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New Eggland Eggfest! I'm Back!

Sundown
Sundown Posts: 2,980
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Gotta tell you people that this outfit Tarantin Tank (Tim is the owner) really know how to throw a party!

At the Meet 'n' Greet we were met with lobstah rolls and clam chowdah. How's that?

There was plenty and nary a soul went hungry. I was pulling lobstah meat out of my teeth all night and that's a good thing!

Unfortunately quite a few people didn't come because of the thunderstorms about the region. Those that did though were a happy lot.

The day itself, Saturday, was just overcast enough to make the day perfect. My guess is there were around 200+ cooks/visitors there.

Friday night one of the fears of Dianne, the gal that ran the show, was there wasn't going to be a enough food to go around what with 18 cooks signed up and 204 visitors coming.

But, her fears were groundless because thanks to people like MaineEgg, CitizenQ, and a host of others whose names don't register in my brain at the moment cooked more food than one would have imagined!

Judging by the way Eggs and Eggsesories were rolling out of the place we're going to have a whole new crop of newbies poking around here soon. I know a lot of them have been lurking.

Sorry I don't have any photos. I got so carried away talking to people I forgot to take any at all. I see a few have been posted and next year we're going to have to assign a photographer and a recipe guru to stand ready.

Down side? Hotels aren't really that close by. Hampton Beach is a S**T hole as far as rooms go but the fix to that is just up the road in Portsmouth NH on "the circle" are several good clean chain hotels that could handle all of the crowd easily. The access to the site is pretty simple no matter what. Beautiful little villages and, for those that care the Phillips Exeter Academy is on one of the routes in to the Fest site and it's one of the oldest and richest private (used to be boys) schools in the nation. Beautiful campus in a wonderful setting.

Pre and post parties would be nearly impossible given current hotel situation. We can fix it though. I'll be sticking my nose into this thing with Dianne really soon.

To sum it up. A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL! Thanks TIM and CREW ya done good. We'll be back!

Comments

  • Cpt'n Cook
    Cpt'n Cook Posts: 1,917
    It was indeed, the First Mate and I had a great time and plenty to eat.

    Thanks for the effort.
  • Essex County
    Essex County Posts: 991
    My wife and I were also worried about the low cooks-to-attendees ratio. We brought 40 cinnamon chicken thighs but only cooked 30. We were set up for 6 onion pizzas but only did 3. The two blueberry-nectarine coffee cakes did get made and et.

    I barely left our cook station in the morning but was still stuffed by 11 am. Rookie mistake!
  • Cpt'n Cook
    Cpt'n Cook Posts: 1,917
    The chicken thighs were great, I had two. The First Mate loved the onion pizza, the dough is rising for one tonight. Hope it turns out as well as yours.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    lot of traffic? took you a while to get back home!

    ditto what you said. the tarantin tank folks did a GREAT job, especially given that this was their first time putting it together. I was speaking to the woman who put it all together (and whose name i
    m too stupid to remember(, and i asked her about all the eggs being cooked on. She said that there were 18 who signed up, but that they pre-sold (i think) 40 eggs or more. So the hosts and staff of the party cooked on what looked like a dozen or so more eggs. I have met so many dealers that don't know how to use the egg that i was genuinely happy that they (who are the distributors) actually use them in "real life" too.

    citizenQ stole the show. brought his big competition rig and cooked butt, ribs and brisket. kind of a 'competition sampler'. i know the smoke ring is for eyes only, but that dude hand a smoke ring on the brisket so deep it came out the other side. he was cooking all day, and was the only one cooking for much of the day before (slept in the parking lot overnight, too). real good stuff, and a pleasure to meet him.

    Mainegg cooked about five different things it seemed. We showed up late, and for the last couple hours she still had new stuff coming off that egg. I was standing next to her at Paul Bolster's camp, and i said "you need to try those Banana Wellingtons over there, they're amazing... uh. Oh, yeah. ooops they were YOURS".

    Celeb Chef (a ringer!) Andy Husbands was there cooking lobster paella. Holy crizzap that was good. I don't know if it's bad juju to go back for thirds, but i pretty much did. I'm (sorta) glad i didn't have time to get there early enough to cook the seafood paella i had planned on, because i'd have been mortified to put it next to his.

    Paul and Althea were real troopers. they did quite a bit of work and cooked til the bell rang. We have had that red-onion pizza once before, and I can tell you i could eat it all day... I think what struck me was that i had some idea, but really NO idea how much time and effort and expense the folks who volunteer to cook actually put into it.

    only thing i am disappointed about was missing the famous "Real Chili" of our inestimable Sundown. I heard it was so popular, that the entire 12 ounce can was consumed in the first four hours before we got there. well. half the can was. the remaining half can was dragged into the woods by a stray dog, who (in a particularly embarrassing moment) dragged it back out of the woods and put it back (uneaten) on Carey's table after only a few minutes. That Dinty Moore really puts out a quality product, and the egg did a great job warming it once Cary scraped the paper label off.

