Wow, it’s hard to believe that our Holiday Local Market was last month. On December 10th, more than 600 of you enjoyed handmade food samples and carefully chose from all those special items for holiday gifts. All the food makers were so pleased to meet you – thank you for spending time with us, tasting all those treats and for making us believe that there’s a special place in your hearts for small-batch handmade food!

As we craft our Spring Local Market and our Summer events calendar, it’s perfect timing to gather your thoughts, both in general and very specifically about our last Local Market. We need your feedback to make our event(s) exceptional. Would you mind filling in our Local Market Survey? (It’ll take 5-7 minutes, promise!)

While you fill it in, we’ll show you some pretty photos from our Holiday Local Market. Heidi Murphy of White Loft Style was on hand to take old-fashioned actual film photographs of the event and she did a lovely job. I hope they depict a pretty story of our wonderful day.

Just a quick last note: Many of you have been sending our gift boxes as well wishes for the new year. In fact, some of you have emailed directly requesting custom gift boxes crafted for someone special. We’re always happy to create a personal mash-up of handmade food items just for you, so please email us anytime!

All photos taken by Heidi Murphy/White Loft Style.

Eat Boutique is an online magazine + market for food enthusiasts to celebrate the best pure, local and comforting handmade foods. We call it: food that hugs you back. Looking for the perfect gift? Eat Boutique sells gift boxes filled with handmade sweet and savory treats. Send a gift box of handmade food today.

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted but I promise, it’s for good reason. I’m deep in planning on our December Holiday Local Market. So deep. The Market and all of our holiday gift box preparation is making for long hours not doing the thing I love: writing!

Instead of writing, I’m tasting… tasting chocolates and lollipops, cookies and jams, syrups and coffees and the most delicious candied orange rinds this side of Paris. Seriously, to my knowledge, these are the best candied orange rinds I’ve had in the States. I’d be so pleased to be challenged on that proclamation, so if you know a good purveyor or have a great recipe, please share!

I wanted to share with you that our Holiday Local Market line-up is looking pretty fantastic. Not only are we hosting a great crop of food makers, but our cookbook author lineup is quite stellar. I can’t share just yet – but I can say the authors signing their cookbooks come from all walks of life, from a seasoned popular bakery owner to one of my favorite food bloggers on the entire Internet. Yes, that’s a mighty proclamation but it’s true – I bet she’s a favorite of yours as well.

Now since this Holiday Local Market is a lot of work to produce, we need some help. So here’s my last official declaration: All participating volunteers for this year’s Eat Boutique Holiday Local Market will receive a gift box of items from our favorite food makers and items made in my little kitchen. If you’ve been following my food chronicles, you know I’ve made some pretty fun stuff like all kinds of fig jams, hot pepper jellies, salsa, apple everything and all sorts of infused cordials. I’d be so pleased to share, if you wouldn’t mind volunteering for the day! We’ll need your help from 10am-6pm, so please contact me if you’d like to participate all day.

With lots of love and gratitude, I am signing off to get back to tasting, because these gift boxes aren’t going to fill themselves with delicious handmade food. I appreciate every one of you – thank you for reading – and I look forward to previewing our holiday gift boxes… this weekend!

All photos by Heidi Murphy/White Loft Style.

Eat Boutique is an online magazine + market for food enthusiasts to celebrate the best pure, local + comforting handmade foods. We call it: food that hugs you back. Looking for the perfect gift? Eat Boutique sells gift boxes filled with handmade sweet and savory treats. Send a gift box of handmade food today.

This past weekend, New England was blanketed with a layer of wet, heavy snow. Despite it being just plain wrong for the snow to make such an early appearance, the chilly air and light coat of white made me so excited for the holidays. Why?

Well, I’ve got a couple pieces of good news…

First, during the madness of the snow storm, we secured our date and location for our next Local Market. Our “Holiday Local Market” will be on Saturday, December 10 at Made in Fort Point, a huge gallery space at 12 Farnsworth Street (next to Flour Bakery) in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood. We’re so excited to be hosted by the Fort Point Arts Community – they’re very sweet to us!

