Big Night at the Green Barn for The Stop

I was a very lucky girl on Wednesday June 3rd, 2015 because I was able to attend the most beautiful event BIG NIGHT AT THE GREEN BARN which was held at Artscape's Wychwood Barns on Christie Street.  The event was a fundraiser for The Stop.  In case you don't know about The Stop they have programs that promote growing, cooking, sharing and advocating for healthy food.  They have a greenhouse on the site and a weekly Farmer's Market on Saturdays. There is a community kitchen and a classroom for youth education.  Chef Jamie Oliver even toured the space and thinks that there should be more facilities like it.

Since Jamie Oliver loves it so much I kind of think it's my duty as a Food Revolution Day Ambassador for him to promote their fundraising initiatives so that their programs can continue to grow and thrive.  

As a food blogger this was a no brainer for me. A great community program, a beautiful venue on an perfect spring evening and sharing some outstanding food made by some of the top Chefs in the city.  What's not to love about that?  I had one fellow blogger at my table but I didn't know anyone else but I still had a really great time.  From start to finish the attention to detail on this event was fabulous.

You arrive to a tent with some amazing appetizers.  I went back for a second cone of the hot popcorn  shrimp it was so good from Vertical.  There was also Prosciutto from Paganelli's and all kinds of appetizers from Terroni.  You were greeted by servers with trays of wine and there was Steamwhistle Beer also available.

As you entered the room there were fresh Oysters and sauces provided by Oyster Boy.  I am not a huge oyster person but they were really amazingly fresh and the sauces were perfect pairings.

There was also ice tea and delicious coffee provided by Island Coffee.

During the dinner there was an auction where the auctioneer kind of heckled the crowd to raise as much money as he could for the Stop.  Some of the items included a custom made suit and a dinner for 10 by Chef Mark McEwan who was also one of the Chef's on hand providing one of the components of the dinner.

There was a raffle with keys that the winning key would unlock a box that contained a prize to win a trip on Porter airlines.  I would have like that one.

The Dinner

The Antipasto was Mozzarella Arancini rice balls made by Chef Lorenzo Loseto from George Restaurant.  Oozy cheese.. what else is there to say.

The Primo was Rabbit Creste de Gallo a slow-cooked rabbit, peas, arugula and fresh pasta prepared by Ted Corrado from The Drake.  I only had rabbit once and I didn't like it but I didn't even taste the rabbit in this dish it just tasted like a terrific pasta and peas dish.

The Secondo was a Braised Short rib, mascarpone polenta, smoked tomato passata, roasted Thumbelina carrots and sauce.  This was provided by Chef Mark McEwan and Andrew Ellerby from The McEwan Group.  Everyone loved the tender short ribs.

Dolce the dessert was a Sicilian cannoli with ricotta cheese, chocolate and amarena cherries from George Tahari from Noce.  They were fantastic and light.

There was alos a Limoncello soaked sponge cake, filled with custard cream  that was made by Sorrento Ristorante but we are all so full by that point that I literally only had a spoonful.

I had a really great Cappuccino from Reunion Island Coffee to finish off the meal and I was totally stuffed.

It was a really great night and I hope that it was also a great night to raise lot's of money for The Stop's programs.  I know that the key sales were sold out so that's a great sign.  Everyone pitched in their time to make this event a huge success.  There were even a couple of volunteers from Tiff there so it's nice to see my film and food people in the mix.

Great job everyone.  I hope I am able to go again next year.

For more information about the Stop's programs or to donate visit their website www.thestop.org