Nov 07 2010

San Francisco Foodbuzz Festival – Part I

I spent my weekend in San Francisco at the 2nd Annual Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival. I had a great drive into the city from Sacramento. Light traffic and beautiful weather. I pulled up to the front of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel and handed my key to the valet. Overnight parking was $55/night – thank.you.very.much. I checked in and had a few hours to hangout in my room before the evening welcome reception.

Cute boutique hotel room. I had a corner room with a great view of Union Square. I threw my bag of “sweet” festival swag on the bed and watched some TV before meeting everyone in the lobby.

It seemed like people already knew each other. I stood off to the side and bumped into another blogger that didn’t really know anyone. Her name was Tsz and she blogs over at gastrophoria. She’s a designer like me. We chatted the entire way to the Herbst Pavilion (at Fort Mason) for the Welcome Reception and Street Food Fare (10 local street vendors provided the food).

There was an amazing cupcake display from Mission Minis of San Francisco – totally cool that the table full of cupcakes spelled out Foodbuzz. The Food Network had us sign a release at registration – they were filming some footage for a reality cupcake show and lots of bloggers were interviewed. I stood in the background with another new blogger friend, Laura –  from Family Eats and Edible Tidbits.

There were 3 different cupcake flavors – pumpkin, green pistachio spice, and vanilla bean. I tried both the pistachio and pumpkin flavors – they were both excellent! Pumpkin was definitely my favorite.

The second thing  that caught my eye was the “Spencer on the go!” truck from the Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” – very cool because I watched the show. Their menu included the following: New England Lobster Cappuccino, Braised Lamb Sandwich and Escargot Puff Lollipops – they served a lot of those on the show. The line was super long and I knew I wanted to try other things, so I skipped the truck.

I waited in a very long line to try the pork loin sandwich and the chicharrones…

It did not disapoint. The cornmeal crust and pork flavors were amazing… and the pork rinds? I don’t normally eat pork rinds, but I did Friday night, and damn they were super tastey!

I also got a yummy pork belly taco from Tacolicious and a slice of pizza from Pizza Politana. They had a tomato sauce, spicy salami, spinach, dry cured olive, red onion and Parmesan pizza – it was thin crusted and fabulous!

Other vendors served up beer and wine, vegan paella from Diamond Lil, Caramel Toffee Crunch Straus Organic Ice Cream, pork belly sandwiches w/potatoes from Roli Roti! and I’m sure I missed a few. I didn’t try everything, but it was fun to pick and choose.

Each blogger in attendance was supposed to bring a “foodie” gift that represented themselves/their blogs and/or the region they were from.

I received an awesome cookbook from Suzanne over at You Can’t Eat What?  – She’s an allergy conscious blogger. While I have no food allergies, I have several friends that do, so this will be a great add to my cookbook collection for sure. Thanks Suzanne!

I brought a cookie cookbook and four Alternative Baking Company, Inc. cookies as my gift – they are vegan cookies. No dairy, eggs, honey, hydrogenated oils, cholesterol, preservatives, artificial ingredients or refined sugars and they taste AWESOME! They also have some wheat free cookies too! – They are a Sacramento based company and I’ve been buying them at the co-op and Nugget market.

I was nervous going into the first night, but ended up meeting some really great bloggers. Turns out, lots of people went without knowing anyone and food sure does bring people together. Much different than the fashion conferences I used to attend.

I got a great night of sleep and headed to my morning breakout sessions.

First up was Food Blogging Guide to Success (Whatever that is!) Ryan Stern, Vice President of Community & Publishing at Foodbuzz moderated the session. The panel included 3 Foodbuzz bloggers:

Damaris (Da) Palmer from Kitchen Corners
Stephanie Hau from Lick my Spoon
Tina Haupert from Carrots ‘N’ Cake

The only blog I read on a regular basis was Tina’s – it was so nice to learn about the others. All 3 bloggers were asked how they measured their success. The answers ranged from life balance to connecting with readers and knowing that they’ve had a positive impact on people’s lives. They all do freelance writing outside of their blogs. Some write for their local newspapers and other websites. They talked about ways to grow your blog readership and gave lots of good tips and ideas.

The second breakout session was Fast, Fresh, Delicious – sponsored by Fresh Express. Chef Todd Fisher, from the Monterey Peninsula, demonstrated blogger Ashely McLaughlin’s (The Edible Perspective) winning recipe.

