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Queens Swap This Weekend

I’ve talked a little bit about this over social media, but wanted to write about it here – the next Queens Swap is this weekend!

We – myself, and my friends Judith and AJ – will be holding it at Sweet Afton, one my favorite Astoria institutions. It’s a wonderful gastropub that serves one of the best burgers in the neighborhood (they use a blend of meats from Pat La Frieda), and they were the first to bring fried pickles to the area, which have been a smashing success. I also love their cocktails – last time I had the spicy margarita, it was really spicy!

They also are one of the few places in town that tap a cask ale – a naturally fermented beer.

The space is also beautiful, made from reclaimed materials. It’s dark and cozy, with lots of wood.

We’re grateful to the guys behind Sweet Afton for lending us the space for a few hours. The swap will take place on Sunday, February 19 from 4-6:30pm. As usual, homemade, home grown, and personally foraged foods are welcome. I’ll be bringing some water kefir soda – probably raspberry, blueberry, and lime-ginger – and some almond shortbread. Maybe something else, but for now it’s the kefir and shortbread.

So, if you are in the NYC area – especially in Queens – I encourage you to sign up and come swap. It should be a really good time. Here’s an easy way to register, too:

See you on Sunday!

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September Queens Swap Success

As I have mentioned before, I’m one of the organizers of the Queens Swap, a food swap based in the borough of Queens. We are one of two organized food swaps in NYC. Another one is coming, though, focused on traditional foods (called the Traditional Food Swap), which is very exciting. You better believe I’ll be participating!

I am happy that Queens Swap got to welcome another organizer on the team: AJ Simone, my friend and fellow food fanatic (and super crafter) from the blog Handjobs (For the Home). He really helped make this event a success.

Anyway, we held our second food swap on Saturday, at Fresh Start Market in Astoria. We used their back patio, which is where we do our Hellgate CSA distributions, so it was a really familiar space for us. It turned out to be a perfect amount of space for our group, with enough room to spread out all the swappable items, along with space for refreshments (lemonade, cookies, olive chips and wasabi popcorn) and room for socializing.

Continue reading “September Queens Swap Success”

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September Queens Swap

I’m happy to announce that the next Queens Swap – a Queens-based food swap – has been scheduled! It will be on September 17, 2011 at Fresh Start Market in Astoria, Queens. If you’d like to join us, please register via our Eventbrite invite.

We’ve taken an inadvertent break from organizing food swaps, but hope to make things more regular from now on (meaning, every other month). My friends Judith and Charlene will be helping organize, and we brought on another organizer, AJ. I think it’s a terrific group of organizers, if I say so myself!

Fresh Start is a great neighborhood natural foods market. They host our CSA pickups out in the back patio, which is where the food swap will be held. During the first CSA distribution, we served some amazing lemonade to our members – I think the swappers would love it, too.

I’ve been preserving all summer, so I’m looking forward to sharing some of it as part of the swap!

For a report of our previous – inaugural – food swap, please check it here: Queens Swap Success!