Buy Fresh Buy Local Harvest Party

October 13, 2013 marked the Buy Fresh Buy Local-Iowa Chapter's 4th annual Harvest Party.  What a fantastic event!




Buy Fresh Buy Local is a campaign project of the Drake University Law Center that helps connect the community to local, farm-fresh food. Local farms, businesses and restaurants can become members to help support the project and connect with the public about getting easy access to local, fresh products.





The event is held at the Olmstead building at Drake University.  Drake University is home to the organization and there are lots of opportunities for students to get involved in the project.




The Harvest Party is Buy Fresh Buy Local's yearly fundraiser and what a party it is!  Supporting farms, restaurants and businesses donate local food items and time for preparation and serving. The public can buy tickets to the event to partake in lots of dishes prepared for them from all of these fresh, local ingredients.  There is a raffle with donated items from businesses as well, and all of the profits go to support this great organization. Tickets were $20 or $50 per family.






Part of the fun is getting to chat with farmers and business owners about their products and put a face with the person behind what you're eating.  It's so nice to know where your food is coming from and that it is the very best to be feeding yourself and your family.

Sponsors for the event include: The Des Moines Farmer's Market, Maytag Dairy Farms, Kitchen Collage, Campbell's Nutrition, Devour Des Moines, HoQ Restaurant, Drake University, Iowa Heartland Resource Conservation & Development, The Richard Deming Foundation and Sodexo.

Follow Buy Fresh Buy Local Greater Des Moines on Facebook for updates about upcoming events and about next year's Harvest Party, because you don't want to miss it!




Here is the wonderful menu for the evening (just click on it to view it larger).  Everything was fantastic!  About 200 people purchased tickets to the event and it has gotten bigger and better every year!  --------------->





Some of our favorite dishes of the evening included lamb meatballs and beet chocolate cake.  There are too many to mention, but we loved them all!




Eat, Play, Love Des Moines is hosting an event on November 7, 2013 at Confluence Brewing Company to benefit Buy Fresh Buy Local! This free, family-friendly event will offer local vendors and lots of fun and prizes Click here for more info!  Come out for dinner to support this awesome organization and eat some more great local food!

Mars Cafe

In my mind it had only been a few months since I had last visited Mars Cafe.  Mars Cafe is in the Drake neighborhood right across the way from the college.

In my grad-school days we'd often come over to the cafe for a snack and a coffee while studying like many other students do and it was really the coolest place around to hang out.

Well, unfortunately I realized that it's now 2013, and I graduated from grad-school in 2008.  bwah-bwah......Fail.  It's now been upwards of 5 years since I've last visited the cafe.  But the good news is, it's gotten even cooler since then

I met a friend for breakfast and my has their menu grown!  From breakfast sandwiches like peanut butter and nutella and vegetarian wraps to breakfast quesadillas and more, this menu was awesome!  They carry paninis and other specialty sandwiches and lovely salads and snacks.  Awesome menu for a "coffee shop" type of cafe.  Of course they carry the caffeine-filled stuff, too. =)

Come in to the cafe to catch up with an old (or new) friend, get some work done or bring your little one in for a special breakfast.  This cafe is very welcoming, inexpensive (my quesadilla was $4.99), laid-back and tasty!  Try it!

Weekend Review! June 22nd/23rd

Need something to do this weekend?

Saturday- June 22nd

USATrack & Field Championships

Free tickets for kids are available at Iowa Hall of Pride. As of June 19, "Tickets are still available for all sessions with prices ranging from $10-$25, although there's an opportunity for kids K-12 to go for free.The free tickets are available at Iowa Hall of Pride, located at 330 Park Street, Des Moines – 515-280-8969. There is a limit of two tickets per student, and students must show school identification in order to claim a ticket. The Iowa Hall of Pride is open from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. daily." (source: http://www.qconline.com)

Craft Beer Festival 

VIP 1:00-2:00pm

General Admission 2:00-5:00pmDowntown Des Moines – Locust St. Bridge, between 2nd Ave. and E. 1st St.

Sample 200+ craft beers by more than 30 Iowa breweries, along with a host of regional and national micro-brews. Craft beer lovers will enjoy unlimited beer samplings, food and a wide variety of special brews. 

