24-Hours in Seattle and “Themes from Your Childhood” Potluck Dinner

After flying from Florida back to Washington for work, my team and I spent a quick 24-hours in Seattle, which included a day in the office and then a team potluck dinner at a colleague’s amazing apartment in Capitol Hill. But first, check out the killer views from our downtown Seattle office! A bit different than the up close Atlantic that I was experiencing on the sailing trip, but quite pretty just the same.

From the atlantic to the pacific

A photo posted by Dani Nemzer (@danicaliforniacooks) on Mar 16, 2015 at 4:27pm PDT

So the team potluck dinner we had was themed - we all had to prepare dishes that were inspired by our hometown or our childhood. We have a super diverse team, so we ended up with quite the hodge podge dinner that was delicious! I wanted to share all of the dishes with you. Let me take a step back though - the host of the dinner has the most INSANE apartment in Seattle. It was GORGEOUS and with a fantastic view. The entire time I was there I was scheming how I could somehow recreate it in my future home. Our host is also an unofficial professional at hosting dinners, or so we learned. One of his best tips? Always have pretty macarons on display (for decor and eating!). And have all lights ON and candles lit.

Onto the potluck! I decided to go with my Jewish background and bring a smoked salmon appetizer. I made two versions - one that was gluten and dairy-free, and then one version for those normal eaters out there. Everyone loved both versions of the appetizer! Actually, I think people preferred the gluten and dairy free version. The “normal” version of the appetizer used a crisp cracker, regular cream cheese, and peppery smoked salmon on top sprinkled with pepper and fresh dill. The other version I made used a sliced cucumber as a base, and then vegan cream cheese (it was pretty good! From trader joe’s made from coconut), and then the same smoked salmon with pepper and herbs. So delicious. I was pretty full after eating a bunch of these, but the eating had just begun. Our host also had out a ton of dried fruit, which we know is my weakness…

The salad was brought by my colleague who grew up in California, so it had lots of greens, almonds, and avocado. He made a dressing with lemon and vinegar that was super tangy. I want that recipe for that homemade dressing!

Two girls from my team have a Chinese background, so we had two wonderful chinese chicken dishes. The one featured below is congee, which is a rice porridge of sorts. You cook rice in stock, and then add shredded chicken and lots of ginger. When you serve it (kind of like oatmeal), you top with lots of scallions. It was simple, fresh, and tasty. The other unpictured chicken dish was chicken with a ginger-scallion sauce, which was pretty much just poached chicken with a chunky sauce made from lots of ginger and scallions. Also very light and fresh.

We have a teammate who grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and he made crazy-good local mussels steamed with lemon, parsley, butter, and lots of white wine. They were some of the juiciest, fattest mussels I’ve ever had! Another colleague has a German heritage, and she made a vinegar-based potato salad with bacon and onions. Oh man, the bowl of this was situated by me and I dug in shamelessly. We also had great conversation all about the history behind each of these dishes, and lots of laughs were shared and it was a great way to get to know each other. Food - it brings us all together, no?

By now, I was incredibly stuffed and super jetlagged from a day of flying back to Florida. I also had a glass of wine and it went straight to my head. I didn’t stick around for the sweet potato pie, which was baked by a teammate who grew up in the South. But I heard it was delicious. I drove to our hotel and CRASHED. Then I said goodbye to Seattle and drove to Olympia for the rest of the week.

See the space needle in the background?

Question for you all: If you had to have the recipe for any of these items above, which would you want to see? I am going to reach out to all of my teammates for their recipes and post your request!

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