This event recap from my Paleo Porn LIVE with Airbnb provided quite a few take aways including a quick story about Paula Deen and cooking with shark! I guess that’s Paleo, right? ;)
Now that I’ve got your attention I guess you probably want to know what I’m talkin about. :)
Underground Dining
If you’ve never heard of underground dining, it goes like this. You’re provided dates to choose from for an event, you pay for a spot at the table, then right before the dinner you’re told where the location of the meal will be held.
Typically you won’t know the other guests or who’ll be cooking until you arrive. Sometimes you’ll be heading to a chef’s apartment, sometimes an art space, sometimes a basement and sometimes that location just may be available to rent on Airbnb.
When I teamed up with Airbnb for Pigskin Paleo LIVE the event was held in David’s beautiful home on the North side of Chicago.
David, a high-end interior designer, offered his space for our Paleo Porn Cooking event and the pictures can’t even capture how beautiful his place was. What we didn’t know until I was running around the kitchen prepping for the event was that Paula Deen had left her mark, literally. During an underground dining event, held in David’s home.
Paula was running around cooking in the same kitchen I was in and while leaning her hand against the wall, with all her weight, happened to leave a full print. You can’t help but laugh, I mean I thought it was funny but also pretty damn cool. Here I was, cooking in the same kitchen that Paula Deen had once used, staring at her hand print on the wall as I shredded cheese to make spinach-dill cakes.
Now you’re probably wondering what dishes I prepared for my guests. This was a Pigskin Paleo event so I chose five recipes from my cookbook for the menu, to provide a sampling of what Pigskin Paleo has to offer. I prepared Bacon Wrapped Chicken Chorizo Poppers, Creamy Carrot Soup and Spinach-Dill Cakes before (and while) everyone arrived.
David supplied the wine and while I was busy in the kitchen Jeff was greeting the guests and snapping photos of all that was happening, including David’s adorable little black cat sleeping through all the madness. :)
Tell Us About the Shark!
Curious how shark plays a role? See that image above? Above the vent of the stove was a shelf, and on the shelf sat a bunch of bowls, plates and a ginormous shark!
He actually fit in quite well and I didn’t notice until Jeff pointed it out. Drew was an excellent sous chef and helped me chop, dice and prep everything. I was completely focussed on getting all the food prepared before all my guests arrived and barely looked up but that shark made for a fun decoration to see when I did.
You can kind of see the fin sticking out in the photo above.
Once the last round of poppers came out of the broiler I was able to get out of the kitchen and greet my guests. We had a great group of folks come out on a not-such-a-great-Chicago-weather-day but, we had standing room only!
I introduced myself, discussed my background, intro’d some major points about Paleo cooking all while demonstrating how quick-and-easy Pesto-Stuffed Avocado and Apple Pie in a Bowl are.
What I found most interesting was the crowd was basically a 50-50 split between those who knew what Paleo was and also knew nothing about Airbnb and vice versa. It was fun bridging the gap between the two themes and introducing both Paleo and Airbnb for the first time to the different crowds.
The Paleo-knowing crowd had a lot of great questions about the use of Airbnb and the Airbnb-knowing crowd had just as many questions about Paleo.
What’s Next?
If you’re in the Chicagoland area tomorrow (Saturday, January 26th) come on out to The Bensenville Library and say hello! I’ll have a sampling of my Primal Granola Bars, copies of Pigskin Paleo and a four hour window that you can spend questioning me all about Paleo. :)
All the Need-To-Know Details:
- Who: Anyone! Especially if you’re interested in learning more about Paleo cuisine, want to pick up a copy of Pigskin Paleo or just get your own copy personalized
- What: A Free Pigskin Paleo event coordinated with The Bensenville Library
- When: Saturday, January 26th from 12pm-4pm
- Where: 200 South Church Road, Bensenville, IL 60106
- Why: Why not? Who doesn’t love to eat free, homemade, Paleo food? :)
If you’re unable to make it, or you’re not in the Chicagoland area, feel free to forward this on to a friend who you think may be interested.
What About Some SuperBowl Recipe Ideas!!
Did you spot them? Two recipes I prepared for Pigskin Paleo LIVE are linked within the post up above. There’s one appetizer and one dessert.
Have a great weekend everybody and stay tuned next week for a full five days of more game day recipe ideas to serve for the big game! :)