Sunday- June 23rd

Dishcrawl Des Moines- Neighborfood

On June 23nd , We will be dining at 8 different restaurants in a East Village,all within walking distance. Your ticket will include food at each participating location, with drink specials to be offered.

How does it work?: A ticket is your invitation to dine at all 8 participating locations. During check-in, on the day of, you will receive a dinner map, which shows you all the places you will try and love.
Registration will run from 1:30pm-4pm and the restaurants will be serving from 2pm-5pm.

Featured Restaurants:

Capital Pub and Hot Dog Co- Mini Chicago Dog,Yellow mustard, yellow onion, diced tomato, sweet relish, sport peppers, pickle and celery salt

New world café- Vegan Mac & cheese (with whole wheat pasta, kale, and a sesame-spice sprinkle) , chocolate shakes and cucumber limeades.

Rogue Sweets- Funky Fun Gourmet Cupcakes: Themed, & ROGUEsicule a Creamsicule gluten free/ vegan

Sugar Blasted Desserts- Margarita, Bacony, Chocolate, Neopitan, & Blue Velvet Cupcakes.

Mia Bella Catering-Cavetelli: homemade Red Sauce ( Marinara) Sprinkled with Romano cheese

Mad Meatball- PIZZA: The Fuke,pepperoni,sausage,mushroom,onion,black olive,and bandanna peppers. The Cuzzy, pepperoni,sausage, and mushroom.

Plain Talk Books & Coffee- 
Fresh grilled Panini: Meat option/ Vegetarian option

Little Jimmies Italian Ice- 
Italian Ice

off innaZONwerld : Hosting a Local wine tasting & dip sampling

Drink Special: with purchase of Drink Band

AJ's On East Court: Strawberry Stripper, Haunting, or a can of SHOGUN Energy

Capital Pub and Hot Dog co. :Seasonal Beer on Draft 

Ham Independence

Grade A Gardens (Des Moines, IA)

12-5pm. Free. 

Prosciutto, beer, bacon cupcakes, porchetta, dancing, and everything fun.  Organized by The Cheese Shop of Des Moines, with participation from many other local businesses.

Free Art Exhibits!

If you like art and want to check out some of the newest art displays around, check out the Anderson Gallery at Drake University.  

It was established in 1996 and hosts curated exhibitions of historically significant work, as well as annual showcases of student work from the Department of Art+Design. They are a not-for-profit branch of the Department of Arts and Sciences at Drake University, occupying a versatile 1800 sq. ft. space on the first floor of the Harmon Fine Arts Center.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 4pm. They offer extended hours on Thursdays until 8pm. All exhibitions and exhibition-related events are free and open to the public.

For the current exhibition information check out their website here.

We checked the Magpie Tendencies exhibit a few months ago and were totally impressed. Even my 5 year old can't wait to go see the next exhibit.  

Note: They are only open during the school year.

Wing Ding 2013

This year's Wing Ding fund raiser event was hosted on June 1st by Jethro's BBQ and included wings from lots of local restaurants like Goodsons, Sakari, Quintons, Saints, Twin Peaks, Buffalo Wild Wings, Okabokji Grill and more.  The proceeds were to benefit the Animal Rescue League of Iowa and the event was awesome.

A punch card that costs $20 in advance ($25 at the door) got you 12 wings, a 16 oz drink (alcohol included), a coupon for a free sandwich at Jethro's and a fun commemorative bag filled with goodies.  Great deal for a great cause.  

There was live music and a wing eating contest that was hilarious to watch Molly (the professional eater, who had previously eaten one of Jethro's famous humongous sandwiches in 7 minutes) who was able to put away about 3 pounds of chicken in 2 minutes! Pretty impressive.

My favorite wings of the evening were the green chili parmesan from Twin Peaks. So good!  Maytag had samples and Confluence was pouring their "Barley & Me".  Fitting for the occasion.

The rain didn't stop wing-eaters as they just piled under the tents to wait out the downpours.  They did a great job keeping up with demand and keeping the party going.  Can't wait until next year!