Gastro/Danse Event: Big ideas, tiny budget

[Jenise]

For the potato and olive dish: Olive Releve'.

LOVE THAT. Though the potatoes have turned into triangles of grilled polenta. We have a store in this town called Deals Only. It's kind of the scratch 'n dent of the food world here, and they pick up supermarket closeouts, dented cans, surplus, what have you. I went there yesterday to start my war chest of ingredients for next week. I got anchovy paste, cocktail olives, and beaucoup jars of fire roasted red peppers for the tapenade--all 99 cents. There I also found two 5 pound bags of Goldean Pheasant coarse polenta, which is my favorite polenta of all I've ever tried/purchased anywhere--99 cents each. At that price, I can't afford to NOT do the tapenade as a polenta dish as that will free up the budget money I want to do chocolate chards to stab dramatically into the little coffee cake-like rounds that will become 'Isadora Duncan's Doughnut'. I'll be able to deliver 60 servings for about $10. This is starting to feel like an episode of Top Chef.

There's always hummus.

For the potato and olive dish: Olive Releve'.

LOVE THAT. Though the potatoes have turned into triangles of grilled polenta. We have a store in this town called Deals Only. It's kind of the scratch 'n dent of the food world here, and they pick up supermarket closeouts, dented cans, surplus, what have you. I went there yesterday to start my war chest of ingredients for next week. I got anchovy paste, cocktail olives, and beaucoup jars of fire roasted red peppers for the tapenade--all 99 cents. There I also found two 5 pound bags of Goldean Pheasant coarse polenta, which is my favorite polenta of all I've ever tried/purchased anywhere--99 cents each. At that price, I can't afford to NOT do the tapenade as a polenta dish as that will free up the budget money I want to do chocolate chards to stab dramatically into the little coffee cake-like rounds that will become 'Isadora Duncan's Doughnut'. I'll be able to deliver 60 servings for about $10. This is starting to feel like an episode of Top Chef.

We have a bargin market type here too called Grocery Outlet. Many of the foodies swear by it and visit often. I've been there several times but for some reason do not buy much. I need to take the time to browse and really look for the deals.

[Jenise]

We have a bargin market type here too called Grocery Outlet. Many of the foodies swear by it and visit often. I've been there several times but for some reason do not buy much. I need to take the time to browse and really look for the deals.

We have one of those too. And I did purchase a few things there for this weekend but it wasn't a major help. At least in our area, it's not a foodie place so much as a source of inexpensive food for people on limited incomes.

No, not a foodie place, but the foodie types I know who shop there find the most amazing deals on good chocolate, cheese, wine, butter, watermelons, .....you get the idea. I just don't take the time to really look. One time they had a deal on Land of Lakes unsalted butter, $1.99 for the pound, which is a favorite of mine. It was all sold out by the time I got there. I'm not a very good bargin hunter.

[Jenise]

No, not a foodie place, but the foodie types I know who shop there find the most amazing deals on good chocolate, cheese, wine, butter, watermelons, .....you get the idea. I just don't take the time to really look. One time they had a deal on Land of Lakes unsalted butter, $1.99 for the pound, which is a favorite of mine. It was all sold out by the time I got there. I'm not a very good bargin hunter.

It's a place I cruise through about once every six months, unless I have a special event where shopping there will amount to substantial savings IF they have things I can use. Problem is the latter: in our area we don't get the foodie-bait, and since I never need ketchup or pork n' beans....

But hey, I was in town Friday and needed ONE thing, a bag of flour for a zillion crepes, they'd have cheap and it didn't matter where I shopped so why not there. Well, turns out I was the 100th customer of the day and unbeknownst to me, this is a daily big deal. Bells and whistles go off and you get everything but a ticker-tape parade, including a chance to stand near the door and spin this big Wheel of Fortune kind of dial and win a prize while other customers stare at you, jealously. I won a dollar off my next visit.