Elm City Market March 2015 Event Schedule

Elm City Market to Hold Special Events in March 2015

All are welcome to drop by the market for International Women’s Day, March Mardis Gras, Soul de Cuba, a Night of Noodles, and Cheese 101; the market will also hold special discount days

Elm City Community Market, Inc., an employee-owned marketplace located in the heart of New Haven, Conn announced that it will be holding several tasting events  and celebrations throughout the month of March. At these events, patrons are invited to enjoy various foods and celebrate special days throughout the month while learning about the history and preparation of several ethnic dishes.
 

“This month, we’re holding a Day of Indulgence just for women, March Mardis Gras, a Night of Noodles, a special Cheese 101 event focusing just on sheep’s milk cheeses, and much more,” said Elm City Market event organizer Alexa Apotria. “Customers also won’t want to miss our $2 off our house-made hot bar every weekday in March from 3 to 5 pm, and National Cold Cut Day discounts on March 3.”

Special tasting events include:

• March 8 – A Day of Indulgence: March 8^th is International Women’s Day, and Elm City Market will celebrate by inviting all women to shop on this day and enjoy free minute massages, delectable samples throughout the store and special prize giveaways. Some wellness items will also be available for purchase at a discounted rate. All day.
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• March 10 – Mardi Gras ECM Style!: At 5:30 pm, Elm City Market invites all patrons to celebrate Mardi Gras in March, as it displays the tastes of New Orleans for customers to sample and purchase.   
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• March 19 - Soul de Cuba @ ECM: Soul de Cuba returns to Elm City Market to stir up some culturally inspired dishes through the Cuban and African tradition of food and art. Patrons are invited to enjoy this cooking demonstration at 5:30 pm.
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• March 20 – A Night of Noodles: Elm City Market will host a storewide tasting event from 5-7 pm for patrons to explore various noodle dishes including cold and hot, spicy and sweet, and from every corner of the world. The market will provide information and history about the noodles, samples and recipe cards for patrons to take home.
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• March 25 - Cheese 101: All About Sheep’s Milk: At 6:30 pm, Elm City Market invites customers to learn about and taste a variety of sheep’s milk cheeses from around the country. At the end of the class, a pop quiz winner will receive a surprise treat to take home. 

Special discount day events include:

• March 3 – National Cold Cut Day!: Elm City Market will offer 20% off all freshly cut deli meats and cheese for the entire day.
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• Monday-Friday, throughout March - ECM Happy Hour: From 3-5 pm each weekday in March, Elm City Market will offer patrons a special “Happy Hour” discount of $2.00 off of the normal price per pound of food from its house-made hot bar. 

About Elm City Market
Elm City Market is an employee-owned, customer-centric marketplace located in the heart of New Haven, Conn. The market provides a large selection of fresh, sustainable and organic options, as well as day-to-day food staples and groceries, including meat and seafood, produce, bulk foods, baked goods, dairy, frozen foods, cheese, craft beers, vitamins & supplements, and body care.  The market employs over 75 full and part-time employees. Located at 777 Chapel Street, the store is open 7 days a week from Mon., through Sat., 8am to 9pm and Sun, 9am to 9pm.  Visit www.elmcitymarket.com or find the store on Facebook at ‘Elm City Market.’

Celebrate Carnevale with Redpack‏ Tomatos and a Fun Giveaway

Promotional Giveaway

Don't you love comfort food during the long cold winter?  I know I do! 

Especially the savories - items like yummy snack bites, soups and and pasta with sauce. ANYTHING with sauce is always a favorite. And, just about anything made with tomatoes!  

I know, I know, there is NOTHING quite like a fresh summer garden tomato...but when they can't be had, I love the ones that I can pick up in my local supermarket...Redpack tomatoes!

Redpack tomatoes are grown in the Midwest, where true seasons positively impact flavor — with just the right angle of the sun, perfect temperature, and soil that seems made for growing tomatoes. 

That's why I was happy to team up with the great folks at Redgold Redpack Tomatoes to help them get the word out about their giveaway  --- and was thrilled when they asked me help them host  ANOTHER mini-giveaway right here on the Home Place Blog!!!

And here's what will be in the HOME PLACE mini-giveaway!

