banks, travel agencies... The few places that had food items for sale weren't actually selling anything there: they were happy to tell us that I could buy their sausages at the Bellevue PCC Market or whatever, but mostly we were just out of luck even if their product was great. There was a wine-tasting area, but again the wineries had precious little information to take home, so even if I did really like something it was a crap shoot (and up to me) to remember when I got home. Jeez, make it as hard as possible to remember your product, why don't you.
I did see two things that were interesting enough to buy: A chick was selling a cookbook touting Glorious One Pot Meals from a technique she's created to cook meals in a dutch oven at high heat (an interesting alternative to the crock pot) and a family was selling wooden skewers that had the seasoning in the wood so that it permeated the food while it cooked. I picked up a pack of four different flavors of those.
We stuck around for a cooking demo until a fire alarm was triggered and decided we were done. Walked over to the International District, had some tempura udon and a pot of hot green tea (perfect for the horrible rainy crap day) and headed home. It's hot chai and TiVo from bed for me for the rest of the night.
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