Penthouse Potluck – An Afternoon Foodstravaganza with South Florida Foodies

This past Saturday, my DH (Daring Husband) and I had the chance to meet up with a group of fellow foodies (South Florida Foodies @SFLFoodies) for an afternoon of fabulous food, drinks and mingling in one of Midtown 4’s beautiful penthouses.

The view from the penthouse was stunning, and graciously provided by our host Jason (whose company has just launched Digest Miami, a really cool food-related augmented reality iPhone app and soon-to-be one-stop resource for the best Miami’s culinary scene has to offer. Check it out in the App Store). Unfortunately I was on overdrive mode from cooking non-stop since 6 that morning, and didn’t do the view justice.

IMG_0291w — Really? All that gorgeous view, and this was the best I could come up with?

This is the lone shot I took of the sweeping views from the Bay to Downtown to the west side we were treated to.

Check out many more shots of the view, as well as the attendants and their dishes, in this video complied by Maude Eaton, South Florida Foodie curator, Foodie Diva and coordinator extraordinaire.

The potluck theme was “avant garde”, and boy did some people hit the creative mother load. Most notably in my mind (after having two days to think) were Gretchen & David… who not only made appetizers (pb&j with spicy peanut satay and mango agar jelly and little caprese tomato bites with balsamic pearls), a main (mashed potato sushi bites with little crabs and steak strips) and dessert (a coffee agar jelly coconut concoction), but two drinks (a light pear candied kumquat cocktail and really good bubble tea) as well. I also heard a rumor about spam and a bloody mary… A creativity knockout.

And I can’t forget Gail’s bacon-wrapped Peeps. Quite the interesting combo–If I ever run into a surplus of Peeps anywhere, this is how I will dispatch of them 🙂

Everything I tasted was fabulous, though I must admit to being completely stuffed after the appetizers! So much so I didn’t get the chance to taste about half of the mains and hardly any desserts. I can say that what I did have was very, very good. Pork belly nachos with some sort of fabulous bourbon chaser?! Yes, please! Scandinavian beef spread? Oh yeah!

The DH and I loved attending and getting to meet so many passionate people. Thank you to all who liked my dish–I absolutely adore cooking for people, especially new people, and the support was very appreciated. I freaked out over this dish for over a week, hoping it would work, and hoping it would fit the ‘avant garde’ bill, and I’m glad to say it was a success! Hopefully we will have another potluck soon–I have a bunch of things kicking around in my head I’d love to try out for a crowd 🙂

Below is a quick pictorial of the dishes we saw (and tasted) at the potluck. A more in-depth piece on my dish, Ramen with Kickass Broth and “Scallop” Mousseline is coming soon.