Food Buzz Festival: San Francisco 2010

Have I mentioned how much I truly dread and loathe putting myself into new situations where I don't know anyone? Yes, I realize most people are like that but those people are smarter than me - they find a buddy.  My answer is to usually thrust myself into the thick of things, flailing and grasping, acting like I'm not a total awkward nerd, lost in Food Blogger Land. 

Brooke, Food Woolf, will climb any mountain to get that perfect shot

Luckily, this time around, I did find someone to hang out with, the lovely, smart, and witty, Brooke aka FoodWoolf.  It's always a relief to find a soul sister in travel.  I knew this trip was going to be awesome. We started off our Festival experience at Fort Mason's Herbst Pavillion.  Brooke and I decided to make a break [following on the heels of Marc of the No Recipes fame] for a quick pic of the beautiful sunset.

There were so many wonderful people that I got to meet [but forgot to photograph].  I won't be able to get everyone I met on this first pass, but I'm determined to stalk them ALL so you'll see them at some point in the near future. Trust. At least they're not subjected to my first pass NOW like poor Marc, No Recipes, who got cornered by me as I quizzed him, 21 questions style - I'm going to give him a break and not post his answers here. Kind and super sweet Ken, Hungry Rabbit NYC, my new BFF, was also blessed by my countless number of tweets...and if I had the energy, I would've tweeted him during the later part of the evening to bring me a sandwich since he was so patiently waiting in line for one.  Liren, Kitchen Confidante, was as beautiful and gracious as I've been told - My only regret was that I didn't have enough time to talk her into being my new BFF but I have confidence that I will have other opportunities to work my magic! Linda, Salty Seattle, was stalked by me this evening because of her fantastic outfit and even more fantastic personality. 

Linda, Salty Seattle with Brooke

Everyone brought gifts for the gift exchange.  I did not.  Why, you ask? Because I'm lame.  I could come up with a thousand excuses and it just comes down to poor planning and a rough travel schedule [good thing I'm not a planner or anything...oh wait...].

After I awkwardly excused myself for not having a gift, I started to try to eat my way through the Pavillion as best as I could. I'm not good at waiting in lines and I didn't want some Food Blogga to shiv me for cutting in line [Ok, I admit, I almost shivved one of you who not only cut in front of me but pushed me out of the way to do it. I will not forget you, I will get you. Well, only if you do it again since I only saw your back. But it's totally burned into my memory].

I stuffed myself as much as I could but the easiest and most tastiest part of the evening was the Bonny Doon Wines and the great selection of Beers. I wish I could say I have photos of those two booths but I may have had a little bit too much to drink that evening.  Allegedly. 

Event: Sushi 101

Rachael's amazing sushi rice.  I have to admit the Zojirushi rice came out spectacularly - there was no burn or browned spots that I normally get from my rice cooker.  The Induction Heating rice cooker did everything but dry my hair!!   I may actually breakdown & buy one...but please don't tell Rachael, or I'll have to hear her telling me that she told me so.

I was a spoiled brat.  When I was growing up, there was a period of several years where we had sushi Every. Single. Sunday.  Most people would be jealous of that fact. Being the Contrarian that I am, I would roll my eyes and sigh, "Sushi?? AGAIN??" 

How times have changed.  I actually PAY for sushi - something I never thought I would do!  I was so excited when Rachael first told me about Sushi 101.  I saved the date even before I was actually invited.  I love that Rachael brings Japanese cuisine to the people in a non-threatening/non-overwhelming way.  I was all in for her party.

Greg offered up his beautiful house for this event.  I wish I had taken a photo of his kitchen.  It's drool worthy, almost larger than my house.  Such a generous host, when I asked him for his sink & spare dishwasher, he just said, "yes."  Unfortunately, neither item fit into my small coupe.

Rachael, madwoman at large, had so many items on her menu - artisan tofu, sunomono [cucumber salad], shoga [marinated ginger], marinated daikon, temaki, makisushi, and miso soup.  Rachael's homemade tofu is actually how we became friends.  Her recipe is easy and amazing.  No store bought tofu can come close to it.  

I have found over the course of the year of our friendship, that I learn something new from her all the time.  As she presented each course, her confidence in her knowledge [along with random tidbits of information that I never knew] shined through!  Everyone had a blast and enjoyed each course of the meal. 