Link to Ashley’s winning Fresh Express Challenge Recipe

My third session was Food Porn 101 – Taking Sexy Pictures. I had the pleasure of meeting session presenters Laura Flowers who blogs over at The Cooking Photographer and Marc Matsumoto who blogs over at No Recipes. We learned that good composition and good lighting is key. We also learned about the rule of thirds, props to make ugly food look better, shadow and light, 12:00 – 3:00 – 6:00 and 9:00 positions… and then we got to play with the props in professional lighting, not so professional lighting and natural light. I quickly discovered that I need a new camera stat! I had so much camera envy the entire 3 days of the conference. There were food paparazzi everywhere.

Cheap lighting option…

Not too shabby! Note: must run out to IKEA tomorrow to pick up a similar light. Daylight savings is going to kill my after work photography.

My burger photo with the pro lighting…

and my fruit bowl…

We had an hour break between the morning sessions and the afternoon Taste Pavilion. I went back to the room to chill for a bit. I then walked by myself to the Metreon.

My late husband and I went to the Metreon the night we got engaged. We saw the premiere showing of James Bond’s – The World is Not Enough. I was not prepared for the flood of sadness that hit me when I walked through the front doors. I was all by myself and the 11 years that had passed since the engagement, felt like 11 minutes. I took some deep breaths, composed myself,  and made my way to the roof top… where I soaked in the beautiful sunshine and gorgeous view.

I waited outside until they started letting bloggers into the pavilion. More than 50 producers, brands, wineries, breweries, demos and chefs were featured. First up – I grabbed a glass of wine 🙂 Can’t even remember from who or where – just knew I needed it.

I got to sample new Alexia fry flavors…

Carolina BBQ Sweet Potato, Chili Lime Sweet Potato, Caribbean Jerk Russet Potato and Parmesan Lemon Russet Potato. They are going to pick a winner based on voting. We got lucky to actually taste samples – other people just vote online without getting the chance to try them. The Carolina BBQ Sweet Potato was a total win for me. Loved it!

Cupcake stickers… Ticings edible sheets are so freakin’ cool. Weddings, baby showers, birthdays, holidays, company branding. Super excited to learn about this product. The inner event planner in me can’t stop thinking about the possibilities.

Praise the Lard – awesome T-shirt! Prather Ranch Meat Co. cooked up some hotdogs that were beyond ballpark amazing. Perfect for the SF Giants victory!

Juicy with lots of flavor!

This shrimp cocktail sample was “Out of this world” – I must preface this with letting you all know that I am a HUGE shrimp cocktail fan. From what I could tell, Miss Pearl’s Jam House in Jack London Square provided the samples.  Things started to get confusing after a few hours. I should have taken notes.

Todd Fisher, Fresh Express Chef from the morning session… whipped up an incredible salad.

Sierra Crisp Herb Salad with Toasted Quinoa and Smoked Pecans in a Cranberry Vinaigrette. The smoked pecans gave it great flavor. He said everyone kept thinking there was bacon in the salad. Super swanky mini bambo serving plates and forks.

I sampled so much more. Halibut and salmon tacos from Alaska Seafood, s’mores from Ghirardeli, cheese from Jarlsberg, Moovision smoothies, etc. Trust me, it was a good thing my jeans had stretch in them.

I also got to catch Kath Younger from Kath Eats Real Food cooking up her Thanksgiving side dish – Figgy Wild Rice, Mushroom and Sourdough Dressing. The pavilion smelled awesome and Kath did a great job!

I’m saving the Saturday Night Gala Dinner and the Farewell Brunch with new friends for another post. I took so many photos – it’s hard to know when to stop.

Thank you Foodbuzz – it sure was a great time and so nice to now have it documented here on the blog. I already miss my new blogging buddies and look forward to their recaps as well… but it sure feels nice to be home with Dan and Higgy.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=2197

Nov 04 2010

Cottage Pie

Wow has this week flown by. I’m trying to fit a 5 day work week into 4 days and that has been a challenge. I am taking Friday off to head to San Francisco for the Foodbuzz Conference this weekend. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because I love the city and being surrounded by bloggers that share the same “foodie” love and interests is pretty cool. Nervous because I won’t know anyone. Luckily the agenda is pretty packed – so I take this as my own personal challenge to come home with new blogs to read and new foods to try and a full belly.

