Weekend Fun: Bellydancing, Pizza Party, Chef's Unbridled and Pookas in Bedford

Do you ever notice that there are certain weekends where every organization seems to have something going on at the same time? Well this weekend was definitely one of those! There was so much going on, it was actually annoying to me - I wanted to do everything but there are only so many hours in each day. I wish these things would be spread out over more weekends!

Friday night we decided to stay home. It was an exhausting week and we needed to just chill out and relax. I made homemade pizza and calzone and we brought it next door to my neighbor's. We added some wine and it was a party.

(left)pizza with homemade sausage and eggplant sauce, red peppers, mushrooms and olives
(top)stromboli with margharita pepperoni, fresh ricotta, provolone and olives
(right)pizza with rosemary ham, asparagus, green onions and egg

Don't you wish YOU lived next door to me?

Saturday I picked up my Fresh Fork and stayed for the Tremont Art & Cultural Festival. It's one of my favorite events of the year. Troupe Shabaana always puts on an amazing bellydance show and there is a great mix art, music and delicious international foods. Every year I look forward to stuffing myself with Puerto Rican rice (arroz con gandules) and empanadillas and Korean marinated barbequed beef (bulgogi) and fermented cabbage (kimchi) - this year I was smarter and got food to go too including bibimbap. They also have pierogies, cabbage and noodles, homemade pastries, delicious Italian food from Bruno's, gyros, and more.

Afterwards, I headed to the Chagrin Valley Hunt Club Polo Field for Chef's Unbridled. I volunteered to help out Chef Jeff Jarrett of Amp 150 serve food for this annual fundraiser for Fieldstone Farm. They are a therapeutic riding center that uses horses to help people with mental and physical disabilities. It was a perfect night for a party outside and I loved helping out. It was nice to be on the other side of the table for a change and I really enjoyed seeing how excited everyone was about the food.

The event was in the polo field under a HUGE tent. 

Driftwood Catering did a fantastic job setting up the venue and appetizers. 

Amp 150, Washington Place Bistro, Greenhouse Tavern, Flour, Driftwood and Hodges were all featured. I tried all of their dishes except for Flour's short ribs and polenta because they ran out (so sad!) 

All the food I tried were all delicious! Jonathan Sawyer's presentation was the most unique and interesting: he served Matsutake en papier with fregola sardo, lobster and chanterelle mushrooms (couscous and assorted gourmet mushrooms in a purse made of filo.) It was amazing and the paper purse kept the food hot - awesome! I wish I would have taken a picture of this.

Melissa Khoury made braised lamb cheeks with herbed fregola, olives, sundried tomatoes in a vinaigrette. The fregola is a pasta similar to Israeli couscous so this was like a very fancy Mediterranean pasta salad - yum!

Jeff Jarrett's braised pork belly with corn, bacon and potato ragout with candied peppers was a stand out. And I'm not just saying that because I was serving the food! Numerous people came back raving about it all night long. 

I also really enjoyed Chris Hodge's grits with chorizo, tomatoes and beer blanc. Melissa Khoury gets props for helping with this dish too. The grits were creamy and the sauce was a party in my mouth. 

Last but not least, Scott Kuhn was searing up giant scallops. 

He served them in a puddle of gazpacho that was made with heirloom tomatoes and a drizzle of basil oil that really made the flavors pop. I would have preferred to have them separately because the cold soup chilled the hot scallop but the flavors were great.

They had horsedrawn carriage rides that seemed to be a big hit. One thing that was missing - coffee. And they only had ice cream for dessert. At least it was Mitchell's but what a huge misstep in my opinion. I stopped counting how many people stopped by our table asking for both.

The weekend ended up in Bedford at the Weekend of the Pooka. This is a small festival honoring Bedford native Richard Sedlon and the arts. This year they added a Culinary Arts Tent that featured food and wine in addition to displays by local artists, crafts for kids, musical entertainment and more. They had a nice selection of local food trucks too: Zydeco Bistro, Umami Moto and Sweet! Mobile Cupcakery (really good Wedding Cake cupcakes) along with food prepared by Angie's Rib Wagon. You can check out my post from last year here for more pics.

I've always been a huge fan of Umami Moto so it was an easy choice to grab food to go from them for dinner. We chose the Korean Burrito with bulgogi, kimchi fried rice, lettuce, carrots, daikon slaw and queso (yes, I'm bulgogi obsessed!) and the Bahn Mi, a pulled pork sandwich with mayo, daikon, carrot, onion, cilantro and jalapeno on toasted french bread. 

Bahn Mi and Korean Burrito

Both were beyond delicious especially with the side of kimchi and sriracha that gave them a touch of heat. Follow them on Twitter or check their website to find out where they are going to be parked. You won't be disappointed.

So another weekend flew by! I wish I could have gone to Ingenuity Fest but I just ran out of time. What did you do this weekend? Hope it was fun!

** disclosure: I am sharing my experiences with you because I had a great time. No compensation of any kind was received. I did get to sample the food at Unbridled because I volunteered my services. **