• 1 28-oz can of Redpack crushed tomatoes 
• 1 28-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 28-oz can of diced
• 1 6-oz can of tomato paste 
•  PLUS recipes like Pizza Stromboli featured below courtesy of Redpack! 

Enter the Home Place mini-giveaway below using the rafflecopter entry!
Disclaimer: Home Place Blog is not liable for the awarding of prizes. Winners must reside in the continental U.S. and will be notified via email within 48 hours of the contest end. At that time a valid U.S. mailing address must be provided. Contest ends March 3rd 2015.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Redpack is having a FUN Facebook Promotion, running Feb. 11th - March 4th, during which 1,000 Redpack followers will get a Redpack tote bag EACH WEEK (for a total of 3,000 tote bags!!). 

AND THERE'S MORE!!!!

A grand prize winner will receive a pasta stock pot, pasta-related serveware and Redpack products. The total value of the grand prize is $300.00.  

ENTER REDPACK's GIVEAWAY HERE

PIZZA STROMBOLI

Photo Source: Redpack / RedGold 

Servings:	8
Preparation Time:	20 minutes
Cook Time:	1 hour

2	tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1	small onion, chopped
1	garlic clove, minced
1/2	cup vegetable broth, or white wine
4	tablespoons Redpack® Tomato Paste
2	(14.5 ounce) cans Redpack® Petite Diced Tomatoes With Garlic & Olive Oil
1	teaspoon red pepper
	Salt and black pepper to taste
2	teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1	(8 ounce) tube refrigerator pizza crust, or crescent roll sheet
2	cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese blend
1	cup chopped assorted fresh vegetables, green pepper, onion, muchrooms and spinach leaves

Spicy Pizza Sauce - Makes 2 1/2 cups

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and sauté until they are soft, about 4 minutes.  Add the garlic and wine; cook for an additional minute.
• Stir in REDPACK® TOMATO PASTE, REDPACK® PETITE DICED TOMATOES with GARLIC & OLIVE OIL, pepper flakes, salt and black pepper.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until thickened.  Stir in the vinegar; cool.
• Freeze leftover pizza sauce for a future Pizza Braid or regular pizza.

Pizza Braid - Makes 1 braid

• Preheat oven to 375^o F.  Remove pizza dough from tube and place on sheet of parchment paper.  Roll dough into a 10” X 14” rectangle.  Place on baking sheet.
• Spread ½ of cheese down the center third of the dough.  Top with 1 cup Spicy Pizza Sauce and 1 cup of shopped vegetables.  Top with remaining cheese.
• Cut 1” crosswise strips down the sides of the rectangle.  Starting from one end, bring one of the dough strips across the filling diagonally.  Repeat on the other side, crisscrossing the dough strips.  Continue down the rest of the braid, alternating strips to form the loaf.  Brush with egg wash (one egg beaten with a pinch of salt).  Sprinkle with dehydrated onions or poppy seed.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
• Option:  Meat lovers??? Pepperoni or crumbled cooked sausage could be added when placing the vegetables.

Note: Recipe above used with permission from Redpack

For more recipes for Carnevale season visit http://www.RedpackTomatoes.com/Carnevale

*******************

Disclaimer: I was gifted with a mini-promotional giveaway Redpack pack courtesy of Redpack to help facilitate this promotion. All opinions are my own. 

The 22nd Annual Taste of Stamford sponsored by the Stamford Chamber

The 22nd Annual Taste of Stamford returns to the Stamford Marriott Hotel and Spa!

Save the date and get your advance tickets now!

EVENT: 22nd Annual Taste of Stamford
PLACE: Marriott Stamford Hotel & Spa
ADDRESS: 243 Tresser Boulevard
DATE: Thursday, February 26, 2015
WHEN: 5:30PM Until 8:30PM
COST:  $60.00 Prepaid Ticket, Register HERE
             $70.00 At the Door Ticket
ABOUT: Experience Fine Cuisine, Wine and Spirits from the Areas Premier Establishments

Experience Fine Cuisine from the Menus of:

• Amore Cucina & Bar
• Bar Q
• Bar Rosso
• Capital Grille
• Capriccio Cafe
• Columbus Park Trattoria
• David's Soundview Catering
• DiMare Pastry Shop
• Dinosaur BBQ
• Fairway Market
• Fiesta Atlantic
• Grade A ShopRite
• Kona Grill
• Little Gourmet Shop
• Myrna's Kitchen
• Olio Restaurant
• Riko's Pizza
• Rizzuto's Catering & Events
• Sign of the Whale
• Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa
• Tabouli Grill
• The Inn at Long Shore
• Villa Italia
• Volta Gelateria Creperia
• and More!

