Cooking Light,  Fish,  Food,  Fun,  Meat,  Seafood,  Spicy,  Vegetables

Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in NYC

June 10, 2013 /

Are you ready for this post my fellow foodies?

I was invited to attend the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party presented by Southern Living, Cooking Light, MyRecipes and RealSimple.

It took place in NYC on June 8th & 9th in Madison Square Park.

It was the 11th annual block party and it was so much fun!

There were cooking classes, live performances, vendor tents with tools and foods, live demonstrations of cooking and cocktail ideas, and best of all BBQ all day long!

I honestly had never heard of this event before, but I am so glad I have now. It is only about 2 hours from where I live in CT and it was worth making the trip.

When Cooking Light contacted me and let me know they wanted to invite me as one of the VIP guests I was so excited! Being a part of their blogging community is so much fun already, but getting the chance to go to these kinds of events?

What a great opportunity!

This past weekend I was also celebrating my Mom’s birthday, so it was the perfect way to do something different and exciting with her.

A big reason why I like to cook and try new recipes is because of her and watching her as a kid and wanting to be just like her, but you all have heard this a million times already 😉

I want to thank Cooking Light so very much for letting me take part in the event and also being to gracious to let my Mom attend as a VIP as well. It was a great birthday present for her.

Let’s take a tour of what we all did during the day shall we?

First was the Weber Grilling School. This was exclusive to only those who bought tickets ahead of time or had it arranged by their sponsor, which in this case was Cooking Light. I brought my mom, my dad and Patrick along to take the class with me.

The classes were taught by Weber Grill Master Kevin Kolman and he noticed right away that my family had seen and used a grill before and even used our skirt steak as an example to the class as to what it means to “cut against the grain” to get a melt in your mouth pieces of steak.

During the class, we made fresh guacamole, grilled steak and tortillas and then ate them as a team. I have to say I think we did a great job with it.

The glass was a lot of fun and we all made out with lots of goodie bags when we left. They all included the Weber’s New Real Grilling cookbook by Jamie Purviance, new grilling tools and a grill mit. How awesome is that?!

We had a great time during class, we all love to grill and we all love to eat so it was a winning combination.

We walked all around the event during the day and they had demonstrations and vendor tents set up the entire time for people to watch and meet the people from the different sponsors.

One of my favorite parts of the event was walking in and just smelling all the smoke and good food. Being from the Midwest there is a certain comfort in the smell of thinks getting cooked on the BBQ.

It reminds me of being young and being with family and friends and so walking around and smelling that all day was truly a pleasure.

We don’t get that too often here in CT.

Patrick and my Dad decided that they wanted to go to Pappy’s Smokehouse which is a BBQ place outside of St. Louis. They got themselves some pork ribs and enjoyed them truly BBQ style. With their fingers and no seat.

Another part of the event…I KNOW, there is more!

As part of the VIP experience we were invited to go into the “No Bone Zone” from 3-4 pm for an exclusive press release sponsored by Alabama Gulf Seafood. I was able to get my entire family in this area too, was extremely nice for them to let us all in, it was just meant for my mom and I. We were thrilled.

We got to sit and talk with the folks from Wintzell’s Oyster House, they were such nice people!

Inside the “No Bone Zone” we sipped on champagne, sampled a diver’s dozen (13) Alabama Gulf oysters and tasted Wintzell’s world-famous Marinated Seafood Martini.

We left with full bellies and MORE free stuff including Wintzell’s famous Shuck’n N Jive’n Hot Sauce.

Be jealous.

Really.

It was an event full of amazing food and great people. It was nice to see a little piece of that in NYC. There is definitely a culture in NYC and it was nice to see that some of the more Southern hospitality can be brought up and shown.

Again I want to thank Cooking Light again for inviting me to this event. We had a great time and I hope that we can make it again.

I also want to thank the lovely people at the No Bone Zone for being so gracious and letting my entire family enjoy the delicious food and excellent company. If I ever make it to Alamaba, I am going to Wintzell’s for sure!

I definitely will have to do more events like this in the future….

but next time I need to remember to wear clothes that expand 😉

I hope you enjoy my tour of the Big Apple Barbecue. If you ever see this coming to your neck of the woods, I would suggest going to it. You will get lots of food and meet tons of cool people.

Have a great Monday everyone!

Also, one last shout out. Happy Birthday to my beautiful mom! I hope you had a great 51st birthday!

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(even in their 50s, my Mom and Dad still hold hands and look at those goodie bags!)

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24 Comments

  • Dionne Baldwin

    June 10, 2013 at 11:52 am

    Happy Birthday Mom!

    That looks like SO much fun! I bet you had a blast and made some new friends! I sure wouldn’t know where to start like a kid in a toy store. 🙂 I’m glad you had such a good time, my dear! And for the record, I AM jealous! Heehee. The next time I visit a food event I’m going to wear sweats.

  • Kim - Liv Life

    June 10, 2013 at 2:09 pm

    I’m SO envious!! Cooking Light taught me to cook. 20 years ago when I got married I could make buttered noodles and scrambled eggs. But now my pasta is filled with other ingredients and frittatas are a favorite! A subscription to CL totally changed my cooking.
    So glad you had such a wonderful time, love the shots and Happy Birthday to your mom!!

    • RavieNomNoms

      June 11, 2013 at 7:11 am

      That is so awesome Kim! I always love hearing stories like that. So great! I love Cooking Light, I think my mom always had it around so that is why I am such a big fan, but they are so awesome!

      Thanks and have a great week!

  • Monet

    June 10, 2013 at 10:39 pm

    Smile. Happy birthday to your sweet mom! And what a wonderful way to celebrate! It looks like you were able to see and taste some amazing food! Thank you for sharing the block party with us. I wish I could have been there!

  • Jamie Driemeyer

    June 11, 2013 at 6:46 pm

    What a wonderful way to spend the weekend. So nice of cooking light to include all of the family in the events. Can’t wait to try the skirt steak.

    • RavieNomNoms

      June 12, 2013 at 8:30 am

      It was very nice of them to let my entire family be a part of the fun, we were very lucky!

  • Priscilla | She's Cookin'

    June 14, 2013 at 11:40 am

    Lucky!! I am jealous 😉 But really, what a fun event to be able to attend with your family! Hmmm, I wonder if CL has a similar event in LA? Food events are so popular now, it’s crazy! Cooking Light has inspired much of what comes out of my kitchen, but hubs low sodium mandate has been a whole new challenge! Have a great weekend, Raven 🙂

  • Kristina

    June 21, 2013 at 9:21 am

    Ahhh soooo jealous!! That looks like so much fun!! And Cooking Light kicks butt – just got the July mag and I cannot wait to get work 🙂