Thanks to foodswapping, I’ve had the pleasure of making the online acquaintance of Suzanne the organizer behind the Indy Food Swap. In late January we got to meet IRL when she brought me to Indy and lined up an action-packed series of events, demos, TV & newspaper opps, a canning class and even a SUPER swap!

This post’s timing has been slightly hijacked by my recent move (the duration of last week), alas, better late than never!

Some things I discovered about Indy:

1. Everyone is named Katie. I fit in nicely here with my full name, Kathryn. Case in point (below), two of the amazing Katies I met, swapping their homemade food-wares, to boot!

photo courtesy of Lori Adams2. They’re good at decorating and entertaining in Indy.

No, really. Indianapolis folks welcomed me with such lovely hospitality. In fact, I was on the morning show, Indy Style, and wasn’t a lick jittery or nervous (a first for me) with Suzanne at my side and the laid back, real-people show hosts.

3. I now lust after a fancy preserving pan, after teaching a marmalade class with this beauty. One day…

My class/kitchen host at City Market, U Relish Farm, is making great strides for bringing real food and easy cooking back into the lives of busy people. Cara sent me home with two dry beans & dehydrated local, Indy produce dinner kits, both of which have already been consumed by our household, joyfully.

4. One word: Uber.

I preserved Meyer lemons and chatted about food swapping in the middle of this fab shop, which resembles a most perfect marriage between a great estate sale, Etsy and Anthropologie, and unlike at Anthro, the unique vintage display shelves/items are actually for sale.

I, of course, bought a dress from the sale rack.

Hello cutest vase ever.

5. Indy folks are wicked smaa[r]t. After my pickling demo at Earth House Collective, one of the participants showed me why the pH scale is confusing (debunking why big numbers mean low acid, low numbers mean high acid).

I don’t know why I felt like going all Boston on you just now, but that reminds me, I saw some interesting connections between Indy’s downtown and downtown Boston. I wonder if Bostonians had some involvement in settling Indy; this is pure, unresearched speculation…

7. To continue on with my wild hair about Boston, I even found Walden Pond on the outer skirts of town.

Just kidding. Winter Indy was pretty though.

8. I was sad to leave this group of new friends, but thank goodness for the interwebs!

L to R, Suzanne, moi, Katy, Sacha, photo courtesy of Suzanne Krowiak

psst…I’ll be back in Indy (and Cincy) the third week in April to do more fun stuff and to share in my Gram’s 86th birthday celebrations!