POSTED: Monday, December 3, 2007, 6:52 PM
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| Photo l Whitney Thomas |
| Colby Colb and a few others take a moment from cooking to cheese it up |
"Thank God for Spandex"
I know this was event was over a week ago, but I just got the pictures and they tell the story better than my words do - so excuse my tardiness... I love food. I love men. I love community involvement. So, it all made sense that I'd be really happy at the 16th Annual Philly's Men Are Cookin' event, which has over 100 men dishing up and serving their favorite creations, family secret goodies, or classic foods with a little personal spin. Sweet, eh? It gets even sweeter when you factor in the reason for the celebration, which is to raise funds for a scholarship program for local youth through the Ivy Legacy Foundation, an organization created by members of the Rho Theta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. We strolled into the National Constitution Center with expandable clothes that hid our empty bellies that were aching to be full. We got our little plates and started downstairs. My first few dishes consisted of Cuban chicken and rice (my favorite) crispy whiting fish (my second favorite), jerk chicken wings, seafood salad, and lots of Thanksgiving inspired dishes including something called turkey crack (like tuna salad, but turkey), fried turkey, sweet baked turkey, about 3 different version of macaroni and cheese, corn stuffing, pineapple stuffing (yum) and collard greens. Upstairs was more of the same, but that is where I chose to explore the deserts including whiskey balls (strong and deadly), cookies, fresh baked muffins, crepes, peach cobbler, pies, chocolate cake, brownies, bread pudding and more. Upstairs is also where we found some chefs making drinks including rum punch, apple martinis, and a kiwi/strawberry/lemonade drink from cooks that wouldn't reveal what the hell we were actually drinking (see picture of men with ? shirts on). The room was full of beautiful and caring people including notables like honorary co-chairs Patty Jackson (WDAS) and Dr. Keith Leaphert, Chef Colby Colb (100.3 The Beat), who had some mean marmalade wings and Chef Senator Anthony Williams, who I THINK had some type of spaghetti. I was full by the time I saw his station. A nice element came through the youth volunteers that were buzzing around. Seeing that kind of brought the event full circle. It is also worth mentioning there was a live band there to provide a little intimate soundtrack to the evening. When we left some stations still had quite a bit of food, which I hope found a good home. If you missed it, here are some pictures to make you feel like you were there...well...kind of! With the city's murder rate still climbing, it was nice to not only see positive males volunteering their time and chef skills, but also an organization that is doing what they can to curb the violence. And of course, it is not too late to donate.
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| Photo l Whitney Tomas |
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| Photo l Whitney Tomas |
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| Photo l Whitney Tomas |
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| Photo l Whitney Tomas |
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| Photo l Whitney Tomas |
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