Gift A Meal app + donate to Food Outreach

I was recently approached by Jacob Mohrmann, the Chief Marketing Officer of GiftAMeal.

Since you know how much I love to dine out and take pictures of my food, there is finally an app for Android (and iPhone) that will donate some of my dine outs to charity!

I have selected Food Outreach as my charity of choice as I have attended a few events for them such as "A Tasteful Affair".

Want to join me?

1) Download "GiftAMeal" app to your smart phone. (Perhaps buy a smart phone first?)
2) Click "Sign Up"
3) For the Promo Code type: MMFO  (This is my promo code to share! Please share it!)
4) Check the "I agree to Terms" box and sign in with either Facebook or your email address.
5) Fill out the info form. (Some typing with a finger is involved but you can do it!)
6) Click the "Sign Up" button and wait for the intro screen to appear.
7) Dine out and use the app by taking a picture of your food and posting it!

Each time a user signs up with my Promo Code MMFO, GiftAMeal donates $1 to Food Outreach!

Note: This app is good for restaurants in St. Louis and Chicago.

Resources:

GiftAMeal = http://giftameal.com/

Food Outreach = http://foodoutreach.org/

American Cheese Society Conference

Thanks to the efforts by Iowa State University, the American Cheese Society held their annual conference in Des Moines this year. Since that's drivable and I have a place to stay near by, this was my big chance to see what the conference was all about.

Unfortunately, the conference is for cheese professionals and I didn't want to spend the money for all the activities during the week. So I just went to the Festival of Cheese, where you could taste all the cheese, which was open to the public.

Festival of Cheese

It was pretty awesome being surrounded by so much cheese, but it was also quite overwhelming. With 14 tables spread around the convention floor, surrounded by sponsors selling their wares on the edges, there was a lot to see and eat.

Festival of Cheese Tasting Map

Cheddar

Massive convention floor

All the tables were crowded

Soft Ripened Cheese

Washed Rind Cheeses

I tried to eat as much cheese as possible, which probably wasn't the best plan of attack. Then I tried to focus on the award winners, which were designated by ribbons.

Award Winners designated by ribbons

Here is one of the cheese makers sporting their winning medal!

Award winning cheesemaker!

At least I can cross this off my bucket list!

Resources:

American Cheese Society = http://www.cheesesociety.org/

Beer and Cheese Pairing August 2016

I think this is the first Beer and Cheese pairing at Larder & Cupboard and it's been a while since I've gotten to attend this type of pairing class since they are no longer offered at Dierbergs.

My favorite beer by Piney River, the Float Trip Ale, was the first beer served and was paired with Swiss Gruyere due to its nutty flavor.

Piney River Float Trip Ale with Swiss Gruere

I think this would have been better paired with the Baetje French Chevre in the second pairing, since both are so light.

Kenny's Farmhouse Awe Brie, which has more of an intense flavor, went better with the Piney River Black Walnut Wheat.

Piney River Black Walnut Wheat with Baetje Fresh Chevre and Kenny's Farmhouse Awe Brie

The Piney River Bronzeback Pale Ale was appropriately paired with a Macroot Tipsy Cheddar, which is made with Schlafly Pale Ale.

Piney River Bronzeback Pale Ale with Marcoot Tipsy Cheddar

Another IPA from Old Bakery was paired with a triple creme Vermillion River Blue. I think this beer could have used a stronger blue cheese to stand up to it.

Old Bakery Beer North End IPA with Vermillion River Blue

The Gruyere was featured again in the last pairing with Old Bakery's Porter, which has strong coffee notes.

Looking forward to more cheese classes at Larder...both cheese making and cheese pairings!

Resources:

Larder & Cupboard = http://www.larderandcupboard.com/

Beer and Chocolate Pairing August 2016

Back again at Larder & Cupboard for more Beer and Chocolate - together!

We started off the night with my favorites, so I guess that makes it my favorite pairing? The very refreshing "Float Trip Ale" along with a melt-in-your-mouth Apricot Grappa chocolate.

Apricot Grappa chocolate with Piney River Float Trip Ale

The Piney River Missouri Mule IPA is too hoppy for me as it is made with four types of hops, but another top chocolate was the Apple Caramel...it really has an apple flavor!

Apple Caramel and Kickstart Granola with Piney River Missouri Mule IPA

Patience loves the Piney River Hobby Farm Ale, which is a seasonal beer that has a lot of floral notes to it. That paired well with the Tomato Bark and Seed Geeks Chocolate Creamed Honey.

Tomato Bark and Seed Geeks Chocolate Creamed Honey with Piney River Hobby Farm Ale

The Piney River Masked Bandit IPA is made with two different malts and two types of hops. This was paired with a Pecan Caramel, which tasted just like pecan pie.

Pecan Caramel and American Spoon Fudge Sauce with Piney River Masked Bandit IPA

For dessert, a Tropical Pale Ale, tasting much like passion fruit, was appropriately paired with a Coco-Cashew Caramel. You can see the bits of coconut on top!

Coco-Cashew Caramel with Tropical Pale Ale

You'll probably be seeing a lot more classes like these as the seasons change, which means new flavors of beer and chocolate.

Resources:

Larder & Cupboard = http://www.larderandcupboard.com/

Kakao Chocolate = http://www.kakaochocolate.com/

Demun Oyster Bar 2016

Unfortunately, this restaurant has closed.

I knew I had been to Demun Oyster Bar before, but looking back, it was 2012 since I last posted about it and this time I got to order off the menu.

Since it was the start of my vacation, we went with cocktails! I ordered a refreshing sangria.

Sangria

Patience selected a sophisticated gin drink...

Gin cocktail with a slice of cucumber

Then we just hit up all our favorites... you can probably guess what I'm going to post next!

We ended up with four oysters of each kind...whoops! They were meaty fellas!

Oysters

The scallops were really pretty.

Scallops

And plenty of mussels to go around...

Mussels

Gotta have dessert! Beignets! Plenty of chocolate sauce for dipping too...

Beignets with three dipping sauces

I love that it's not too far from where we live now.

Resources:

Demun Oyster Bar = http://www.demunoysterbar.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon