My first 49ers game with a side of truffles

I got a text message from my dear friend Britt last week asking if we wanted to meet up at Candlestick Park for the Sunday, Oct. 6 – San Francisco 49ers vs. Houston Texans game. Seeing as I’ve never been to an NFL game, I jumped at the chance to experience my first one with her – an amazing friend and a true fan of the game and the 49ers. My family went to some college games growing up – Cal vs. Standford, so I knew it was going to be loud and a lot of fun.

The drive into S.F. gave us a chance to see the new Bay Bridge – being stuck in traffic pretty much allowed us the time to inspect every last bolt. 🙂 – I have never seen so many car “fan” flags… lots of 49ers swag cruisin’ down the interstate.

Our meet up time was 2:00 p.m. so we could get some tailgating time in before the 5:30 p.m. game. Because of traffic, we didn’t get to the stadium until just after 3:00 p.m., which resulted in having to park in a remote dirt lot several blocks from the official paved stadium parking. It still cost $30 and it filled up really fast with BBQ’s, beers and brats. Britt and her Mom were parked in a lot within the stadium, so we used the “Find my Friends” app to make it easier to find each other.

I forgot to take photos of our spread. I was so excited to see Britt and her Mom, I just stuffed my face and chatted the entire time. We packed everything back into the car before realizing I forgot to take a single photo of the food, whoops. This is a food blog right? Perhaps I should just embrace the fact that it’s turned into a “life” blog as well.

The food recap sans photos – We had corn tortilla chips with a traditional red salsa and deep fried flour tortilla chips with a cabbage salsa from one of my favorite local family owned Mexican restaurants. I also made pumpkin spice cookies with creamed cheese frosting that morning. Britt and her Mom hit up Whole Foods for some wine, delicious cheese samplings, hummus, crackers, veggies and golden raspberries. Not your typical spread, but definitely “our style” – no worries, Dan got a stadium dog once we got to our seats. He didn’t die from eating our “chick” food.

We began our walk into the stadium and made our way through the serious tailgaters. So much alcohol, so many bottles held by drunk people, tons of BBQ smoke and a huge police presence everywhere…

After a side trip to say “Hi” to one of Britt’s relatives, we stopped for some photos. I had to document my first 49ers game at Candlestick Park – knowing now how much fun they are, I’m sure we will catch some games once they move to Santa Clara and the new Levi’s stadium.

We made our way to the packed escalator and braved the narrow walkway to our seats. We were packed in like sardines and it was so much fun to be in the middle of it all, especially when 49ers fans chanted things to the Texans… We had a big group of Houston fans behind us and that sure added to some major razzing throughout the game.

Our seats were awesome! Thanks Britt.

We were given pink 49ers towels when we entered the park in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The cheerleaders were in pink gear with giant pink flags, the players wore pink shoe sleeves and there was a huge sea of pink jackets for stadium employees.

Britt and her Mom brought Godiva Truffle Flights into the stadium for dessert. Now this is definitely girlie football.

The Cake Truffle Flight included:

• Birthday Cake – Vanilla cake mousse with sprinkles
• Pineapple Hummingbird – Cheesecake ganache atop pineapple and banana
• Cheesecake – Cheesecake ganache inspired by Pennsylvania-Dutch cheesecake
• Red Velvet Cake – Deep cocoa flavor inside decadent red velvet ganache
• Chocolate Lava Cake – 72% cocoa dark chocolate ganache with a dark chocolate liquid fondant
• Lemon Chiffon Cake – Tangy lemon chiffon filling

I had to pick the Birthday Cake – pink and sprinkles… don’t mind if I do…

This photo (even though it’s blurry) cracks me up. It also sums up how awesome my truffle was. It was the perfect ending to a fabulous game. The 49ers won – 34-3, woohoo!

We hoofed it back to our car and spent the next 4.5 hours (it’s normally a 2-hour trip) in traffic due to closed lanes on the bridge due to a grass fire on Yerba Buena Island – which then triggered a bus vs. car accident. We didn’t get to bed until just before 1:00 a.m. and man did I feel it at work the next day. None of that really mattered… because I had a blast and what a fun way to spend a Sunday!