Farm-to-table dinner: New Year, New You Masquerade at the Farm | Outfit Replay

Outfit Replay

Dress: not recent

Sweater dress: Abercrombie and Fitch

As it is the new year I have been planning new interesting things to do as I always am because last year I introduced "intentional dining" into our lives

So, I bought us tickets to this farm and I was super super excited about this date night. This very much aligns with what we care about which is healthy and organic sustainable eating. But there is more!  Many times I plan our dates and I take a lot of joy in learning more when we take that experience together and that is a part of intentional dining!

I am still working on this post, but the one thing I want to say is the people working and volunteering at this farm are some of the nicest people I have encountered as a Black woman and as a Food Reviewer or content creator (whatever title it is I have now). 

We arrived and it was pouring rain and the temperature was dropping rapidly and they went above and beyond to get me heat to bring my temperature up because I am guessing I was shivering and looking a bit worried or scared because I know if the cold settles in my body I am going to get sick. I am severely anemic which they did not know of course. I have a hard time regulating my body heat which is why a LOT of times you will see me wearing sweaters during the Summer months especially if it is raining.

 I was wearing a sweater this night too, but like I said, it was pouring rain so my clothes were wet and I stepped right in a puddle of eater when i got put of the car so my feet and everything was soaked. 

So, anyhow quite a lot of people were going out of their way to get heat to me to the point where the hostess came and put her own shawl on me. These may not seem like big things to some people, but there are so many times just as a woman when I am having an "issue" people just dismissed it (extremely). And I have grown to kind of just say "I am OK" when I clearly am not. I guess I wasn't looking "ok" this time and they really stepped in. Not to make this all longwhinded, but from everything I saw and heard and went through at 15th Street Farm I can tell everyone working and volunteering there genuinely care about people.

No one had to help me at all except my husband or myself. But I just want to say, thank you and also, please take that into consideration in how I look in the photos. I was freezing and struggling hard. I was getting rained on and it was about 60 degrees and it was outdoors and all this was unexpected weather. A lot of times when we leave Tampa and cross the bridge it may not be raining at all in St.Pete or it may be warmer and so like tonight it was actually colder to my chagrin. Anyhow, I just wanted to say that. Service was 5 out of 5.

So, this is a very family styled dining experience which is as you know outdoors at an urban farm. The farm is beautiful.  I am so sure it's so amazing in agreeable weather like some night during the Spring when its transitioning to Summer because the days are a bit longer and we experience a drought in the Spring so other than a quick shower rain isnt much of an issue. Nevertheless, it's very beautiful here and it's right on a street with regular houses and everything you would expect to see in the city.

When we arrived we were about twenty minutes late due to the rain so they started brining out our courses quickly to catch is up to everyone else. It is a lot of food meant to really have "family styled" so it was more than both of us could eat. I ate basically what I liked which makes sense. The menu is not published so we did not know what to expect as well.

I had eaten so much beans at the start of the New Year I couldn't eat anymore or even look at beans tonight lol. My husband could (yay for him) and I did taste them, but I guess not everyone eats beans at the New Year, but we do, and I just couldn't do it and that is no fault to the farm obviously. 

As I stated I tasted everything we were served and I am not unfamiliar with organic food because my family grows their own foods, we do too when we can and I buy organic. But I feel like you also just have to be used to eating this way to appreciate it because the food is very fresh and unadulterated which makes it taste very different...and I love that!

So, this salad was so amazing. Now never in my life would I think to make a rosewater vinegarette for a salad. Wow. I am too impatient to make rosewater, but now I am re-thinking it! What I needed was a little more substance in this salad though because it was just lettuce and the vinegarette, but I loved it.

Quinoa

Baked Sweet potato fries with garlic aioli

I absolutely hate sweet potatoes, but I ate one right and they were amazing; paired with the garlic aioli anf baked to perfection it's really a must. My husband loves sweet potatoes, but I just don't care for them because they are sweet. I grew up eating them and when I was old enough to say I didn't want them I stopped eating them, but I do love sweet potato noodles!

Now this chicken was the entree and it hurt me that we couldn't even make a good dent in this because like I said it was a lot of food. This chicken was immaculate...can I say that? adding the turnip greens and all the things my mom cooks that I grew up eating, but introduced in a different way...yes....! I liked it! 

It was like a taste of home, but to me, everything kind of had Indian spices which I love as well. So, the chicken was cooked to perfection, but they blended in those greens and the juices from the chicken and the greens mixed anf that is what we call the "pot liquor" and once I get that I am set...I just need some rice right?!

Anyhow, sans the rain the night was romantic because we ended up having our own table and thr dinner was great. But I felt like I gave my money to a place that I knew would make good use of it and that is the very definition of "intentional dining". I learned about all the things that the 15th Street Farm does for the community as well as for nursing women and the different events and programs they have. I learned about the farm and about the soils and different things they deem as important to make good organic food. What more could I want right? 

So, you may be asking was there anything I didn't like? Yes, there was but the good vastly outweighed what I didn't like. I admit my experience obviously was different because I arrived late due to the weather, but I would do this again and I would recommend it if communal dining doesn't scare you.

I will give some dietary info at the end of this post.

FINAL COURSE

This is the actual dessert on the menu. What I had was just a variation made at the last minute due to my dietary restrictions. 

I did however hear them saying this was a chocolate flour less brownie so I am not sure why I couldn't have it, but obviously if they could not confidently confirm it's gluten-free they were not going to serve it to me which is why I got a variation.

GLUTEN FREE OPTION