Just another Tuesday evening…

When your day ends with a stranger telling you, “I like listening to you talk,” your life is pretty charmed. And weird.

Had another collaborative event last night at my place. Paired up with City Provisions, an organization that has its fingers dipped in many things, from catering to supper clubs to farm dinners [they take you to a farm to learn about farming and to eat good food] to running a deli [coming June 2010] to general caring about the world [they’re organic/local/sustainable ‘n stuff]. After an uber-successful event with Clandestino in December, I decided more such endeavors would be lovely. So I approached the owner of City Provisions (CP), Cleetus Friedman [yes! Cleetus Friedman. Do some research on the man, he’s fascinating. Leader of Temple Bacon Shalom, for Jews who love pork]. A few months later, another amazing evening in the books.

Cleetus gathered a gaggle of Grade A-folk to pull off Dishes Inspired by Music – a DJ who created a playlist to complement the food, beer boys from Pipeworks Brewing who paired five of their beers with the food, a photographer, a sustainable farm who provided the food, a crew of ten staff and volunteers to set-up, serve, and break-down, and me [wait, did I just call myself Grade A?] who provided the venue and overall hosty-ness. And of course the guests! Forty people. Some came solo, some in pairs, some in groups. Some had been to my Minglers, some had been to other CP events, some were total newbies to both CP and Mac ‘n Cheese.

Highlights:

Um, the food. Oy. Amazing.
Met so many quality people, both those “working” and the guests. Chicago is full of goodness.
The crazy amount of joy people had about my home – think it’s the karma of it being converted toy-factory. The gushing was full-on and all-night. Love that “comfortable” and “homey” were thrown about as often as they were.
The brothers who own Merz Apothecary, only the cutest bath, body and natural health product store in the world, on one of the cutest streets in Chicago.
How excited people got to take my card to sign up for my newsletter, the Minglers, and/or the Mac ‘n Cheese Productions email list. I’ve never had a job where people clamor for my business card. Now I can’t keep them stocked.
The owners of Sunday Dinner, who bring intimate groups together for good food, in a home environment.
Someone complimented me on my website and said they really liked it. That makes teaching myself webdesign in two weeks of hell, armed with a Photoshop manual, Dreamweaver manual, and many large lattes, worth it. I spent a whole day trying to figure out why my homepage wouldn’t load. I had “index” as “Index;” after I fixed the capitalization, worked like charm. Grrrr. Seriously, a whole day.
A few friends sprinkled in with the strangers, from a teacher I work with [we’re having her students create pamphlets that show the positive side to Humboldt Park via photo and text] to one of the Dance Experiment gals, whom I met at a Mingler which she heard about via Clandestino.
The collaborative nature – so wonderful to see individuals offering what they’re good at, whether it’s beer-brewing or cooking or pointing to the location of the restroom, to create a cohesive, warm, invigorating atmosphere for a diverse group that leaves happy and full, not just of food, but of goodness