Step 1: Find a willing restaurateur (in this case, Stewart and Heidi Woodman of Heidi’s).
Step 2: Make sure the fates collide so the party takes place at the same time amazing local hip hop artist Brother Ali is filming a music video at the same restaurant.
Step 3: Mingle with cast, crew and fellow food bloggers and eat delicious food.
Braised beef tongue.
Crab cakes.
Lamb meatballs.
Step 4: Add cocktails and liquor.
Ginseng and deer antler whiskey.
Ginseng vodka. All ginseng courtesy of Hsu Ginseng and Will Hsu (@wphsu)
Step 5: After many cocktails, make sure a festive crowd with cameras and an appetite encourages the chefs to demonstrate mad skillz.
Giant lobe of foie gras.
Step 6: Ravenously eat rich bits of foie with fig compote. Try to save some for event organizer Stephanie Meyer (@FreshTartSteph), fail miserably. Enthusiastically instigate chefs to utilize foie fat by cooking pork in it (genius idea, @MSPFoodie)
Step 7: Get pulled into sitting at a table in front of lights and cameras with “prop cocktails” and the director’s bottle of water while music video films with you in it.
Step 8: Bust out the big guns — deadly good moonshine from @MarkDewes and gecko and seahorse liquor straight from Vietnam.
Step 9: Dance party in the kitchen and the bar. (Those photos stay with me, just in case I need a favor some day!)
Step 10: Raise money for the Sojourner Project (the most important reason for the entire evening).
Step 11: Go home, very late, shaking head, asking, “Whose life is this?!?” And wake up the next morning asking, “Did that really happen?”
Thanks to the kind, generous hosts Stewart and Heidi Woodman, thanks to the talented and incredibly patient (can’t emphasize that enough) staff at Heidi’s, thanks to Brother Ali for the chat and the opportunity, thanks to Stephanie Meyer for organizing it all and thanks to all the MN Food Bloggers for a truly one-of-a-kind evening.
Wow. Now, *that’s* how you throw a party.
That is EXACTLY how it’s done!
Love it! Captured the amazing night perfectly!
“Wow. Now, *that’s* how you throw a party.”
…And *that’s* how you write a blog post.
Such an amazing feeling and you described it well.
Hahahaha. Awesome. LOVE.
[...] recap of the Minnesota Food Bloggers meetup / Brother Ali video shoot, the Northstar Bartenders’ [...]
[...] A few weeks ago, I posted about how I was attending a MN Food Bloggers event at Heidi’s, where they would be filming the new video for Brother Ali. Well, guess who got in the video! Oh yeah, this kid. Granted, I’m in there for maybe a half a second, two times, but still, I’m in the video! Woo Hoo! So, Brother Ali has released the Valentine’s Day EP today, and you can download it for FREE off the Rhymesayer’s website! So, the video that he released for the EP is called Shine On, and let’s see if you can tell who I am, my cameo’s are at 53 second mark, and the 56 second mark… Two other fun facts, my friend Aaron Courteau is the waiter in the video, and James Cromwell’s son produced the video and also makes a cameo, see if you can tell who he is. Hint, he very much looks like his dad… Enjoy the video, and if you want a recap of the Food Bloggers night, you can find it here! [...]
The photos probably do not do it justice. The food looks amazing. Not sure about the braised beef tongue?