{"id":14047,"date":"2011-08-18T09:51:19","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T13:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=14047"},"modified":"2011-08-18T09:51:19","modified_gmt":"2011-08-18T13:51:19","slug":"common-ground-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2011\/08\/common-ground-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Ground Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> Last week I was invited to a women’s event to showcase a new organization in the food world called Common Ground<\/a>. The goal of Common Ground is to connect people who provide food to those who purchase food. The target audience is women.<\/p>\n

From the website:<\/p>\n

Consumers aren’t getting the real story about American agriculture. We’re a group of farm women and we plan to change that by doing something extraordinary. Our program is called CommonGround and it’s all about starting a conversation between women who grow food, and the women who buy it. This is our chance to set the record straight and to help get you the facts about farming and your food. We hope you’ll join in the conversation.<\/em><\/p>\n

The event was the first one for Columbus to introduce the local chapter of Common Ground and kick off discussions between farmers and consumers.<\/p>\n

The event also put us in contact with people from The Soybean Council and Corn Growers of America. \u00a0The idea was to gather together over a meal and talk about the food industry and where our food comes from.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The dinner was held at\u00a0Amelita Mirolo Barn in the Sunny 95 Park located in Upper Arlington. \u00a0The barn is one of the oldest buildings in the area that was taken over and repurposed to use as an event space.<\/p>\n

The original beams and wood from the barn were used in recreating the new space and this space just finished construction recently. \u00a0It officially opened it’s doors in July. \u00a0It was a spectacular place for an event.<\/p>\n

There was a small cocktail reception to welcome everyone and give everybody a chance to mingle and introduce themselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There were some Ohio cheeses and crackers to nibble on, along with a chilled cucumber soup that was garnished with roasted corn kernels. \u00a0And later they brought out what seemed to be beef in a puff pastry. \u00a0The appetizers were great! However everyone was scrambling around for napkins, those somehow got overlooked!<\/p>\n

It was nice to see some familiar faces at this event and I also got an opportunity to meet some new people.<\/p>\n

Hello to all!<\/p>\n

We got called to dinner and sat down for an evening of conversation and family style dining. \u00a0They had us seated at a long table with the best centerpieces.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>How perfect! A huge glass vase full of all kinds of vegetables. \u00a0Another woman sitting close to me mentioned how much she wanted to take one home. I agreed! I would gladly take those veggies off your hands.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We started off with a mixed green salad in a parmasen crisp. \u00a0The salad was very refreshing though the parmasen crisp was a little challenging to eat. \u00a0I ended up having to abandon it much to my dismay. \u00a0That much crispy cheese needed to be eaten!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The dinner had rice, veggie mix, and a chicken saltimbocca that was drizzled with a cream sauce. \u00a0There was also lamb chops served as well but I’m not a huge fan of lamb so I passed on that. \u00a0For those that are vegetarians, there was a vegetarian dish available which I believe contained portabella mushrooms.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dessert was an apple handpie with fresh vanilla ice cream. \u00a0The dough for the handpie was fluffy and delish. \u00a0It reminded me of a fluffy donut. \u00a0The ice cream was also delicious.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There were a lot of women there each representing different aspects of the agricultural community. \u00a0Three ladies were there who were farmers, one raised hogs, one raised sheep, and the other was a seed farmer.<\/p>\n

There were members there from Common Ground itself along with various folks from the Soybean Council.<\/p>\n

It was an interesting event to chat with these ladies who are working and living the Ag business.<\/p>\n

As the evening wrapped up, the ladies informed us that they had some goodies for us to take home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>They really went all out and provided us with some Ohio based food items.<\/p>\n