Enjoy Libations and Refreshments from

• Acqua Panna
• Bev Max Warehouse Liquors
• Coffee Distributing
• Dichello Distributors
• Nestle Pure Life
• Perrier
• Poland Springs
• Robeks
• Shearwater Coffee
• S. Pellegrino 

Want to know what to expect? Read my recap of last year's event HERE

For more pictures from last year's Taste of Stamford visit the Home Place facebook page HERE and don't forget to "like" us!

Stamford Chamber of Commerce

773 Summer Street

Stamford, CT 06901

Phone: 203.359.4761

Web: http://www.stamfordchamber.com/default.htm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stamfordchamberofcommerce

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/StamfordChamber

Parallel Post Prix Fixe for Valentine's Day 2015!

Visit Parallel Post in Trumbull Connecticut for a Romantic Valentine's Dinner!

Parallel Post Valentine’s Day Menu

$50 per person plus tax and gratuity

please choose one item from each course, no substitutions

First Course Choices:

• “White Gulf Shrimp” Cocktail
• Beef Tartar, Egg Gribiche, Grilled  Sourdough
• Fire Roasted Copps Island Oysters, Preserved Lemon Butter, Smoked Bacon
• Charcuterie et  Fromage, Pear Cranberry Chutney, Honey Glazed Almonds, Ciabatta

Second Course:

• Roasted Red Beet, stuffed with Greek Yogurt, over greens, Spiced Marcona Almonds, crumbled goat cheese, basil vinaigrette
• Caesar Salad-Romaine, Capers, Shaved Parmesan, White Anchovy
• Roasted Tomato Bisque, Mascarpone Crème , toasted herb crumbs

Third course

• Cast ironed French cut Chicken, Goat Cheese “Anson Mills” Rustic Grits, Swiss chard, Yellow Carrots, pine nuts, and currants
• 14 oz Porterhouse, rubbed with Black Garlic butter, Yukon Gold Truffle Mash, Sautéed greens
• Seafood Pasta “Norman Bloom” clams, shrimp, PEI mussels, local fish
• Butter Wine broth, grilled sourdough crostini   Sourdough Crusted Halibut Beet Gnocchi, Roasted Salsify, Meyer Lemon Escabeche
• Lobster

Fourth course

• Madelyn’s Red Velvet Cake
• Chocolate Pannacotta
• Banana Cream Pie made with Do-Si-Dos® Girl Scout Cookies
• Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake made with Trefoils® Girl Scout Cookeis

House mixologist Greg "Bootleg Greg" Genias will also be serving up the evening's featured V-Day cocktail From Russia with Love, a Russian Red Strawberry Daiquiri with White Truffle Whip Cream and Campari sugar.   

Overseen by James Beard nominated Chef Dean James Max, Parallel Post is a modern-American restaurant based in Trumbull, CT. focused on seasonal and regional cuisine. Offering a bold and flavorful menu featuring modern American cuisine with Northeastern regional flair, Parallel Post brings an unseen level of quality and creativity to the culinary landscape of Trumbull, Connecticut. The intimate, yet casual eatery uses seasonal, local ingredients prepared with contemporary, healthy techniques. The menu is comprised of a wide array of options from snacks to small plates, large entree, and a multi-course tasting menu. 

Parallel Post Restaurant

180 Hawley Lane, Trumbull CT 06611

Phone/Reservations  203-380-6380

Located in the Trumbull Marriott - Merritt Parkway

On the Web: http://parallelpostrestaurant.com/

Like them on facebook https://www.facebook.com/ParallelPost

Follow them on twitter: https://twitter.com/ParallelPostCT

 visit www.parallelpostrestaurant.com for more information

Chilifest Westport CT 2015 Winners

Congratulations to the 2015 ChiliFest Westport CT winners!

