Over the last handful of days, we have been steadily assembling hundreds upon hundreds of dumplings getting ready for our big Lunar New Year party this upcoming Saturday. It seems this whole month has gone by in a flash between all of our daily baking for the shop and the special theme Fridays we've held like our Pizza & Beer Night as well as last weekend's Panini Night. Sitting back now and reflecting on it all...my goodness gracious, it has been a BUSY month! A busy but blessed month because all of us at C&C are extremely grateful for all of you coming out to the bakeshop to support what we are trying to do. Just knowing that we have a community like this makes every moment of our hard work worth it.
Last year, we were very fortunate to have our friends at Prairie St. Brewing Co. host the Dumpling Pop Up! when we were fundraising for our "Brick & Mortar Fund" to build our bakeshop. Putting on events of this size is no easy feat...it takes so much planning, preparation, and resources. They didn't just provide us the space but all the assistance we possibly needed from setting up to serving. And even though we are not having the party there this time, they are gonna be with us all the way in spirit....you'll find them in all the extra equipment they loaned us to pull this off again and you'll find them at the bar where we'll be featuring three very special beers by Prairie St. - our collaborative Bread Beer, the Sunshine Sake Ale, and Project Gemini (an experimental hop showcase IPA).
Our event will be held in the beautiful Bowtruss Room of the Rockford City Market this year which is right there a few feet from the shop! We are so thankful to everyone at the market for helping us put all of it together...I snapped this pic just this morning when the tables were being set up. With our guest list pushing over 150 at this point, it's going to be really nice having home court advantage on this round and not having to travel with a thousand dumplings in tow! By the way, we still have a little bit more space available so if anyone wants to join in, this is your chance (the more the merrier!) - here is the link to reserve tickets.
Anyway, this is all to say that I'm just really excited about the party and that I'm looking forward to kicking back and ending the month on a high note by getting to enjoy everyone's company and getting to eat dumplings till I burst. Whether I see some of you there or not, I hope you have a fabulous rest of your week!
See you soon,
Jojo