Second, the official photos of our Fall Local Market, taken by Heidi Murphy of White Loft Style, have arrived! Heidi uses real film – no digital cameras here – so her photos have an amazing depth. We are so happy to be working with Heidi on a number of projects, including her beautiful Concord Grape Jelly and Juice blog post (among others to come, like a champagne cocktail roundup!) and our holiday gift box photographs (forthcoming).

Many of you signed up for our Local Market mailing list, but if you haven’t, let’s get you on the list now so you’re privy to all the details as they emerge. If you know a food maker who should attend, we’d be delighted to hear about it! (Oh, and if you’d like to volunteer your help at the event, we are looking for volunteers who want to work at our gift wrapping station, shuffle guests between tables and help at the main Eat Boutique table – thanks!)

Without further adieu, I now share photos from our last market. I know our next market, which will also host a gift wrapping station, will be filled with just as much fun and tons of holiday spirit!

All photos taken by Heidi Murphy, White Loft Style.

Eat Boutique is a site + market for food enthusiasts to celebrate the best pure, local + comforting handmade foods. We call it: food that hugs you back. Looking for the perfect gift? Eat Boutique sells gift boxes filled with handmade sweet and savory treats. Order a gift box of food today.

To further showcase the awesomeness of the food community, I wanted to share Martha’s photos of our first Eat Boutique Local Market on September 24th.

The most popular question from our event was: “When will you host the next Local Market?” Well, thank you for asking! The simple posing of the question is a huge compliment, as is the fact that more than 300 of you showed up to sample and shop for beautifully-packaged, handmade food. The answer is: soon! We’re hoping for early December!

We have some great things in the works and hope to announce our next Local Market date once we catch our breath, mail out a bunch of gift boxes, secure the perfect location and gather a crew of great food makers. Stay tuned and, in the meantime, please check out our Fall and New England gift boxes, which showcase some of the vendors from the Local Market.

If you took photos from the Local Market, please share them with me!

All photos taken by Martha Heinemann Bixby. View all of her Local Market photos.

Eat Boutique is an online magazine + market for food enthusiasts to celebrate the best pure, local + comforting handmade foods. We call it: food that hugs you back. Looking for the perfect gift? Eat Boutique sells gift boxes filled with handmade sweet and savory treats. Send food that hugs you back today.

I’m in a bit of a haze today, a happy haze. More than 300 people attended Eat Boutique’s first Local Market in Boston yesterday. I think I speak for everyone on the Eat Boutique team by saying, THANK YOU! We were delighted to meet so many people who are passionate about beautifully-packaged, handmade food. We felt a true simpatico-ness with each of you and while we’re tired and full from all those delicious samples, we can’t wait for the next Local Market.

Over the next couple weeks, I’m going to share photo essays and recaps from the day. Let’s start with these lovely photos taken by Brian Samuels who writes about and photographs food on his blog, A Thought for Food, and his photography site, Brian Samuels Photography. His photos continue after the post.

A lot of gratitude needs to be showered on all the special vendors and artisans who joined us for the day: Lark Fine Foods, E.H. Chocolatier, Fat Toad Farm, Didi Davis Artisan Food, The Wine Bottega, Chococoa Baking, The Stand, Q’s Nuts, Yummy Mummy, The Cupcakory, and Equal Exchange Free Range Cafe. We hope you were able to purchase lots of good food and we encourage you to shop for their food online, look for them at local food markets and, of course, purchase one of our gift boxes; we’ll be happy to hand-write a note and ship out a gift box of treats from yesterday for you asap!

Special thanks to: Joanne Chang, Amy McCoy and Amy Traverso

Extra special thanks to: White Loft Studio, Floral Lab, Edible Boston and Twelve Chairs

Eat Boutique is an online magazine + market for food enthusiasts to celebrate the best pure, local + comforting handmade foods. We call it: food that hugs you back. Looking for the perfect gift? Eat Boutique sells gift boxes filled with handmade sweet and savory treats. Send food that hugs you back today.

