Crunk Snacks at Pecha Kucha

Every six weeks, my neighborhood arts org, Crosstown Arts, hosts a Pecha Kucha night. Anyone is given the opportunity to speak for six minutes on any topic of their choosing. But each talk must have 20 slides, and you can't talk for more than 20 seconds on each slide. Last month, I gave a Pecha Kucha presentation on Cookin' Crunk, and a guy in the audience asked if I would cook next time.

I said yes. And well, tonight was "next time." The folks at Crosstown Arts asked me to make enough food for 150 people. So I picked a few easy appetizers from my book and got to work. Each night this week, I made a little bit of food so that tonight would come to together quickly.

The event is usually held in the Crosstown Arts office basement, which is just a block from my house. But tonight, they were expecting a larger crowd since the talk was architecture-themed for Memphis Architecture Month. So it was moved into the rustic ground floor of the 1.4 million square foot, vacant Sears Crosstown building (also a block from my house). Here's a blurry picture of me and my food table:

I made Butter Bean Bruschetta — crostini with a butter bean spread, fresh tomatoes, onions, basil, and avocado:

And mini Vegan Pimento Cheese Sandwiches, which I unfortunately failed to photograph without the plastic:

I also made Sweet Tater Sausage Balls:

And my Garlicky Black-Eyed Pea Hummus:

For dessert, I made Mississippi Mud Cookies (a.k.a. Oatmeal Peanut Butter No-Bakes):

Some of my cookies didn't set properly since the recipe is a tad temperamental. So I put the cookies that didn't set in some little dessert cups and topped those with vegan buttercream. Genius, I know.

After the mingling and food/wine time, Crosstown Arts' Chris Miner opened the show:

The event was a huge success with at least seven speakers (I lost count). The talks ranged from tactical urbanism to public art, and my food was mostly all gone by the time the event was over. Oh, and I sold five cookbooks!