Homegrown in the Deuce

Just to clarify, apparently all the cool kids have started calling Ann Arbor, "the deuce." (You know, A^2, Double A, etc) I happen to think it's hilarious, and often refer to the deuce myself. At a point before Sylvie was born, she was also referred to as the deuce, and later deucette (after Molly found out she was a girl, and deuce came from eating for two). From here on out though, deuce will be synonymous with the city I adore.
And speaking of adoration, it takes some serious love of local food to attend the deuce's first Homegrown festival in the pouring rain. I picked up my trusty tasting partner around 11, and despite getting soaked just walking from the car to Community High (2 blocks), a little rain wasn't going to damper our hunger for fresh grown local foods. The festival itself was a little small, but well laid out. There were two giant tents for eating and music listening (several bands were playing), then there was a big square of vendors/restaurants on each side selling tasting portions of recipes made with local grown items on their menus. There was also a kids tent of activities, including a turtle walking around in the rainy grass, and a boa constrictor. What fun! The ticket booth was conveniently located in the center of the whole thing, for easy access to ticket purchasing for tasting.

Tents in the rainStephanie gets ready to taste

We started off by taking a quick peruse around the fest, to determine what we might want to eat and how many tickets to purchase. We also got rained into the Zingerman's booth, where they gave us free tastings of Potato Leek soup, Chicken Paprikash, and Pawpaw gelato. All were delicious, but the Chicken Paprikash found a special place in the take out container of my heart. It was spicy and chickeny, and seasoned oh so well. I even brought some home to eat later.
Our actual eating started right after Stephanie got finished telling Chef Brandon Johns from Vinology how in love she is with him. If she had doted on him a little longer, we might have gotten our food for free, but alas, we just purchased our Tomato Gazpacho and took a seat. At least it wasn't raining in the tent!

Tomato Gazpacho with Cilantro oil garnish

After being pleasantly suprised with free stuff from Plum Market (10% coupon and reuseable shopping bag, w00t!), we really set to work eating. It's tough work, but somebody's gotta do it.

Seasonal fruited bulgar from EveOrganic Pizza from Sylvio'sCaprese, watermelon soup, and smoothie from Carson's American BistroRighteous sweet corn tamale from Pilar's

It's hard to pick a favorite of everything we tasted, but if pushed, I'd have to go with the corn tamale. Chef Sylvia Nolasco-Rivers told us she makes them only once a year, because of the labor involved in shucking so much fresh sweet corn. Also, there's that whole, fresh corn being best in season at the end of August/early September that makes it extra great. Overall, I think Stephanie and I both tried some things we really liked, and we'll continue to frequent the restaurants that use local and fresh items as a focus on their menus. It was great to see so many like minded indivuals in one place. Now if next year we could just have it all with out the pesky rain. Not that I don't love puddles. But I could do without all the mud.
Also as a quick little aside while I'm already talking about food, I had a chocolate from Morgan & York this week that was shockingly spectacular. It was a rhubarb truffle made at Sweet Gem Confections.Chocolatier Nancy Biehn runs a pretty small batch operation, so they are expensive. But goodness, oh so worth it. I do I wish I had also tried the fresh peach truffle. Looks like I'll be heading back soon. Right after I go work off all that food I already ate today on my treadmill. :-)