November Chicago Food Swap

After a ton of misses, we finally made it to the Chicago Food Swap at the Chopping Block inside the Merchandise Mart this past Sunday.  We'd been signed up a few times now, but something always came up to prevent us from going.

Y'all know by now that I'm a baker more than anything else.  I do occasionally make curds but really nothing else thats meant to sit for any amount of time.  Being our first time I made some of our favorites, buttermilk chocolate pound cake and roasted garlic focaccia.  I wanted to bring something that we ourselves loved, just in case we weren't able to trade it all away.  Luckily that didn't happen.  :)

I also brought something new to us.  I'd just read about coconut buttermilk and really wanted to give it a go.  I made up a batch and brought three jars of it with me.  If you were one of the lucky three to get a batch, I definitely recommend making pancakes with it.  That's what I used mine for and man, oh man were they good!  I was worried there wouldn't be enough "juice" (fermenting power) to give the pancakes lift but they turned out great.

This a photo of our haul.  Some of the things we've already tried and loved was the kimchi, kimbap and the dumplings.  We haven't tried making kimchi yet, but as its Susie's favorite I was glad someone there had it.  She said it was milder than she'd had before but still had great flavor due to it being super fresh.

We took home Farmer Jim's huge Blue Hubbard Squash!  I still can't believe that no one had bid on it by the time I walked back in to trade some pound cake for a smaller squash.  I'm going to have to ask the neighbor to cut it for me, but my family is already looking forward to the treats I'll make with it.

We're signed up for next month's swap already and I know Susie's hoping there will be more Korean treats to be found!  If you love to cook and live in the Chicago area, I definitely recommend trying this out.  Even though our first time was a little disconcerting, huge mobs of people aren't always our thing, it's definitely worth trying,