Bedford Middle School in Westport CT was home to the ChiliFest CT contest! This fierce and fun competition is brought to you by the same folks who host ChowdaFestCT!

Nearly one thousand people were on hand to welcome the return of Chilifest to Westport!

Let's face it - all the chili entries were DELICIOUS - and each deserves the win!

So many great chilis to choose from!  

How hard it was to pick just one!

But YOU were the judge - and decided that the winners were:

Classic Beef:

Southport Brewing Company who took the Classic Beef category with their Maple Stout Chili.

Others in the classic beef category that need to be mentioned are Black Cat Grille in Redding, defending champion Bobby Q’s of Westport, Chilibomb in Fairfield, Little Pub of Greenwich, Ridgefield and Wilton and Old Post Tavern of Fairfield who placed 2nd with their “Deflated Super Bowl Chili”. SBC entered a Maple Stout Chili made by co-owner and master brewer Mark DaSilva.  Their winning recipe included SBC’s very own brewed stout.  “We wanted to blend the best of our brewery and kitchen” said a noticeably happy DaSilva.  “We’ll have to figure out how to share this trophy at all three locations” he added. 



Creative Category:

Geronimo of Fairfield won the Creative Chili category with their Hatch Green Chili

Their Hatch Green Chile edged out entries from The Boat Yard BBQ & Grill of Stamford, Cask Republic of New Haven and Stamford who placed 2nd, The Chef’s Table of Fairfield, Liquid Lunch of Shelton and Milford and Simply Delicious of Norwalk.  “I tweaked our recipe a bit” said Chef Tim Scott of Geronimo.  “I’m glad I did as the competition was top notch.”


Local Firehouse Chili:

The firefighters of Westport took the firehouse chili category narrowly beating fellow firefighters from Bridgeport and Weston.

This was probably my favorite category of the year as it featured the culinary talent of local firefighters.  Sponsored by Local Kitchen and Beer Bar, the category was easily the most heated competition of the day.  With a win by less than 30 votes, chef/firefighter Toby Ostapchuk noted “We entered our Checkered Flag Chicken Chili. It’s been a long time favorite of the department so we decided to enter it.  We call it checkered flag because the black and white beans makes it look like a checkered flag.  I hope more fire departments enter next year. It was a lot of fun.”

And I personally enjoyed meeting Westport’s First Selectman Jim Marpe and watching him don an apron and help serve samples alongside Westport firefighters. 

Event Chair Jim Keenan (below) was pleased with the event turnout as we joked and chatted about eating chili at 11:00 in the morning!

Everyone loved the Chili!

And Westport First Selectman, Jim Marpe made the rounds with ChiliFest mascot Chef Ref to celebrate the return of Chilifest!

The Sacred Heart University Band played and got everyone in the mood for some great chili!

The men’s club at the Unitarian Church in Westport plus over a hundred student athletes from the Sacred Heart University football, women’s hockey, women’s golf and equestrian teams helped orchestrate parking, sold and accepted tickets, separated recycle and compostable waste, worked with restaurants and tabulated votes.

Besides sampling chili, attendees also got to sample mini-tiramisu from The Greens of Cannondale and Tony Aitoro mingled with the crowd handing out his famous chocolate chip cookies served at Aitoro Appliances in Norwalk. Fellow sponsors Stop & Shop and Volvo of Westport provided some much welcome relief to attendees who sampled over 1,800 gallons of chili.  Stop & Shop served water throughout the event while Volvo of Westport handed out mints in a tin shaped like a Volvo as people handed in their ballots.

The big winner was the Turtle Shell Fund, the event’s beneficiary.  The Turtle Shell Fund seeks to promote the education of young people in art, music, theater, skilled craft and other creative pursuits in order to create a rich cultural heritage for tomorrow.


Chilifest is proudly sponsored by Aitoro Appliances, The Greens at Cannondale, Local Kitchen & Beer Bar, Stop & Shop, Sustainable America, US Foods, Volvo of Westport and WEBE 108.

For MANY MORE PICTURES of the event visit the Home Place Facebook page==>> HERE

and while you're there...don't forget to "like" us! 

For more information log on to the ChiliFest website at http://www.come2chilifest.com/

A big thank you to the ChiliFest sponsors!