Discussion about seafood sustainability

I Love Blue Sea drove down from San Fran to bring down the sustainable seafood for the event.  The fish was so amazing - yellowtail tuna, albacore [the belly tasted like Avocados], Alaskan King Salmon [so sweet], and Dungeness Crab [my favorite!!!]. As Martin cut the fish, I was like a puppy dog waiting for scraps.  It was that good.  To top if off, they were so incredibly helpful offering up any assistance large or small, I just thought how proud their mommas must be of them.  I haven't informed my family yet but I've decided that we're ordering our New Year's Day seafood from these guys.  I can't sing enough of their praises - check them out when you get a chance.

Josie put together an amazing dessert bar.  A Fuji Apple ice cream, a matcha ice cream, and a Yuzu Plum Wine granita filled the wine glasses [yes, I had all three.  I was taste testing and acting as a Quality Control Officer.  It's my job] along with two types of macarons, one of my favorites being a spearmint and white chocolate macaron.

Everyone left stuffed and full...and the question, "when's the next party?"  I can't wait for the next one, either!

National Food Blogger Bake Sale, Los Angeles

For those of you who have not met Gaby Dalkin of What's Gaby Cooking, you could not possibly understand what a machine this girl is.  I've had the pleasure of working with her previously on our macaron class with Sweet Tartelette and her energy just amazes me. I have yet to have an email or phone conversation with her where she was just relaxing away the day, doing absolutely nothing. If I had 1/4 of her energy, I'm sure I could rule the world.  But I don't so I just need to put that dream to rest.

The same energy went into her desire to set up the National Food Blogger Bake Sale to support Share Our Strength, an organization that fights childhood hunger.  She reached out to food bloggers from across the nation to participate.  In Los Angeles alone, she had about 50 people signed up to bake for the event.  I had about 1200 stickers to price out the goodies and we were far short of the number of stickers we actually needed!  The tables were barfing baked goods - we were better stocked than most bakeries I've seen.  It was awesome.

Sherry Yard supporting the Bake Sale

One highlight of my day there was seeing Sherry Yard.  Wow.  SHERRY YARD of the "Desserts by the Yard" and Spago's fame.  I snatched up a lot of her baked goodies [new stuff that wasn't in her cookbook] as I watched her compile a stash of her own box of food blogger goodies. How awesome to have her support??

Esi doing her sales thing

The cause, as important and worthy as I think it is, was overshadowed by the fact that I felt blessed to spend time with such a great group of people.  We've got ourselves such a great community and I feel let down at the end of each event because of the uncertainty of the next time I'll get to see them! Esi, Dishing Up Delights, suggested a potluck for our next event.  I think I'm going to have to put on my Event Planner hat on and round something up, along with the help of unsuspecting Rachael of La FujiMama. [Lucky her to be my constant victim]

wonderful models: Jenny from Picky Palate and Rachael from La Fuji Mama

Gaby, many, many thanks to you. Congratulations on a job well done and I can't wait for next year's bake sale!!

For those of you who were not able to make it to the Los Angeles Bake Sale [and yes, i know who you are], it's not too late to support Share our Strength. Please click HERE to make a donation.  I thank God that the only hunger I've ever known only lasted a few hours at most [on account of the fact that I never miss a meal, as my ever expanding @$$ would attest to] and I'm sure that many of you are in my same boat [which really, weight-wise, us in the same boat is a very bad thing].  So please, please, please...any little bit helps.  Please donate NOW.

Food Blog Forum Los Angeles

Hi, my name is Jenny and I'm not a food blogger. Sometimes I am a food blogger stalker or an event planner or a traveler. To say that I am a food blogger is a gross exaggeration of reality [on account of the fact that I can't really cook].  But I desperately want to be one. 

Here is my shortlist reasons why I want to be a food blogger:

1.) The People:  First and foremost, these people are just so awesome and amazing.  I have met so many wonderful people. There is no online community who is more supportive than this one.

2.) Good Food: I don't exaggerate when I say that any time you go to a food blogger event, the food is going to be awesome.  

3.) Learning: My goal is to learn new things constantly.  I've learned so much from others as well as on my own through this blog. 

4.) Opportunity: Not to get into detail, but I've never had so many various opportunities as when first I started this blog.  New challenges, new possibilities. 

5.) Community: I know this points back to the People section but really, this needs to be addressed again. People like Jaden & Scott and Diane & Todd who are some of the busiest people I know, develop the Food Blog Forum to help share, GIVE AWAY FOR FREE, their knowledge and insight in developing a successful blog. I spoke with Diane just before this seminar and her words really stuck with me, "We just want to give back and help those who are just starting out." WHO DOES THAT??  These guys do.  

Food Blog Forum, Los Angeles

I almost started to cry when I first found out the date. I had 2 other commitments for that day but attending this was very important to me. 

