The Girls on the Run Auction Event was a blast!!! Tons of good food, and tons of cool stuff ready for auctioning off!
But first….snacktime. I came home and opened the new jar of MaraNatha Almond Butter since the husband polished off the PB last night. OMG this stuff is awesome!!!!!!!!!! We found these for $2.50 a piece, which if you know anything about AB + PB prices, is amazing. I imagine that is what Barney Butter is like, since I haven’t gotten to try it. It was so addicting. This jar was the crunchy style – I’ve never had crunchy AB, but I really liked it! I had to have my first taste right from the jar.
I decided to center my snack around it – apple chunks, a few crackers and a big spoonful –
Off to the event!!!
There were TONS of cool things to bid on! I really wanted the house in Colorado, the in-house wine tasting, the EarthFare gift baskets the weekend in Charleston, the spa packages,but unfortunately they were a little out of our price range 🙁
But we did bid on a giant bottle of Ravenswood wine!! (Of course 8) ) But we were outbid 😥
The food was catered by Harpers Restaurants, which is a parent restaurant group in Charlotte that has very delicious foods!
Here were some of the featured foods –
Beef skewers (and chicken) and empanadas –
Salads!! These were really good with lots of veggies on the bottom and dips, pitas + olives on the right
Fruit ‘n Cheese
Smoked salmon cakes (OMG!!) and shrimp + tomato skewers in some kind of lemony sauce?? and Spanakopita
Ham biscuits
AND MORE!!
Here’s my Round I: A salad box plus 2 chicken skewers, an empanada (gave half away), salmon cake, veggie spring roll and 3 shrimps –
Shared Round II (I had probably 1/3 of this). Fruit, 3 kinds of dip and pita.
Round III! Another salad!! Half a plate of fruit, a few olives, a cheese, another veggie roll (with shrimp) and another salmon cake, which fell apart
I decided on a glass of Chardonnay after I ate –
And definitely had my share of bites from the husband’s 3-4 plates (he had more of the fried/biscuity stuff). I also sipped his Pinot and Corona 🙂
I had another half-Chardonnay while browsing the auction items (but the husband finished it for me). Hi bear!!
WARNING: If you like dessert buffets, better skip this part!
O.M.Gosh. I came to this event with good intentions, but this was my absolute dream (and worst nightmare!). A dessert buffet with lots of options in tiny, tiny bites. I stayed away from it for a while, but we finally made our way over and I was just blown away by the choices. How could I not try them all!?!?!?
How could you resist that!?!?!?!?
I split this with the husband, although I probably had 70% and he 30%. The top was peach cobbler bites, then a lemon square, then 2 little cookies (just OK), then chocolate swirl cheesecake, then my IDEAL dessert: a hello dolly – coconut, chocolate chips, cookie crust = gooey and chewy! Gualgajlkasglahe!!! I decided to skip the cream puffs, brownies, cookies (sans my one bite of the husband’s) and carrot cake, because I figured I’ve had all of those before. All the desserts were just wonderful.
I ended up having one more hello dolly because it was just that good.
But the highlight of my night was really getting to talk to GOTR Founder Molly Barker and President Liz Kunz!!! They read KERF and came up to me saying “It’s Kath Eats Real Food!!!” right when I was piling on the desserts 😳
Fun night, good eats!
I’m off to bed, but not before going over Organic Chem flashcards one last time! Even if I am a little tipsy 🙂
Jessica says
Cute title! I’m with ya on running from all those tempting desserts – the peach cobbler bite and hello dolly would have been my faves…follwed by the swirly cheesecake! Mmmm. I’ve never heard of a hello dolly, I googled it and found that they are the same as seven layer bars – cool new name for me to use though!
VeggieGirl says
Ick, not Maranatha nut-butters!!! You MUST try my favorite brand of nut-butters:
http://www.futtersnutbutters.com/
Salt lover says
Looks like a fun night for a good cause! The funny part is that you’ve made me realize how people really do have different cravings. I could have passed up that whole dessert buffet up in a second, but would have gone to town on all of the other salmon cakes, hummus and pitas, and good fried stuff! I’m so much more the salt eater than sweet eater. Thanks for sharing your fun night with us.
Kath says
Veg,
What’s wrong with MaraNatha!?!
K
Laura says
Wow, what amazing looking food! I love the red jacket too. 🙂
MaraNatha makes the absolute best nut butters, hands down. Where did you get such an amazing price? The cheapest place I’ve ever found it is the commissary on the military base, and I can’t shop there anymore!
Sidi says
What a great event! You look great!!!
Justy2003 says
What a fun night! So cool that you got to meet the big-wigs from Girls on the Run 😉 And I’m totally with you on the dessert weakness…that dessert buffet looks amazing! Definitely a “worth it” time!
