Check it. Loads of fun coming up. I’ll be on the Field Trip! Can’t wait for my post-Bonnaroo, post-Wedding season reward!

Potlikker Film Fest NYC
Friday, June 11
5-8 p.m.
Hill Country Barbecue Market

Join the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, the State of Mississippi, and the Southern Foodways Alliance on June 11 for POTLIKKER FILM FEST NYC, hosted by Hill Country Barbecue Market. Watch Joe York’s latest film. Sip Lazy Magnolia. Listen to intriguing tunes from One Ring Zero’s Michael Hearst. Enjoy bites from John Currence, Ashley Christensen, Tyler Brown, and Elizabeth Karmel. Tickets are available only in advance and will sell out quickly.

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10th Annual SFA Field Trip
June 24-26
Atlanta, GA

Exploring the Global South along the Buford Highway International Corridor
Travel the Buford Highway International Corridor. With expert Southern Foodways Sherpas in the lead, we’ll explore the strip malls and reconfigured fast food bunkers where intrepid eaters feast on some of the region’s best (Chinese) barbecue, and (Salvadoran) fried chicken. We’ll eat a deep South dim sum lunch at Abattoir. And explore Mexican cookery with Eddie Hernandez of Taqueria del Sol.

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8th Annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party
Saturday and Sunday, June 12 & 13
11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Madison Square Park, NYC
The weekend-long event brings together the country’s top pitmasters who cook up their award-winning food for over 100,000 barbecue enthusiasts. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Madison Square Park, take in the sights, sounds and smells of  the event – from great live music to engaging seminars and cooking demonstrations.

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Beans + Rice: A Culinary and Cultural Odyssey
Friday, June 12
8 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Historic New Orleans Collection’s Williams Research Center

At the day-long forum presented by The Historic New Orleans Collection and the Ray Charles Program at Dillard University, a distinguished panel of speakers – including Dr. Jessica Harris, an SFA Founder and past Board member; Dr. Judith Carney; “Hoppin’” John Taylor; and Dr. Maricel Presilla – will discuss the ingredients, processing, multi-cultural connections and consumption of beans and rice.

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Zingerman’s Camp Bacon
June 17-20
Zingerman’s, Ann Arbor, MI

Camp Bacon is a long weekend with some of the biggest names in bacon, diving into exploration of the bacon’s past, present, and future. Highlights include: bacon tasting with Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig, bacon curing demos with Allan Benton and Nick Spencer, pancetta-making class with Herb Eckhouse from La Quercia, bacon cooking demo with James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and chef Molly Stevens, and a concert with R&B legend Andre Williams.

Great day at the farmer’s market. Chicken salad, quinoa from our Just Ripe friends and more beautiful strawberries!! Also super secret milk and yogurt, not from the market. My afternoon snack: strawberries and yogurt! All from right here!!!!

It’s burger time here at Mockingbird HQs. We have some grassfed beef from the Market Square Farmer’s Market and when I went to find condiments I found 3 kinds of relish, 2 kinds of pickles, ketchup, mayo, and hot sauce. Not sure what combo to go with. I may just eat a bun with all the sauces! What’s your favorite topping for an at home burger?

Bar Action

The drink of the weekend came from this lovely pre-wedding cocktail party I hosted in my backyard and the new juicer I am obsessed with.

Juice about 4 stalks of celery (which I hate to just eat but it gives every juice have just a slight bite…) and a 2 inch piece of ginger. It made about 4 0z and then I added about 3 oz of simple syrup. Mix about 1 oz with a few oz of gin or vodka and some soda water. Next time I might add more ginger, but they are both strong flavors so be careful with over powering one or the other.

Just picked a bowl of snap peas! These Are dwarf snap peas and come in quite fast. We will probably just eat these as snacks. No cooking. Yum.

Radishes are in. I’m not a huge fan of raw radishes but I grew some this year because they are so easy and fast. Yesterday I made a radish relish:

2 cups diced radish
1 cup diced red onion
1 head of garlic diced
pickling spices of your choosing
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Heat vinegar, water, sugar, and spices (I put mine in a hand-dandy cheese cloth bundle) till the sugar has dissolved. Put all the diced ingredients in a 1 quart jar. Cover with vinegar mixture and spice bundle. For my spices I used dill, yellow and black mustard seeds, a dried thai chile, and some black peppercorns. I’m going to let it sit a few days before serving with anything.

It’s strawberry season. Here’s a round up of some things to do with the berries besides the regular jam and shortcake.

1. Juice them. Make cocktails. On Saturday we muddled some basil with the juice topped it with champagne and a splash of vodka. Could also use to make strawberry lemonade.
2. Freeze the juice in ice cubes. Use as actual ice cubes for any drink or defrost a bunch of the cubes so you can use them later in the summer.
3. Make a balsamic vinegar and port reduction, poor over the berries.
4. Dice the berries, finely chop some basil, mix in with goat cheese. Serve on french bread drizzled with some honey.
5. Make a honey, strawberry simple syrup. Use honey instead of sugar, boil down the berries, strain. The syrup can be used to sweeten cocktails or other juices or lemonade.

Get your berries now at the Farmer’s Market. The season doesn’t last all that long!