Tuesday at the Table

Last week at The Table, I showed off my Weck jars, so I figured I better report back that I have used several of them. I've since shared how fun it was to meet Alice Currah at the Tom Douglas Cookbook Social we went to last week. I want to tell you more about that too . . .

So about the salty caramel sauce . . . batch #1 turned out just a little toasty. Ie. Not quite burned, but it just had an edge to it that didn't make it giftable. And I needed a gift that night. So I tried another recipe that had the descriptors, 'easy' and '30 minutes.' It was The Pioneer Woman's Easy Caramel Sauce.

And it was good. But still, I wanted to give Jen's salty sauce another try. And good thing I did. On my stove, with my candy thermometer, I took it just to 325-degrees, and it was perfect. And delish. I sprinkled the finished sauce with some Maldon flaked salt just for fun. mmmmm

And for those of you more fabric-inclined, I did make another set of Brrr! potholders to go with that caramel sauce. 

And the Cookbook Social . . . It took a trip downtown, and en route, I was able to catch a decent photo of our city's landmark. 

An annual event, this year 20 local chefs were represented, signing their cookbooks and sharing tastes.

There was bacon spread from Skillet Street Food. I mean seriously, for a bacon lover, what choice did I have but to buy some to take home? What began as a food truck enterprise now includes  a catering business, several food products, and two restaurants. When I shared this pic on Instagram, it was deemed 'best condiment ever,' so I'm anxious to try it - oodles of recipes on their website. (At the social, they served some mighty fine duck tacos - a first for me!)

Hubby really enjoyed the Carrot and Rosemary Soup from Kathleen Flinn, who wrote The Sharper Your Knife,The Less You Cry about her experience at Le Cordon Bleu. And I really liked the Cream of Porcini Mushroom Soup from John Howie.

But best bite had to be the Nutella Brioche from Macrina Bakery. Oh my, they were good! Just had to buy the cookbook. I've visited the bakery a few times - always delicious - and these brioche would sure be fun to try.

Source: Uploaded by user via Elaine on Pinterest

So there's my food adventures for the past week. How about you - anything to share? I see lots of table runners, potholders, Christmas goodies, etc. all over blog-land. For a fun little end to the year, I'm offering a $40 gift certificate to Pink Chalk Fabrics to a winner chosen randomly from this month's link-ups. Just link up here through December 28 for a chance to win!