There were so many favorite topics but to highlight just a few key points [because there are far more eloquent writers out there than I]:

"Find your passion...what is it that you want??" - Scott Hair, former Tony Robbins trainer,  paraphrased. He gave step by step instructions on finding your passion and how to achieve them.  What a dynamic speaker and with a gift to motivate. Jaden doesn't realize this but I plan to be camp out at her home some day.  Poor lady.

"Light, freshness of food, visual delectability, and sense of place are all components of what makes a successful food photo." Matt A & Adam P, totally paraphrased.  They spoke about building your plate for the camera, not necessarily to eat - use foods that are undercooked or overcooked depending on what the item is.  Build and layer to give your food depth.

"Assess your environment; decide the mood, feel, story of your photos; choose your gear, equipment and props." Diane C & Todd P, copied off their slide.  They gave the ever important tips on equipment, scouting out the best lighting for your shot, directional lighting, and the composition of light.  Todd even sat down in a squat to show us how to be a human tripod! 

Todd, Human Tripod

"Write for humans. Pick 2 - 5 keywords before you start to write. Don't use keywords more than twice." Gary N, almost verbatim because I didn't understand a word he was saying.  Ok, that's not totally true but I don't know much about SEO beyond what I read on wikipedia.  I learned things that I had no idea about - permalinks, Social Media Connect, Meta descriptions.

"Content + Authenticity + Passion + Diversity = Magic Formula" Jaden H, i think i wrote this right.  One thing I know about Jaden is she's an ideas person.  She can pop off more ideas in a 30 second period than anyone I know.  I dare you to go head to head with her.  You'll lose.  She gave us insight on what a "Platform" was [how many touch points to end customers]; how to have achieve income diversity [recipe development, photography, cooking classes, ghost writing]; monetize your website [giving tips on ad income]; and how to participate in community [Foodblogforum, twitter, Foodbuzz, blogHer, etc]. Just a few other gems from Jaden:

• "Nothing exists without community."
• "Find a rockstar in an unrelated industry and apply it to food."
• "Give your knowledge away - that's how people will remember you."
• "I'm a little strange and I like it." 

I was supposed to leave early but once I arrived, I was so transfixed that I just couldn't. Thanks to all the people I had the blessings to meet and see again:

@lafujimama - Rachael

@whatsgabycookin - Gaby

@ihcuppycakes - Clara

@foodwoolf - Brooke

@delorganic - Carrie

@dishingdelights - Esi

@privatekitchen - Sara

@whiteonrice - Diane

@riceonwhite - Todd

@steamykitchen - Jaden

@mattbites - Matt

@adampearson - Adam

Thanks for not running away when I threw my arms around you in my bear hug. You'll just have to be quicker next time.

The Pioneer Woman Book Signing, Los Angeles Edition

I didn't even know about Food, Home, Photog blogger Ree Drummond's book signing until Saturday night when I saw it tweeted by @WhatsGabyCookin. I had a copy of Ree's book that just needed to be signed.  The only thing is that I've never waited in line for anything other than a Sample Sale. I just don't do lines very well unless I know for fact that I'm going to get a HUGE bargain on something. It was with surprise that I found myself waiting in line for over 2 1/2 hours to get The Pioneer Woman to sign my book for me.

Step 1: secure seats. actually, step 1 was arriving an hour early, buying a couple more books, and getting the "pink" wristband [aka Group 2]. Then it was to secure seats. I was lucky that there were just a couple of seats left.  The person next to me asked if I had a blog to which I replied, "blog?? what blog?? no, I don't have a blog..."

Step 2: take really, really blurry photos of Ree as she walks in because I don't want to stand and block anyone's view.  *SIGH* [Ree is the glamorous reddish/brown one, not the hairy one]

Step 3: Stop myself from asking questions so as to not attract attention to myself during Q & A. Although she did sing "No Business like Show Business" for a clip.  A clip that I unfortunately was not quick enough to get on tape. 

Step 4: Belatedly realize that I should not have secured a seat so far up front because now I'm at the back of the Group 2 line.  Hmmm...how long could it take to get through a couple hundred people [halfway point shown below, about 1 1/2 hours into event]?

Step 5: near the front of the line only to see the wave getting started by the lunatics behind me [just kidding guys...you were super cool...if a little nutty!].

Step 6: Finally get to take my photo with Ree, when I attack her in a bear hug

Step 7: Am amazed by the fact that she actually remembers my name considering that we met only once before.  I can barely remember my brothers' names.  She asked me if I knew what I was getting myself into when I decided to come down to the signing.  Well, not so much but it was all worth it!  And I finally got some Christmas and birthday shopping off my list of things to do!