The formal invitation arrived last week. I was floored! I seriously expected just a card in the mail; instead, I received a white ceramic jar with 3 wooden utensils: and everything was so prettily packed! (Yes, I'm easily impressed, despite what many might think).
I was allowed to bring one guest with me and chose my friend Annie from work. We had a great time! The event took place in a relatively new cooking school in DC called CulinAerie. As some of you may know, I work part time at Sur La Table, so I was eager to check out the competition :)
The school is beyond gorgeous! And everything was really nicely set up: beautiful flower arrangements, glasses of wine, purple aprons, etc.
But back to the food. We had a chance to try out all 7 different frozen meals in the Anytime Gourmet line and even cooked one of the entrees (Annie and I got to prepare Tuscan Style Chicken).
Keep in mind that I rarely, if ever, purchase frozen food: so it was going to take a lot to impress me. Also, keep in mind that most of the food was prepared for at least 20 people and slightly ahead of time...so these were not the same conditions as you would have at home when cooking a meal for yourself.
My favorite entrees were Chicken & Asparagus Carbonara, Peppercorn-crusted Steak (pictured below), Wild Salmon Dijon in Puff Pastry (pictured below) and Tuscan-style Herb-Crusted Chicken. Please notice that 3 out of my favorite dishes are in the more expensive line: go figure!
Here is the Tuscan-style chicken Annie and I made:
And not to show off, but my plate was chosen as the prettiest :)
The event was hosted by Canadian food star Trish Magwood, who could not have been friendlier, more approachable or more fun. We got to take a copy of her cookbook home along with a bottle of wine and that pretty purple apron I mentioned earlier.
But before we left, we tried out two awesome desserts from Trish's cookbook. As you can see, I ate every last crumb!
This was a fun night! I was a bit tipsy from the wine by the time we left :)
Thank you Stouffer's!!!
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ReplyDeleteI agree, it was a fabulous event! Just wanted to add that the kits will start rolling off the trucks any day now in both DC and Baltimore with full distribution by July 1st.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Stouffer's will be previewing the product at the following events this summer:
July 11-12: Fashion Centre at Pentagon City (Arlington, VA); 11am-4pm
July 25-26: Tyson's Corner (McLean, VA); 11am-4pm
August 22-23: Towson's Town Center (just outside of Baltimore); 11am-4pm
There will a fun tip contest, a make your own spice bar, and award winning cookbook author, Trish Magwood. Enjoy!!
That sounds so fun! I am kind of in shock that a frozen meal involved puff pastry... that is classy food!
ReplyDeleteI work in Arlington, so I'm going to have to hit some of the other events up!
What an awesome opportunity, it looks like a lot of fun. I didn't know u work at sur la table. Do they give u a good discount?
ReplyDeleteThat looked like a fun event! And of course you had the prettiest plate!
ReplyDeleteWild salmon in puff pastry as a frozen meal? Umm, we'd totally eat that.
ReplyDeleteHow awesome! Congrats! That looks like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteHow cool is that!? :) Sounds like fun and I think your plate was the prettiest too!
ReplyDeleteI can relate. Sometimes, I wonder which is SPAM or not... lol
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lot of fun. Congratulations!
Looks like a perfect evening. Your pictures are perfect.
ReplyDeleteOk, I'm a little puzzled here; the frozen meals I know are all completely done. You pop them in the microwave and you have a meal. But then again I hardly ever look in the frozen section so maybe I am just being ignorant... But you're saying you cooked your meal... Is it some kind of assembly kit? So you still need to put the separate items together to create the dish? Sorry if this is a stupid question! :)
ReplyDeletewow! all these fun dinners you get to go to for free :) you're so lucky!
ReplyDelete