When I started Eat Boutique four years ago, the original kernel of an idea was to share the stories behind the food. We’ve tried to showcase our favorite handmade food makers, while sharing our personal experiences and recipes inspired by the food. It felt natural and, gosh, so very fun to share these food gems in gift boxes that you could send to your friends, family and colleagues. I’ve been especially delighted to see you send our gift subscriptions to your friends. Wow, thank you!

In turn, it feels very natural to launch our first event where the food makers, the people behind the food, finally get to stand in front of their food. You’ve got to meet this people and hear the stories straight from them. So…

On Saturday, September 24, several New England-based artisans, including an amazing wine boutique and a cookbook author or two, will gather at Twelve Chairs in Boston to offer samples of their sweet and savory treats. They’ll share their inspirations and let you purchase their food, wine and books. You can sign up to attend on our Eventbrite page. But, wait, there’s more!

Each participating artisan inspires me to want to be a better cook… and I’ll begin sharing the list here next week. If you’ve added yourself to our Local Market mailing list, you’ll hear a bit sooner. In addition, I’ll be there selling our gift boxes, along with a lineup of some of Eat Boutique’s contributors and friends. We’ll be raffling off a few treats, including one of our handmade, all natural hemp/cotton aprons. We also have a few surprise guests who you’ll hear more about soon.

Expect this Local Market to be the antithesis of your regular farmers market or a huge food festival. Imagine an intimate afternoon open house, a little bit chic and a little bit rustic. The setting will be the beautiful home furnishings shop and interior design studio Twelve Chairs, where Miggy Mason and Roisin Giese curate a gorgeous collection of sustainable home goods. Both Twelve Chairs and Eat Boutique prioritize thoughtful curation, and we’re so happy that they are hosting us!

We would really love to have you drop in sometime from 1-5pm. While this is a free event and you may drop in anytime, in order to gather an accurate headcount, we ask guests to register on our Eventbrite page.

What else? Oh!

• If you would like to participate in the event in some way, please contact Maggie.
• If you know a food maker who would be a perfect fit for the event, also contact Maggie.
• If you’re a member of the press and would like to get every Local Market update, please add yourself to our mailing list. Email Maggie with any questions.

Basically, contact me for anything, and I can’t wait to meet you next month!

Eat Boutique is an online magazine + market for food enthusiasts to celebrate the best pure, local + comforting handmade foods. We call it: food that hugs you back. Looking for the perfect gift? Eat Boutique sells gift boxes filled with handmade sweet and savory treats. Send food that hugs you back today.

It’s August 18th and I have yet to go to the beach this summer. I believe that’s a serious mistake because, guess what? My garden tomatoes are exploding on the vines and summer is over in about four weeks and, sadly, I can already smell Fall in the air. I love Fall, so I’m not that sad, but I’ve already got a few regrets (and remedies!) for the summer of 2011.

Regret #1:

I never did hit the beach. My garden and pots are all overgrown and it isn’t because I’ve been sunning myself on the sand. But instead of continuing to complain – because that’s no fun – I am booking a September weekend in Maine to celebrate my wedding anniversary. I also bought a flight to Bermuda for October. Until then, I’m breaking into our stash of fresh taffy that’s in our summer seashore gift box. We’ve all got to squeeze some beach in before the snow starts falling. (We’re offering free shipping on our gift boxes for the rest of August – whoopee! – just enter coupon code: BEACH)

Regret #2:

I didn’t eat my weight in berries. And, darn it, I always miss berries, especially at the holidays when the colors just work so well with holiday decor. I settle for cranberries, but I miss local raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. I did manage to make a cool strawberry buttermilk cake this summer when I wrote a guest post for Love & Olive Oil and I made a few currant cordials I’m dying to taste. But I’m itching for the Maine blueberries Shelby is bringing me on the weekend. I have a blueberry bread pudding to make stat.