In the meantime, it’s back to my kitchen and trying new recipes. The cover of the November Everyday Food Magazine had a photo of a different kind of Shepherd’s Pie. I’ve ordered Shepherd’s pie at pubs before, but never tried to make my own. I quickly thumbed to page 109 and was greeted with a recipe for “Cottage Pie” – the description said that a traditional cottage pie was made with ground beef and topped with mashed potatoes – this recipe called for sliced potatoes. Traditional Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb – for a twist, they suggested using ground turkey.

I stuck with what I had – ground sirloin.

The Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter – melted
1 Large Yellow Onion – diced medium
2 Large Carrots – cut into 3/4 inch pieces – I peeled mine
Coarse Salt and Ground Pepper
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 Pound Ground Beef or Lamb – I used ground sirloin
2 Teaspoons Fresh Thyme Leaves – I doubled that due to what I learned at my Herbal Kitchen class
1 Cup Dark (Porter) Beer
2 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup Frozen Peas
1 Large Russet Potato – 3/4 lb. thinly sliced – mine was on the giant side, had a lot left over

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium-high. Add onion and carrots and cook, stirring often, until onion is soft, 5 to 6 minutes. Season with Salt and Pepper.

Next step – stir in the tomato paste. Add the meat and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon until almost cooked through – about 3-5 minutes. Add thyme…

Then add the porter beer…

Bring to a boil. Cook, stirring frequently, until slightly reduced – 2-4 minutes.

Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir to combine. Add 1 cup water and cook until mixture thickens, about 2-4 minutes.

Stir in peas and season with salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to a 2-quart baking dish.

Arrange potatoes in a circular pattern on top of the meat mixture. Season potatoes with salt and pepper and drizzle with 2 tablespoons butter. Note: I will not use that much butter next time – a tablespoon at most.

Place casserole dish into the oven and bake until potatoes are browned around the edges and tender when pierced with a knife. 40-45 minutes – Mine took closer to 55 minutes.

I did end up using a turkey baster during the cooking process to skim off some of the butter/fat – like I said above…next time I won’t use the full 2 tablespoons on top of the potatoes.

Comfort food for sure. I’m excited that I have 5 more bottles of Porter – can’t wait to make this dish again. It was a huge hit with Dan and I got 4 additional lunches for my mid week meals.

Maybe it was growing up in the 1970’s – not sure what…but man do I love casseroles in the Fall and Winter months.

What’s your favorite casserole dish?

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=2172

Nov 02 2010

Baked Plantain Chips

I was thumbing through my September Everyday Food Magazine and came across a simple recipe for Baked Plantain Chips. I’ve tried several different brands of banana chips from Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, but I’ve never made them. I’ve seen plantains in the produce section before, but have never tried one. I picked one up while grocery shopping on Saturday. I knew from the recipe that I needed an unripe (green) plantain. Not a problem, all they had was green plantains.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees F.

The first step was to peel my plantain. Thanfully, the same magazine had some how to steps that I could follow. The skin is super tough, you can’t peel it like a normal banana. You first slice along the seam.

I had to cut pretty deep to get through the skin.

You then want to cut little windows from the seam cut. You can then use the tip of your knife to lift them from the plantain.

I had a couple windows take out huge plantain chunks, so my chips weren’t very symmetrical.

No big deal, the majority of my windows peeled right off. Most recipes I found online called for a mandoline, since I don’t have one, I used a sharp knife to slice my thin chips.

Next time I will probably go a little thinner – I liked the thinner chips of the bunch much better.

Sorry for the blurry photo… I used my iPhone and must have moved while taking the photo.

I got the plantains onto my non-stick baking sheet and sprayed them with garlic infused olive oil (The Everday Food recipe used vegetable oil). I gave them a pretty good coating on both sides and then I sprinkled corse salt  and ground pepper on them. I placed them into my 350 degree oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. I flipped them at 15 and then put them in for an additional 10 minutes. Probably should have just done 10 minutes per side, I overcooked them a bit.

I was trying to explain the taste to Dan – he wasn’t interested in trying them, just not his thing. They had a distinct taste and texture to them – I compared it to corn nuts, minus the corn flavor. I really liked them and next time won’t cook them for as long. I could also see using regualr unripe bananas, canola oil, brown sugar or a cinnamon sugar coating on them for a sweeter version.

Anyway… it was fun to try something new and different. Next time I’m at the store, the plan is to pick up something else I’m not familiar with. Good times ahead.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=2146