For Reals Meals Hosted By Emilie Zanger & Jessica Herman

Good. Lord. Emilie and Jessica hosted the latest For Reals Meals and brought a heavy hitting crew – their guests included musician/writer Areif Sless-Kitain, Verdura’s Sara Gasbarra, The Third Teacher + design and learning strategist Melanie Kahl, Corrina Lesser of Chicago Humanities Festival, and Pitchfork Creative Director Mike Renaud. Just one of them would have been insane, but they had them all. And this FRM was especially cool…not only had I never met any of the guests (except Sara), I hadn’t met one of the hosts either (Emilie). It was like one awesome, big blind date!

Jessica and Emilie created a pretty, summery menu: strawberry hibiscus-tea lemonade, guacamole with veggies, grilled asparagus with cilantro-pepita pesto, corn cakes with red chile salsa and herb salad, and strawberry crumble with whipped coconut cream. I get excited about every FRM menu, but corn cakes AND strawberry crumble? Two of my favorites that I for sure have not had since I changed my diet. And Emilie’s coconut cream was so great, it inspired the topping for my cherry brownie recipe.

Everyone loves a good gift bag/favor/thing-to-take-home-to-remember-what-a-good-time-was-had. And Emilie and Jessica really hooked it up with the help of Sara. We all took home personalized thyme plants (I love those West Elm markers), and master gardener Sara even told us how to care for them. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a plant last more than a couple of weeks, so it was awesome to hear her expert tips.

As blind dates go, this one was pretty awesome. I was so inspired by everyone at the table and hope to share more meals with them all soon. Thanks Emilie and Jessica for such a great day!

Later this week…Emilie’s recipe for corn cakes.