Meaty Sabrociousness

I'm not sure about the all of my classmates but I know this class has definitely changed the way a few of us are eating food outside our homes! Last night there was an event in Chelsea Market, where I work hosted by the food network called "Chelsea Market After Dark" I was asked to work from 5 until 12. I said yes because I needed the cash but had no idea about the event I was about to be part of! As soon as I arrived at work the market was closed off to the public and interior designers and caterers began to set up. I was pretty confused so I just sat in my store and began to catch on some of Professor Alexanders reading. About an hour later my boss arrives with florescent blue bracelets that labeled me as a staff member, I put mine on and I wont lie I felt pretty cool. My boss described how the night was going to go and I became extremely excited. The event was pretty much a highly exclusive 120 dollar per person charity event where participators went around the market getting completely wasted and stuffing their faces with all the delectable foods the market had to offer!

I began to set up our table and ended up finishing in about 20 minutes. The event started at 9 so I had a couple of hours to walk the market and see all the kegs and thousands of wine glasses being set up thinking that I would definitely see them again later in the night I stroll back to my post. When the event finally began people did indeed come in and get trashed and stuff their faces, it literally only took about an hour before the market was transformed to a calm get together to a full blow fiesta! I was frantically putting out samples for all the guests with the help of my boss but we eventually ran out, everyone loved our nuts! So now it was time for to go and start my weekend early, in the name of charity of course! After intensely sampling the wines, whiskeys and ales it was time for me to have dinner.

After traveling to the Chelsea Thai, Bon Italia, Jaques Torres Chocolate, and One Lucky Duck my nostrils were taken hostage by Dicksons Farmstand Meats and their bite sized pulled pork sandwiches. I grabbed one and began to walk to the whiskey bar without chomping down yet and as soon as I finally decided to take a bite, I walked straight back and waited for them to make another one. They were preparing the sandwiches on the spot taking the freshly cooked pork out of the heating pans and putting some vegetable, I believe pickles in between the buns and impaling them in the center with sharp wooden sticks. I fell in love. Now i'm here still thinking about this sandwich and I decided to look up what I had eaten because this was one of the first times I've eaten meat outside of my house aside from emergency lunches and BEC's(Bacon Egg & Cheese) at LaGuardia. I found the website for Dicksons and browsed threw it when I came across the "Our Farms" tab, before this class I wouldn't have even clicked it but now it seemed to be the most important part of the website to me. I was relieved when I came across these few facts at the bottom of the page.

• The entire supply chain (farm to slaughterhouse to point-of-sale) must be no more than 400 miles long.
• Animal based feeds, prophylactic antibiotics or added hormones are not administered at any point of the animal’s life.
• The animals from which our meat comes must spend their life on the farm – no CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) or feedlots.

The page also contained a lot of other information which can be related to our class but these seemed to stand out to me the most. There is also a "Meat Facts" tab which I found interesting and pretty informative. Though they are on the pricey side I feel that it is definitely worth the extra couple of bucks and I'm glad to say I have a new place to go for my lunch break. I strongly encourage you to visit their website(http://dicksonsfarmstand.com/) and browse through it and if your interested in going its located in very chill and inviting atmosphere so don't be afraid to make the trip to Chelsea.