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A B-day party for Baby!

Posted at 9:02 AM on May 27, 2008 by Sareen Dunleavy Keenan (8 Comments)

We celebrated baby's first b-day this past weekend. It was an interesting challenge to plan a party for 40ish people keeping in mind our local food commitment, the budget and demonstrating good hospitality. How did we do? We either bought food that was grown locally or that was made locally by a small business whenever possible. Check it out below.

Chips n' salsa:
El Burrito Mercado chips (local business)
Curt's salsa (local business)

Hummus and Pita chips:
Holy land pita chips (local business)
Holy land hummus varieties (local business)

Veggies:
Carrots (local)
Celery

Smoked pork shoulder on buns:
U of M pork shoulder (local)
Bakers Wife buns (local business)
BBQ sauce (homemade, 40% local ingredients)

Potato Salad:
Potatoes (local)
sour cream (local)
green onions (local)
relish
miracle whip*
mustard

Coleslaw:
cabbage
carrots (local)
miracle whip*
vinegar
sugar (local)

Cake:
A Bakers Wife raspberry and chocolate 5 layer cake (local business)

Beer:
Home brew: Root beer, Belgian Wit and English Pale ale (locally made)

I think that we did pretty well. We did not exceed our budget for the festivities and the food was pretty darn good if I do say so myself. All of the non-local food was purchased at non-chain grocers. All of the local businesses are ones we are passionate about and that make tremendously good product. Especially the cake. I invent reasons to buy another cake. Breakfast today? Cake. I am all about this cake.

I don't know that I could have made it through the prep and everything without major help from the family. It felt like I had caterers! How nice! And thanks to anyone who made it out. Brendan is always looking for a reason to entertain.

*While homemade mayonnaise is within our skill set, out of respect for grandma's recipes, we went with the miracle whip.

Comments (8)

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I see you made it to the U of M for your pork shoulder roast. Where did you find local carrots? By the By..... if you are over by the U of M again there is a Tiny Middle Eastern Place on Raymond and Como called Abu Nader - they make their own pita's daily as well as lovely sandwiches and pies and humus and stuff. Again, I'm almost sure their ingredients aren't necessarily local - but they do qualifiy as a locally owned business. Your party food sounds wonderful. I think you did great!

Posted by Diane J Lorvig | May 29, 2008 1:22 PM

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Hey Sareen!
Sounds good!
Paulette in Seattle

Posted by Paulette Thompson | May 30, 2008 9:30 PM

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I love, love , love A Bakers Wife!

Posted by Shevvi | June 3, 2008 12:15 PM

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Diane - Here is the story with the local carrots. Doing more digging makes me a bit suspicious, but they were at the farmers market with the guys who are selling the hot house tomatoes. I thought- super! Well, talking with friends recently, they saw banana's at the MPLS farmers market. Makes some of the other purchases suspect. Clearly,I have to get over my shyness and truly ask more questions of people! I was trying to picture the indoor carrot growing facility and kept imagining situations that would produce the square watermelons we found in Japan.

But the meat lab... my mother went for me. I still haven't been because of their hours. She said it is an experience. -sdk

Posted by Sareen | June 3, 2008 3:01 PM

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Hello Sareen,

Thank you for the frozen food ideas! No wonder you were put on couch rest with all that party planning going on! I understand though, I can't stop doing either. There's always so much to do and never enough time.

I'm glad your party was such a success. It sounds lovely. And now I really want cake....

April

Posted by April | June 3, 2008 3:06 PM

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It is extremely difficult to imagine my life without A Bakers Wife in it. My next post might be looking for suggestions of what kind of party I could sneak under the fiscal radar!

Posted by Sareen | June 3, 2008 3:08 PM

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Hi Sareen,
Just an FYI Mpls Farmers Market has no policy for local produce or the distance it may be coming from like St. Paul does. There are several produce sellers at MPLS that sell all kinds of stuff. Bananas, citrus, out of season strawberries and other fruit and vegies.
Still a great place to shop but you have to ask lots of questons if you are concerned with local or not with those vendors that clearly have produce that isn't local.
I love the FM, my favorite things right now are the arugala and watercress at Dehns and the asparagus from "Asparagus guy" Millenbring's Acres.
You party sounded great.

Posted by Barb | June 3, 2008 9:29 PM

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That makes a heck of a lot of sense. I have always preferred to go to St. Paul instead of the MPLS. Perhaps I subconsciously knew that..? probably not! This week we are going to check out what is happening at the Mill City farmers market. -sdk

Posted by Sareen | June 4, 2008 5:40 PM