Regret #3:

I didn’t see all my friends. Summer is about slowing down and, for me, reconnecting with folks I have no time to visit with throughout the year. I didn’t host a grilled pizza party, barbecue marinated good things over open flames, and munch on sun gold tomatoes plucked from a vine along with cocktails and friends. Ugh, I just skipped over all of that. I promise to make it up to all of you and me. I’m hosting the first Eat Boutique Local Market on Saturday, September 24. I’ve gathered all of my favorite food makers, a boutique wine shop and a cookbook author or two, at my favorite eco-friendly furniture and design shop, Twelve Chairs. From 1-5pm, you’ll get the chance to meet the people behind the food, taste their food and, the best part, buy delights to take home with you, if they make it that far. Be the first in line by subscribing to our Local Market mailing list.

Summer is almost over, but I’m committed to soaking in every ray of sunlight and each overripe, plump tomato. How are you enjoying all these last moments?

As I mentioned, we’re offering free shipping on our gift boxes for the rest of August – whoopee! – just enter coupon code: BEACH

Eat Boutique is an online magazine + market for food enthusiasts to celebrate the best pure, local + comforting handmade foods. We call it: food that hugs you back. Looking for the perfect gift? Eat Boutique sells gift boxes filled with handmade sweet and savory treats. Send food that hugs you back today.

The first time I was introduced to a live lobster, I was about 10 years old and was having a “fancy” dinner with my family at the Whaling Station in Monterey, California.  Our waiter brought my sisters and me, over to the lobster tank, and let each of us pick out our favorite.  Of course, I went for the biggest one.  Before showing the lobsters to their fate, our waiter brought Charlie, the loving name he gave my lobster, over to our table so we could properly meet. We giggled with glee. Moments later Charlie arrived on a platter with melted butter, and a few parsley sprigs as garnish. I remember taking the first fleshy piece of white meat, rolling it into the butter, and bringing it to my lips;  butter dripping down my chin, back onto the platter. Savoring that nugget in my chubby little cheeks, and letting it slide down my throat, smiling after every bite. I fell in love with Charlie at that moment.

I visit Boston at least once or twice a year with Lenny. You are probably assuming that I have had my fair share of lobster by now. Well, I did not get to experience my first lobster roll until last winter. I have had Neptune Oyster on my Boston to-do-list, but we never seem to have time to make a trip there. Last winter, I decided it was time, and if I had to go alone, I would go alone. One snowy afternoon, we bundled up, and headed into the North end, where we bellied up to a table, nestled between eager eaters from all the world.  We all had one thing in common, the love of good lobster.

Upon the suggestion of our waiter, we went with one hot and buttered lobster roll and one cold with mayo. It was like I was 10 years old again, sitting on the edge of my seat, smiling ear-to-ear, and eagerly waiting for the prized meal to arrive at our table. Moments later, two platters with carefully placed hot-dog buns, full of freshly caught lobster, crispy french fries and a few sprigs of parsley as garnish arrived. As I lifted the lobster roll to my parted lips, I could still smell the salty sea, and taste the hot, buttery bun melt into the creamy lobster mixture;  I suddenly felt that childhood memory wrap itself around me. Every bite took me back to that place when that 10-year-old girl fell in love with Charlie.

I cannot find lobster rolls on the West coast, so when I get that itch, I make them at home. There are a lot of recipes out there, with the addition of everything from pickles to cucumbers. I like to keep it simple, focused on the main star of the recipe. I have tweaked the recipe a bit, by adding fresh jalapenos, to add a spicy bite.  As well, I use homemade mayo. Don’t be intimated, the recipe is just as good with store bought  mayo. I like to use a live lobster, but have used frozen lobster tails, when I am in a pinch; both types are as equally delicious. This recipe is lighter than most recipes, which I think lets the creamy texture of the lobster really stand out.