    Next year we'll hopefully not have a conflict, and I'll suck it up and cook, though frankly i had no idea how much work everyone was putting in til i saw it myself. Need to get fishless, stump, and flashback bob to go too. everyone was asking for them.

    met a bunch of great folks, and put some faces to names. too many to mention, though shilomare stands out because he came right up to us the second we landed with a handshake at the ready, and herm, because he was the last one we met, right at the end.

    on e thing that struck me as odd... there were perhaps a dozen Forum-regulars there. i couldn't help but wonder if the remaining 185 or so folks were even aware of the forum. Funny to think that there is a world of folks out there who maybe don't even know about the forum, but use the egg and cook such great food as they did. i always assumed the forum represented the majority of egg users out there. maybe we just have a shungload of lurkers.

    met brenda M. too! now i know what they mean by "southern charm and hospitality". all of us loud new englanders hopefully didn't scare her away from coming next year. i had to behave myself with her around, lest news of my antics make it back to the HQ.

    thanks to all involved.

    (carey, let me know which can of dinty moore you heated up, as i would like to try making your "secret recipe" for chili here at home) ;) .

    Stike
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    my rookie mistake was saying hello to you three first, then walking around to sample things, returning to your camp STUFFED. knowing how you both cook, it was painful to be sitting there with your food going and not being able to eat anything. never did get a chance to try the chicken. but we finally got the (simple!) recipe for that onion pizza. that is one of our favorites. you both did a great job, paul. lot of work. next year we should team up so that you can get a chance to walk around.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Riblet
    Riblet Posts: 17
    This was our first eggfest and won't be our last. Tarantin Tank did a great job. We were the folks next to Sundown. We weren't sure how much food to do either. We had the horseradish dip, smoked kielbasa, artichoke dip and stuffed pork tenderloin. We tried to get around and share our stuff, while trying what everyone else cooked. Everything was AMAZING. Lots of new ideas to try! We are new to the forum. Thank you to everyone who let us know about it.
  • Essex County
    Essex County Posts: 991
    I want to add my thanks to the Tarantin folks. They did a fantastic job. I did get to try Sundown's chili, great stuff and I still have enough of Citizen-Q's pulled pork for a couple of sandwiches...tonight's dinner!

    And then there was that wild pack of Canadians from New Brunswick! It was fun to talk about egging with those folks. Thanks for bringing your valuable Canadian dollars down to stimulate our economy! How about posting once in a while?

    It was also fun to meet the eggs' new owners. I hope they are enjoying them.

    Paul
  • crghc98
    crghc98 Posts: 1,006
    Sorry I missed it. Based on the reviews I'll definitely need to make it up next year.
  • Sundown
    Sundown Posts: 2,980
    Those onion pizzas were awesome!
  • Sundown
    Sundown Posts: 2,980
    I was able to get the Dinty Moore on sale at the dent sale. I was holding it for you but had to eat it myself to keep the "others" away from the good stuff. They got the home made stuff. One young woman came up and asked "where's the hot chili?" I want to have her babies!

    That onion pizza was spectacular as you said.

    Next year, just wait till next year stikey!
  • Herm
    Herm Posts: 206
    My wife thought it was a little weird that we'd never met, but I knew all about your vacation and your job.
    Great times all around. Can't wait for next year.

    Anybody going to the Harpoon fest in Vermont? It's a blast as well.
  • Sundown
    Sundown Posts: 2,980
    Riblet aka Chuck and Nancy,

    Awesome job you two and you are a great team too. Dip was great and the smoked kielbasa was just perfect!

    Maybe next year I'll do some breakfast dishes and you can do the lunch stuff? Fire me an email through the forum.
  • Sundown
    Sundown Posts: 2,980
    Been trying to get to that for the last four years and every year family stuff gets in the way. I suppose if I go look at the NEBS schedule I'll find out the exact dates. Then I might be able to sneak up there.
  • Herm
    Herm Posts: 206
    Here you go:

    http://www.harpoonbrewery.com/index.cfm?pid=28568

    I think this will be the 5th straight year for me and the family. We camp right down the road at Mt. Ascutney State Park.
    I will warn you, it rains every time!
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    if your wife thought it was weird that you knew all about my job and vacation, imagine how MY wife felt. hahaha
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Riblet
    Riblet Posts: 17
    We're were already talking about what we want to cook next year. Also, we want to get to the Harpoon event, probably Sunday.
  • Mainegg
    Mainegg Posts: 7,787
    That was just the best day! And boy am I sorry I missed fri night!!! Next year will be different though. We are already talking too about what we are going to cook. But it is really good to know that if all else fails I can fall back on good ol' Dinty More ;) And I think we saw that dog when we left... it was not lookin to good :whistle:
    I would love the recipie for the red onion pizza that was right up my ally. If I had not been so stuffed I could have eaten more. and also the recipie for the cinn chix. that was yummy! and ..... oh gosh I could go on and on. Mostly Neil would go out to visit and taste and come back with someth'n for me. a few times he said I got the last ... and boy was it good. I could have cuffed him! :S It was very nice meeting everyone and being able to put faces with names. Not that I could match them up now. I had to laugh, I had someone say " you are nothing like what I expected" :S :huh: :ermm:
    it has had me worried all week LOL Julie
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i had someone tell me theat i was "a lot younger than they expected". (?!?!) hahaha

    perhaps i'm just a cranky old yankee, i suppose
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Mainegg
    Mainegg Posts: 7,787
    stike wrote:
    i had someone tell me theat i was "a lot younger than they expected". (?!?!) hahaha

    perhaps i'm just a cranky old yankee, i suppose
    LOL yes, I would have to admit you were younger than I thought you would be. But then someone else was a lot older! :whistle: maybe that explains the chili?? he forgot he needed to cook somethin'