Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Top 6--Lentil Festival on a roll!!

The National Lentil Festival Lengendary Lentil Cook Off took place last Thursday, July 30. We had a room full of hungry judges, eager to try new and different lentil recipes. After the oo's and ahh's, we have come up with our top 6 recipes. They are:

B-L-T Dip, submitted by Janice Elder of Charlotte, NC
Herbed Lentils and Rice, submitted by Betty Fulmer of Greenacres, WA
Savannah’s Sweet Potato Lentil Fritters, submitted by Jane Harrison Ashworth of The Woodlands, TX
Not Your Mother’s Jelly Roll, submitted by Wilma Page of Richland, WA
Rhubarb Lentil Crisp, submitted by Julie Schneider of Pullman, WA
Maple Chipotle Barbecue Lentil Pizza, submitted by Viviane Levine of Summerfield, FL

The winner of the I Hate Lentils category was:

Animal Cracker Dip (Fudgy Chocolate Frosting), submitted by Connie McKeen of Milton, WA

These top 6 recipes will be judged by 400 festival goers on Saturday at 2pm.

Each of the recipes at the cook off were incredible. A HUGE thank you goes out to all of our recipe submitters.

We are now sliding head first into the last stretch of festival preparation. Saturday vendor spots are all filled up. We have extended the deadline for Friday vendors until Friday, August 7. Parade applications are also still available, and will be until August 14.

We are extremely excited about this amazing event and cannot wait to show you all how it is even better than ever!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Top 50 have been found!

We received the prescreening judging sheets, counted up the votes, and found our top 50 recipes for the 2009 Lentil Festival!!! In no particular order, here they are:

Smoky Lentil & Spinach Quesadillas with Chipotle Avacado Cream
Savory Lentil Pancakes with Ginger Tomato Chutney
Mediterranean Lentil Lamb Burger
Lentil Cocktail Cups
Lively Lentil Salad with Thai Flavors
"Lentil" Havana Lettuce Cups
Lentil Ravioli with Spinach and Cheese
Lentil Salad with Peas, Arugula and Tomatoes
Lentil Fritter Snacks
Quick and Easy Lentil Joes
African Stew
Pumpkin Lentil Soup
Rainbow Lentil Tacos
Super Duper Lentil Burgers
B-L-T Dip
Lentil-Rice Burritos
Indian-Style Lentils and Basmati Rice with Warm Cilantro Oil
Red USA Lentils and Spinach Chicken
Cilantro Chicken Jack & Lentil Quesadillas
Not Your Mother's Jelly Roll
Herbed Lentils and Rice
Jewel Lentil Salad
Lentil Lemon Linguini
Savannah's Sweet Potato Lentil Fritters
Legendary Lentil Samosas with Cilantro Mint Chutney
Summer Sweet Lentil Salad
Lentadillas
Lentil Sliders
Twice Baked Pineapple Lentil Enchiladas
Rhubarb Lentil Crisp
Spicy Lentil Sloppy Joes
Lentil Enchilada Casserole
Maple Chipotle Barbecue Lentil Pizza
Balinese Garden Peanutty Lentil Soup
Mystical Mediterranean Lentil Salsa with Pita Chips
Cherry Right-Side Up Cake
Fresh-Mex Lentil Wontons with Zesty Cilantro-Lime Dip
Lentilicious Pumpkin-Cranberry Scones
Creamed Goat Cheese Sweet & Sour Lentil Bruschetta
Summertime Stuffed Sweet Onions
Mediterranean Lentil Salad
Lentil and Yam Chimichangas
Turtle Cheese Wedges
Sweetey Pie
Animal Cracker Dip (Fudgy Chocolate Frosting)
Bacon Wrapped Lentil Stuffed Mushrooms
Lentil Hummus
Bombay Tacos with Mango-Yogurt Sauce
Carrot Pineapple Lentil Bread
Bowl Me Over Italian Lentil Soup

We are looking forward to tasting all of these fantastic recipes on the 30th of June! Once the recipes have been made, a group of judges will decide who gets to move on to the top 6! It will be a tough decision to make. The top 6 recipes will be featured at the Lentil Festival on Saturday in Reaney Park. The first 400 festival-goers will get to help judge these amazing recipes! Come hungry!!!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Full steam ahead!

Pullman's 4th of July celebration went incredibly well. Not as many were in attendance this year, but we are blaming that on the scorching heat. It was a gorgeous day on the Palouse. The fireworks were fantastic! Thank you to all of you that came out to support the event! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Now that the fireworks have been lit, its time for the Chamber to get going...full steam ahead! The Lentil Festival is just 43 days away! The cook off applications have all been turned in and are ready to be prescreened so we can find our top 50! This year, we had some technical difficulties with our new online forms, so we ended up with 93 qualifying recipies this year, which was a bit shy of the 125 submitted last year. Those 93 recipes came from 30 different states, which is absolutely fantastic! We are still hoping to reach our goal of getting a recipe from each state in the future.