Lobster Roll – cold with mayo

Ingredients

• 1 – 1-1/2 pound live lobster (a frozen tail works as well)
• 1 lemon, cut into quarters
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 jalapeno, seeds removed, minced
• 1 celery stalk, minced
• 3 green onions, minced
• 1/8 cup mayo
• 1/4 fresh lemon, juiced
• Salt for sprinkling
• 4 hot dog buns
• Butter

Fill a large stock pot with hot water, add the quartered lemon and bring to a boil over high heat.  Plunge the live lobster into the boiling water, cover with a lid, and lower the heat to a simmer.  Simmer until bright red, 15 minutes.  Remove from the heat, and immediately plunge into a sink full of very cold water.  Let set for 2 minutes.  Remove from the cold water, set in a colander, and let drain 30 minutes. While the lobster is cooking and cooling, prepare the rest of your ingredients. Once the lobster has drained remove the shell, and chop the meat into medium size chunks.  Remove as much as the white, firm flesh from the body of the lobster as well;  don’t waste these sweet morsels.In a medium bowl, gently fold the lobster together with the rest of the ingredients;  except the hot dog buns and butter.  Put the mixture into the refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chilled.  Before serving, butter the buns, and gently toast over a hot grill or a pan grill on the stove.  Fill the buns with the lobster mixture.  Serve.  Eat.

All photos styled and taken by Denise Woodward.

Eat Boutique is an online magazine + market for food enthusiasts to celebrate the best pure, local + comforting handmade foods. We call it: food that hugs you back. Looking for the perfect gift? Eat Boutique sells a handmade gift box filled with handmade sweet and savory treats. Send food that hugs you back today.

For me, 2011 is about building offline communities. When the clock struck midnight on December 31 of last year, I made a pledge to  evolve all my online food conversations into real life meetings. It just seemed a bit ridiculous that I had all sorts of friends in the ether, sweet folks who have listened to my rants, my loves and my silliness (mostly silliness), whom I’ve never met in real life. I’ve met community members thousands of times via professional meet-ups and focus groups because – um, hello! – I’m a community manager by trade. But 2011 is my remedy to four years of talking and typing about food and rarely meeting a fellow food lover face to face.

After nearly three months of cocktails, dinners, and coffees with many of you, I can truly say, boy, you’re all such a lovely lot! Food enthusiasts may be opinionated and perhaps (secretly) a bit scrutinizing of the food put before them, myself included, but we really appreciate a meal made with love. In late January, I had such a meal at Bondir, a newish restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts brought to life by Jason Bond (formerly of Beacon Hill Bistro) and his very skilled and thoughtful team. On that night, Patrick, the restaurant’s manager, offered up the restaurant for Sunday lunch. I booked a February date and invited a hundred friends.

Despite a sudden limp winter storm, 16 people accepted the 16 spots available and drove from as far as Cape Ann and Rhode Island to enjoy a three-course lunch served family style, my favorite style. Rather than bore you with another hundred words describing the meal and all its glory. I wanted to, mainly, thank each person who attended. It was an honor to break bread and sip wine with you.

I’m especially grateful to: the friend who took a red eye from the west coast in order to make the lunch; his wife who picked him up and loaded him with coffee; the rocker who played for a sold out crowd until the wee hours the night before but still showed up; the friend who braved the cold with a cold to join in; the nutritionist who put up with all of our indulgent food chat for a few hours; the lady who loves cheese who parted with her out of town visitors to eat with us; the Rhode Island-based food and wine expert who made the long drive; the columnist (whom I hadn’t seen in a year) who forged past her French jet lag for the meal; the funniest tweeter I know and her beloved; the fisher woman who writes about food and works at that big university; the lady with the tiny urban kitchen whom I barely got a moment with (sadly!); the news producer whom I was finally able to chat with briefly; and the fascinating lady who left her big old house on the sea to meet up with us.

Say all that five times fast! Now, without further hold up, here are the photos from our fabulous lunch. Please know that this will not be the last lunch. It was such a fun day and I’d like to do it again soon. Want to join in? Let me know in the comments.