A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

Cuisine en Locale teamed up with Harvard Square’s Follow the Honey and SoonSpoon to take guests on a culinary journey through 10 apiaries. Sarah Paterson bee bearding in the parking lot across the street to kick off the night.

They kicked off the first course in the parking lot while guests enjoyed the bee bearding show. Profiteroles with honey herb goat cheese and lemon balm filled (Clumsydog Apiary, Cambridge, Beekeeper Mel Gadd)

A bee sanctuary.

The room that the event was being held in was spacious, guests had assigned seating in tables or 8 or 10.

Aren’t the place settings just lovely?

Alex’s ugly sauce was on the table – love his hot sauce!

The night featured a cash bar with some lovely honey inspired cocktails.

Honey braised lamb belly taco with mint crema, arugula and grated Eat Local propolis (Autumn Morning Farm, Barre, Beekeeper George O’Neil)

Peekabucha drink, Bar Hill Honey Vodka, with Cucumber Calaminth, Moroccan Mint, Honey Simple, and Kombucha!

Poulet en Pot – braised chicken with honey, vegetables, and verbena. (Best Bees, Boston, Beekeeper Dr. Noah Wilson-Rich) This was a really nice dish. I couldn’t quite put my finger on the flavor that this soup reminded me of, but I loved this soup. I was lucky enough to sit next to Noah at dinner and we had a really great conversation. I’m hoping to plan a time where I can head over and take a look at his bees up close and in person!

Lobster with Bee Pollen – vanilla butter and calaminth over fresh peas and corn. (Eat Local Honey, Jamaica Plain, Beekeeper Mike Graney) Such a wonderful dish – the lobster was delicious, a lot of bright clean flavors.

Green salad with Honey Cimb – roast beef and African Blue basil (Eat Local Honey, Somerville, Beekeeper Mike Graney)

In between courses, different beekeepers got up and spoke, along with poet Toni Bee. The speeches started to slow down the time between courses, but they recovered before the end of the night and the event ended on time. One memorable part of the evening was the “yellow is the new black” contest. Guests were asked to dress up in their most inventive outfits to win prizes.

Arepa de Pernil – honeyed pork shoulder, bacon, prescott cheese and fresh herb chimichurri (Carlisle honey, Tyngsboro, Beekeeper Rick Reault)

Mead poached scallops with wood sorrel and cyser reduction. (Green river Ambrosia, Greenfield, brewer Garth Shaneyfelt Brewed with Warm Colors Apiary Honey, Deerfield, Beekeepers Dan and Bonita Conlan). There was a palate cleanser in the middle of the scallops and the ribs, which didn’t photograph well. It was  a cucumber blueberry sorbet with Tulsi basil.

 Moroccan style lamb ribs with honey sauce and calaminth (Benevolent Bee, Jamaica Plain, Beekeepers Stephanie Elson and Emile Bruneau) The meat all but melted off the bone and in your mouth, a really lovely dish.

Raspberries with vanilla honey whipped marscapone, lemon balm and Mary’s honey oat cake (Baer’s Bees, Cambridge, Beekeeper Andy Baer). Those cookies were OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Thanks to Cuisine en Locale for being such great hosts! The evening was amazing and I walked away stuffed (but in a great way).

Cuisine en Locale

156 Highland Ave., Somerville, MA

http://cuisineenlocale.com/

Tags: events, somerville, soonspoon