All of the recipes submitted will be prescreened by a few select judges. These judges will narrow our recipes down to the top 50. Those 50 will be the recipes entered in the Lengendary Lentil Cook Off!! We are all very anxious to see who makes the cut!

Vendor, contest and parade applications are still available online if anyone is interested. We are hopeful that this year's Lentil Festival will be bigger and better than ever!!

Monday, June 29, 2009

4th of July week

This week, the Chamber is gearing up for our big 4th of July celebration! We are hoping to get tons of last minute donations in our donation jars around town to help with fireworks, and if anyone is interested in volunteering at the park, call the Chamber! (334-3565). We still have plenty of volunteer spots to fill.

The celebration will start at 5pm on the 4th with a BBQ and inflatable toys. Music will begin at 5:30 with the Pullman Community Band. They will be followed by Dan Maher at 6:30, and the Kingpins at 7:30. Once dusk hits, fireworks will light up the sky! There will be no personal fireworks allowed at the park. There will also be no animals or alcohol allowed.

If you would like to join in our fun, come to Sunnyside park on July 4th at 5pm for a fantastic evening! Park and ride lots will be available throughout Pullman and there will be plenty of signs up to show you where to go. For more information on this awesome celebration, call, email, or visit the Chamber! You can also listen to Hit Radio 104.3 for our 4th of July information spot! Hope to see you there!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Beany Greeny

This year, the National Lentil Festival is in the process of going green! Our new Lentil Festival water bottles are BPA-free stainless steel bottles that will be available for purchase at the Chamber or at the festival. For those that purchase a water bottle, a cool water refilling station will be available. This will help cut down on plastic water bottle usage.

To save paper, all applications for the event will be available online. Additionally, all communication between vendors and contestants will be done via email.

Avista's mascot, Wattson the Energy Dog, will treat the kids to some 'green' entertainment in the kid's area. He will be teaching kids about the importance of conserving power and alternative energy sources.

Outside the festival, we will be attempting to reduce carbon emissions by putting up more bike racks for those that would like to ride instead of drive. We will also have park and rides around town with buses running to and from the festival in attempts to cut down on traffic, pollution, and any parking problems.

Recycling bins will be placed around the festival near garbage cans and biodegradable bowls and spoons will be used for the cook off.

We are officially stepping into our big girl pants, trying to save our environment..one chili bowl at a time. We would appreciate your help and support in our green attempts.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The New Lentil Lady

Hello there! My name is Allyson Rohde and I am the new intern at the Pullman Chamber of Commerce. Things have gone extremely well for my first few weeks at the Chamber, and I am so excited to be working with such an amazing group of ladies!

At the moment, the chamber office is working on putting together another great 4th of July celebration. We have set donations jars around town to help raise money for fireworks, and we will soon be calling around for volunteers. It will be a fantastic 4th of July this year, I can feel it!

The Lentil Festival plans are also coming along. Our 2009 poster has been very popular so far. I can't wait to see everything come together for the big event. And, if you hadn't heard, the festival will be 3 days long this year! We have a golf tournament that will take place on Monday, August 23rd at the new Palouse Ridge golf course. There is also talk of a rugby tournament joining on! I will keep you updated on that.

On Wednesday, June 10, Pullman's very own Farmer's Market will grace the streets of Pullman once again. This will be our 4th farmer's market (I believe). Each week keeps getting better and better with more vendors, more people, and live music. The energy has been high, and we would love to keep it that way! Come check it out every Wednesday from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. in the Old Post Office parking lot!

If you can STAND any more excitement, Mary Barstow is now Mary MacDonald! Congratulations to Mary and her new hubby!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Lentil Fest Poster Unveiling


Last night was our annual Lentil Festival poster unveiling. It was held at the Old Post Office Wine Gallery. A nice crowd showed up to taste local wines and get the first look at our 2009 poster, created by local artist, Matthew Leiker. A special thanks to Matthew and all of our sponsors.
Signed posters, tshirts, and other Lentil Festival 'gear' will be available at the Pullman Chamber office.
We are very excited about the new design for this year and hope that everyone else enjoys it as well!
Just a quick reminder: if you are interested in entering a cook off recipe for a chance to win our grand prize of $1000, go to our website at www.lentilfest.com and enter your recipe! The deadline is July 3. We hope to see you all at the Lentil Festival August 21-23!!