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Melissa planned the perfect, foodie party for my birthday this year: ten of us got to have Culinary Communion to ourselves for a "local food" class. In preparation, Chef Gabriel Claycamp and Chef Katie Coleman shopped at several local farmers' markets to gather a collection of foods that were produced within 250 miles of Seattle. Melissa brought several bottles of wine from the same region. With help from the Chefs, we created a menu that would make use of almost all of the ingredients. We drank. We cooked. We ate.

What did we cook? Melissa and Winnie made fresh pasta and an arugula pesto. Several people worked on a roasted golden beet salad with fresh blackberries and chives. Gavin and Elaine threw together the most fantastic dish of clams, mussels, pancetta, and a white wine sauce. Joan, Aron, and Tatjana grilled corn, onions, and eggplant for a "deconstructed" ratatouille. We also battered and fried squash blossoms and beans, roasted potatoes with garlic, stuffed peppers with lamb and mint, and concocted a giant spinach frittata. (Forgive me if I don't exactly recall who worked on all the dishes.) We finished the whole meal with grilled peaches dressed by a balsamic and port wine reduction.  But the finale was my birthday cake, which Melissa had gone out of her way to procure from Mike's Amazing Cakes.

Photos from the party are linked here.