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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Bake Olympia!

Are you hungry?

I am. Always, more or less, feral neural nets omnivorously considering the surroundings for a quaff and a morsel, shoots and berries beaconing, "I'm ripe right now, eat me." Sirens less corporeal call too: what is the blog but an answer for the hunger to write? So I share a recipe or a way to simplify, throw in some nettles and a garden, and I'm full til I'm hungry again.

But some people are literally hungry, and it's a shame to say that I've been posting here for six months without saying anything about it. Among us are people out of work and out of luck, people with addiction hungers and people with the myriad of woes that converge on simple hunger. More South Sound kids suffer empty bellies than you want to believe, and become famished over breaks and ice storms when there's no school nutrition program. 


When that happens, and any other mundane day for that matter, the Food Banks feed people. Here in Olympia and everywhere else in our downtrodden economy, they need our help to help out the hungry. 


So when I got an email suggesting that Olympia food bloggers put on a bake sale during Arts Walk to raise money for the Thurston County Food Bank, I was really happy that somebody stood up and did something. Jenni Crain, who creates The Plum Palate with Chie, heard about a similar thing in Seattle, and organized it here. I'm just a willing contributor, but even that is a meal to sate my hunger for good karma. 


This will be happening during Arts Walk (on Friday April 27th), and is called Bake Olympia--link to the other blogger-bakers and get details at that site--look for us on Columbia Avenue, somewhere between 4th and 5th, within the Make Olympia area (Thanks for waiving the vendor fee, MO!). Come by and buy some tickets that you trade for delectable treats made by some talented cooks. The Food Bank will get all the proceeds, and you can pay with food, if you want. And it need not be canned; they can accept perishable food, too. 

Like some fresh produce from the Farmers Market just down the way; they close at 3:00 and we start at 5:00, but promenading about with a bag of broccolini and kale makes for a fine Olympia afternoon (and a farmer at closing time may give you a good deal if it's headed to the Food Bank). People will admire your healthy locavorism, and you can casually mention that you are supporting the Food Bank, as you sip coffee and snack on good vibes. 

Then later, you can feast on brownies and cookies. I'm thinking my contribution will be lemon-poppyseed bars and granola made with wild and local ingredients. What everyone else is bringing, I don't know, but there will be talented bakers there, and I'm looking forward to meeting my virtual community. And if you come by, in addition to the good feeling you get from supporting the Food Bank, you'll get that baked-good boost you need to Walk the Arts, and you won't be carrying around all that brocollini, or all those heavy cans and cash. 


We'll see you there!