20041124 Washington Duke Inn special luncheon for Linda Long (her pictures) and me

I work with a wonderful local restaurant, Cafe Parizäde, to put together an ever growing annual Thanksgiving event for our vegetarian society. Our 2004 Thanksgiving was, I believe, the biggest vegetarian event of its kind this Thanksgiving holiday, and we garnered local TV and newspaper coverage, as we always do.

Also, Triangle Vegetarian Society enjoyed national coverage this year. Linda Long, a writer from New York who specializes in vegetarian food articles, flew down to cover our event for several national publications. Her fame attracted the Washington Duke Inn, also here in Durham, NC to invite both Linda and me to visit, and they hosted a lovely luncheon for us in their Fairview Restaurant on November 24, the day before our big event.

The executive chef, Jason Cunningham, planned a lovely all-vegan gourmet meal, and we were hosted as well by two of their upper management, Director of Sales & Marketing Jim Bressler, and Director of Food & Beverage Don Ball. Also with us was Linda's long-time friend Sharon Van Vechten, who has been involved extensively with restaurant marketing.

The food was lovely. We had a first course of Butternut Squash Soup with Julienne Granny Smith Apples followed by Grilled Eggplant and Tofu with Spicy Red Curry. Our third course was Porcini Quinoa Stuffed Peppers with Roasted Carrot Emulsion, followed by an elegant Apple Chardonay Sorbet for dessert. What a treat!

Linda was kind enough to send me all of the pictures that she took at the luncheon and invited me to use them as I wished. Hence the pictures here. All of these pictures are Linda's and are posted with her permission. You can also see the pictures that she took of the Thanksgiving feast at Cafe Parizäde.