Stepped Up Our Game at the Women’s Show

Three days of being “booth babes”, schlepping piles of gear and doing cooking demos–all while wearing very cute, high heels has left us with big smiles and tired feet!  Our first trade show was a wonderful adventure and we learned a lot about what will appeal to our audience.  We were right in the assumption that women are interested in food, shoes and charities.

Our “Shoe Chefs” name and logo drew lots of curious women who are into cooking and wondered what we did and others who just loved all things that have to do with shoes.  We sold lots of our cute high heel cake servers to both types.

Our demo on stage included samples of our 12 minute micro mac (check our fall update for a new way to serve it) and the fabulous crab cake bites with roasted red pepper aioli.  Needless to say, ours was popular and when we handed out recipes for Chocolate Kahlua Cheesecake and samples in the booth, there was a stampede and many who wanted us to sell the cheescakes.  This was our first large-stage demo, and I must say it made me miss my days on stage in theatre.

Another real draw to our booth was the Soles4Souls drop box.  I’m continually impressed by the numbers of people in the current economic  hard times who are anxious to help others.  We shared many pamphlets and information about how to help this awesome charity distribute shoes to needy children around the world.  We even collected a few pairs of shoes!  We’re excited to develop a strong relationship with Souls4Souls.

If you’re lucky enough to have a garden with fall squash or a local farmer’s market, or a local grocery, this is a great fall supper.

Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray and place squash cut side down.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.  While it bakes prepare a batch of our 12 minute micro mac.

When fork tender, remove the squash from the oven and salt and pepper and fluff with a fork.  Spoon mac & cheese into the squash and top with crumbled crisp fried bacon.  You can also top with buttered bread crumbs and return to oven for a few minutes to brown.  Get creative with other toppers your family might like–ham cubes, green onions, mushrooms, etc., but it’s terrific with just squash and mac & cheese.

The highlight of the show had to be meeting Martin Yan of “Yan Can Cook” fame.  Erin will blog more about that later.