November General Meeting: Potluck Cook-Off & Food Drive

L-R: Caitlin Ferrell, Karon Jalandoni, Meredith Fitzgerald, Stephanie Tu and Ashley Parent (Photo by L. Wish)

MWPoM has always had a potluck each year, but this year President Sarah Pellegrini turned it into a competition! For those who attended, there were so many great dishes to sample! We all voted, and the ballots were counted to reveal the winners pictured above.

Some of the beautiful desserts offered at the Potluck. You can see Karin's pumpkin bars and Colleen's Strawberry Trifle among the beautiful offerings. (Photo by L. Wish)

POTLUCK COOK-OFF WINNERS

Best Appetizer awarded to Ashley Parent for her Bacon-Wrapped Dates

Best Main Dish awarded to Meredith Fitzgerald for her Mac N Cheese

Best Dessert awarded to Karon Jalandoni for Pumpkin Bars

HONORABLE MENTION

Stephanie Tu for Funeral Sandwiches (main)

Caitlin Ferrell for Strawberry Trifle (dessert)

Personally, I was excited about the contest. I have always loved our Potluck meeting. I know how many talented cooks and bakers we have in our club, having been able to sample so many goodies for the past (almost) ten years! Every year I am always amazed to see what delicious and beautifully presented offerings there are.

Some of the appetizer dishes were my tomato/basil/parmesan soup, Julia Russ-Neff's feta dip (very yummy!), a fantastic buffalo chicken dip, and of course Ashley's bacon-wrapped dates, which were such a yummy surprise! Some main dishes, in addition to Meredith's wonderful mac n cheese, were General Tso's meatballs, enchiladas, and Stephanie's yummy funeral sandwiches (they looked too good to pass up). By the time I got to the desserts, I was so full from all the main dishes, but I tried as many as I could. Monicky Marcelino's whoopie pies were not just beautiful, but also a sweet treat! I recall there being some delicious brownies and chocolate chip cookies. I had to dig into Melody Chappel's apple pie (always one of my favorites), Karon's pumpkin bars, Caitlin's trifle and so many other things I can't remember right now, but those all stood out to me.

Thank you so much to all who attended and contributed. You made me full! I am not regretful. People coming together over food is a wonderful gathering, no matter the reason, and I think we can count this November's meeting as a good one. If you missed it, there's always next year!

Food Drive

In addition to the Potluck, members also participated in a food drive to support Pear Street Cupboard, a local food pantry in Framingham. So many people helped donate! You can see how happy Julia and Sarah are about our collection.

Julia Russ-Neff and President Sarah Pellegrini are very proud of our donation to Pear Street Cupboard. (Photo by L. Wish)

A special thanks to Julia Russ-Neff, Community Outreach Chair, for organizing the food drive, and thanks to the many members who brought in something to contribute. In addition to the food drive, Julia also featured her famous "Give and Take" table as well. She works very hard to make it easy for members to either donate something or take something that's been donated through Give and Take so items are not wasted, because it's important for us to support each other in every way possible, and that doesn't always mean shelling out money to do it.