Erin says
What a beautifully catered event. MaraNatha makes delicious nut butters, huh! Please note they’re made in my home state. 😉
In my opinion, you did really good with the desserts. I would’ve torn it up! Good job, and cute coat. Classic.
caitlin (seebriderun) says
ohmigod your dinner looks DIVINE! what a fun event. you did excellent on those desserts, i would’ve gone hog wild too! LOL
Foodie (Fab and Delicious Food) says
Oh my gosh, all that food looks amazing!
Runnershigh says
I’m also curious what is wrong with the Maranatha nut butter. My almond butter from them has one ingredient…almonds.
EllCee says
OMG. I would have murdered that dessert buffet. Murdered it.
Biz319 says
OMG, that food looks amazing! I’d pile my plate with ham biscuits!
Get a good nights rest!
Christie says
Ohh what a fun night and great to be involved with the volunteering… I feel the same way about dessert buffets its likes like dream and a night mare all at once hahah and how great they read your blog!
haya says
that is hilarious timing with the mention of you and your blog at the dessert table! but really, it just goes to show that you are real and human and that it’s okay to have dessert and wine and still be healthy.
Melissa P. says
Holy cow the dessert buffet. You would have had to roll me out of there…
Yvonne says
OMG! That dessert bar! Like you, It’s a dream come true for me yet my worst nightmare! I can’t contain myself when it comes to beautiful sweet tiny treats like that. What a fun event!
Josie says
That dessert plate looks heavenly!
Hil says
Dessert buffets are so dangerous and so amazing. Yours looks fantastic.
Do you really remember anything when you study tipsy? 😉
Nick says
That event sounds awesome, but man do I hate those dessert bars, everything they have is always ooey, gooey, sweet and chewy. There are so many unique choices and since they’re so small you always feel the need to try them all!
p.s – you’ve got a package coming!
madison (follow my weigh) says
wow everything looks soo good! and it looks like you had a lot of fun too =D. i’ve only seen maranatha peanut butter…not the almond butter, which i’d rather try!!
Deb says
Hmm I wonder what Veggie Girl doesn’t like about MaraNatha. I must admit I bought a jar a LOOONNNGGGg time ago and didn’t care for the taste (NO idea what kind, almond, peanut???) but THAT I do remember, not liking the flavor. But at $2.50 I’ll DEFINITELY consider myself an equal-opportunity taster!! Yes, where on earth did you find it Kath?
Those little black and white cookies looked amazing, too bad they didn’t deliver. In Sweden there’s a recipe for cookies that look like that and I SWOOON when I think of it. Nothing but butter. 🙂
Polly says
Fun night, Kath!
I don’t like Maranatha either. I vote for East Wind almond butter, but I want to try Veggie Girls’ brand now, too!
Kath says
Laura ,
I found the super sale at Harris Teeter, I believe. No idea why it was so cheap! We felt silly buying more than 2, but now I wish we’d stocked up!
Hil ,
I was known in college to make a few A’s while studying for a test with a glass of wine. But you can’t have more than 1 or it all goes downhill from there 🙂
Nick ,
Oooo I’m excited!!!!
Kath
VeggieGirl says
The deal on Maranatha:
They add TOO MUCH OIL; and their raw almond butter isn’t really raw (turns out that they still “slightly roast it”). Futters Nut Butters doesn’t add ANYTHING to their nut and seed-butters!!! And they have soooooo many varieties, it’s insane and wonderful.
Ryane says
Seeing those desserts just made my morning!
Maybe it’s the sugar that made you feel icky and not the wine! (I hate letting alcohol get in the way…)
Totally craving a magic bar now, or what you call a “hello dolly” (which totally makes me think of Dick… the movie… anybody?)
I guess I do find my maranatha oily, but that seems to be pretty typical of nut butters… but I’ll take anything for $2.50 – holy moly! go buy more!
Allison K. says
Ryane,
I call them magic bars too! and even though I just finished breakfast, I would kill for one this morning!
Katie MC says
I find it really inspiring the way you manage to eat so healthfully most of the time and really enjoy your time out. Thank you for setting such an awesome example.
I would not have been able to resist the carrot cake or brownies, they are my fave. The fruit desserts-meh.
I also think your red coat looks awesome.
Hot Garlic says
Kath you are just too adorable! I love your redish / pinkish coat.
I love Almond Butter too, great price! All of the food at the event looks AMAZING.
tsbrown says
You have the best style. Where did you find that red coat?
mh says
does it really matter that the AB is slightly roasted ? it is still uber healthy and yummy! Thats a little too obsessive!
emmy says
mh – to someone on a raw food diet I would say it matters quite a bit. I’m a super not picky, but I very much dislike companies who mislabel.
VeggieGirl says
**mh:
It’s misleading to customers to roast a RAW almond-butter; and I don’t like that they ADD oil (instead of just having the natural oil amount in the jar). It’s not obsessive, it’s my personal preference.