Nescafe Dolce Gusto Foodie Feed Up Event

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A couple of weeks ago, a fellow Tampa Blogger, Leslie from The Hungry Housewife posted on facebook an upcoming Foodie Feed Up event in Tampa.

NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto was hosting 8 Foodie Feed Ups around the country for bloggers to check out some of their local chefs’ favorite dishes and also try their yummy new coffee line and they were coming to Tampa.

They’ve already hit up Cleveland and New York City; by the time they came to Tampa and next up, they were headed to Chicago, Seattle, Houston, LA and Denver.

Five fellow bloggers along with myself jumped at the chance to experience this affair at Restaurant BT on a quiet Monday night.

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Dinner Party 101

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Just as I love cooking, the other thing I love to do is throw a dinner party.  I think this goes hand in hand with most cooks.  In my case this need comes from my Italian genes (and Latin upbringing) which I’m totally convince have a code within my DNA called “need to feed everyone around you now or die!.

It is a known fact that the Italians are very serious about their food. Why shouldn’t they be? After all it is the food that brings together friends and families. This is why we find the Italians to be very fond of spending long hours on the table and meal times expanding over the span of a couple of hours.

When the Italians sit down to eat they literally forget about the world and are in no hurry whatsoever to gobble down their food and get back to life.

And that is what I needed, to sit down and forget about the world, at least for a couple of hours. And the best way to do this is to surround myself with funny and smart individuals – enter my main “chicas”

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Mini Tomato Pies

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I have been meaning to make this recipe for quite some time.

But, it’s never been the “right” time.

I saw the recipe for it numerous time here

It was calling to me.  I had to make them.

If you read the original recipe, which was published by Martha Steward Living you will see that I took a shortcut, because her version makes Pate Brisee, which is the fancy, French way of making Pie Crust.

I used pre-made pie dough, which had been sitting in my refrigerator for the past week.

 

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