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Free healthy cooking classes meet at two times this Thursday

Oct25

Thursday marks the fourth week of OKT’s new 8-week Cook, Eat & Talk series with phenomenal cooking coach, Anja Mast. Anja has scoured a host of African American cookbooks to come up with healthy, low-cost, easy-to-prepare dishes that reflect tradition and taste awesome. This week, we’ll be cooking Jamaican Red Bean Soup and Sweet Potato, Kale & Black-Eyed Pea Soup as well as tasting Savory Jamaican Beans and Aloo Gobi.

Feel free to attend either the morning or evening session! No cost. Good eats. Great ideas.

cook-eat-talk-fall-series

Greens Cook-off a winning time for everyone

Oct4

first-placeDespite the threat of rainy weather, the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market Greens Cook-off and Green Tomato Festival brought out some great cooks and delicious tastes. Chef Lewis Williams and , manager of the Linc Up Soul Food Cafe, brought two, huge pots of cooked collards — his Mama’s secret recipe — for market patrons to sample.

The event’s judges awarded prizes to the three greens dishes gathering the most tallied points. Points were given for taste, nutritional value, presentation and wow factor.

  • First Prize: Andy Geelhoed, greens made in ham-bone broth. Andy won a $75 gift certificate to our market cake vendor. He plans on using it for his mother’s upcoming birthday.
  • Second Prize: Alita Kelly, spicy vegan greens. Alita won a $50 gist certificate for Country Life Natural Foods. Alita was thrilled as she already had a Country Life Order in mind.
  • Third Prize: Darlene Gibbons, kale and collards. Darlene received a gift certificate to LINC UP Soul Food Cafe. Darlene can’t wait to go enjoy delicious soul food without having to cook it herself.

Thank you judges, Anthony King and Anja Mast, who also brought some amazing green tomato chow chow for all to enjoy. And, a very  BIG THANK YOU to LINC UP Soul Food Cafe for co-sponsoring the event!

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Three chefs! Free eats! Great prizes! Greens Cook-off & Green Tomato Festival is Saturday

Sep27

greens-cook-off-2016-1-4LINC UP Soul Food Café partnering in Greens Cook-off at Southeast Area Farmers’ Market!

The Southeast Area Farmers’ Market hosts its annual “Greens Cook-off & Green Tomato Festival” during market hours, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 1 at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 900 Fuller Ave. SE 49506.  This year, LINC UP Soul Food Café is joining the fun! Chef Lewis Williams, LINC UP Café Manager, will preside and cook up his mama’s secret lincstaff-lr-8717greens recipe for sampling and sharing—that’s right, he is going to share copies of his mama’s recipe!

“It’s all about Mind Body and GREENS,” Williams says.

Community members can enter the cook-off by simply bringing their prepared greens or green tomato dish to the market between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., when judging will commence. Prizes will include gift certificates to LINC UP Soul Food Café, a $50 Country Life Natural Foods gift certificate and a gift baskets full of products and produce provided by market vendors.

chef-o-oliver-haleGrand Rapids celebrity chef, Chef O (Chef Oliver Hale) will judge the competition. An award-winning chef, tennis champion, transplant survivor, TV host and community volunteer, Chef O received a kidney transplant on January 29, 1985 as the result of kidney failure and a massive heart attack. He credits healthy cooking and eating for his longevity and success as a chef and an athlete.

In addition, Grand Rapids cooking coach, Anja Mast, will demonstrate and share samples of green tomato recipes. All market patrons will enjoy taste-testing fried green tomatoes and Green Tomato Recipe Bookgo home with a free, 30-page Green Tomato Cookbook developed by the Southeast Area Farmers’ Market, Kent County Health Department and Grand Rapids Food Systems Council. The cook book features, by permission, celebrity chef Bryant Terry’s recipe for Vegan Fried Green Tomatoes as well as everything from appetizers to desserts.

 

OKT hosts Leighton Watson at community event Tuesday

Sep25
wMr. Leighton Watson, Former Howard University Student Body President and Advisor to President Barack Obama in the wake of the Ferguson, MO crisis, will meet with community for dialogue at:
 Baxter Community Center,
935 Baxter St SE,
Grand Rapids, MI 49506,
4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday Sept. 26.
This free event i open to all and co-sponsored by Our Kitchen Table, Baxter Community Center and GVSU Community Service Learning Center.
Watson is also presenting on 7-9 p.m. Monday Sept. 25 at GVSU Cook Dewitt Center. This student program is also open to the public.

GR artist Sarah Scott facilitating “Art at the Market” event for OKT

Sep14

185257_10150255835549296_7252636_nArt at the Market
Saturday Sept. 17
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
MLK Jr. Park
900 Fuller Ave. SE, 49506

When Our Kitchen Table decided to schedule an Art at the Market event at this year’s Southeast Area Farmers’ Market, Sarah Scott came to mind. An amazing, successful Grand Rapids artist, Scott had headed up the Heartside Gallery for many years, causing all kinds of great things to happen. Scott is a print-maker, instructor, tattoo apprentice at Honest to Goodness, and mama of two fierce kids. “Art and community happens all year ‘round in Grand Rapids,” she says. “Come celebrate prolific and dedicated artists, live art and music, family friendly, access for all!”

Scott agreed to come on board as Art at the Market facilitator — and we knew we were in for an exciting ride. First off, Scott has recruited two community partners to do family friendly, hands-on activities at the event.

  • The West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology (WMCAT) will set up its mobile printmaking station. Students are designing a pro-community image that can be printed on fabric. Market patrons can bring their own blank shirt or fabric to be printed-on or buy a blank shirt on-site.
  • The Bandit Zine is bringing their button-maker so visitors can make their own buttons. The local zine accepts works of all different mediums from across the world focusing on social-justice issues. Bandit Zine will also vend local body-positive zines and wears.

Scott has also put together a wonderful line-up of artists to exhibit and sell at the event:

  • Derrick “Vito” Hollowell has had work on exhibit at Hopcat, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, Richard App Gallery, his gallery, the L Loft, and New York City’s MOMA. Vito will display original paintings and prints. It’s rumored that Vito may spin some tunes, as well.
  • Sofia Ramirez-Hernandez, Saugatuck Center for the Arts 2016 Artist in Residence, will show framed drawings from her #SofiaDrawsEveryDay project that documents her will to fight her own tendencies and the good times, too.
  • Magnus Anyanwu, a Heartside Gallery artist, will display his Third-eye paintings. Anyanwu’s influences include Japanese anime, Sailor Jerry tattoos and his industrial design studies at Kendall Collage of Art and Design.
  • Chasity Khanyi Moore, doula and healing arts practitioner of Love and Light Healing, will vend her wrapped crystals and healing body salves and oils.
  • Rokhaya Ndao, Motherland Beauties, will showcase handmade jewelry and bags. Motherland Beauties offers African art and accessories, promotes African art and cultureand funds women’s projects in Senegal, West Africa.
  • sarah-scott-this-city-needs-youClaire Fisher, artist/musician, will show her vibrant, whimsical folk art that comments on icons of modern life and spirituality.
  • Eddie Killowatts, musician/artist, will show his pencil drawings and shadow boxes – and play a couple sets on guitar for the event. Killowatts currently plays bass for local Latin-rock band, Cabildo.

Sarah Scott’s prints are featured at Have Company and at Honest to Goodness. And, she will have some of her art available for purchase at Art at the Market. You can view her work on Instagram: thesunthesunthesun.