Scratch that. Being a food blogger is ALWAYS pretty awesome, but sometimes it’s more awesome than others. Like this past weekend, which I spent hanging out with Shawn and 150 of my closest food blogging friends at the Food Blog Forum. In Disney World! (There’s a reason that this conference sold out in 3 minutes!)
It was my first time at Disney and OMG I love it!!! It was a million times nicer than I ever imagined it would be. I may or may not have squealed like a 7 year old and set off running upon seeing the Cinderella castle…. and then proceeded to take a million pictures every time I saw it. Also? I might have cried while watching the fireworks. Just a little. (Yes, I’m a huge dork.)
So I have a million photos (taken with my phone, so please forgive the quality) and a million things to talk about so this post is going to be all over the place. Bear with me.
My birthday was this Sunday (yup, Easter) and I was freaking out a little bit at the thought of turning 30 so we decided to take a quick trip to celebrate. We chose Niagara Falls and Toronto since it’s not too long of a drive and neither of us had been there before. It’s a great city and we had a lot of fun! I don’t have a recipe to share today, so I thought I’d share some photos from out trip instead. (Most of these were taken on my iphone and edited with PicTapGo; please forgive any graininess.)
Words can’t begin to describe the weekend I just spend at the Second Annual Foodbuzz Festival, so I’ll let the photos do the talking. After a month of eating takeout while traveling, this weekend was precisely what the doctor ordered to get me back to my normal foodie-self. I’ve been home for two days now and have been cooking up a storm – I’ll be back to my normal posting schedule with tons of new recipes this week!
From the Foodbuzz Gala Dinner: Roasted Golden Beet Tart with Feta, Currants, Wild Arugula, and Basil Puree, Seared Scallops with Bonny Doon Vinyard Verjus Beurre Blanc served with Braised Fennel, Rosemary and Garlic Infused Rack of Lamb with Wild Mushrooms, Pinot Noir Sauce, and Butternut Squash Puree, Almond Cake with Oranges and Spanish Sherry Sabayon.
2009 Bonny Doon Vinyard Ca’ del Solo Albarino, my favorite of the many wines that were poured.
Transamerica Pyramid. Apparently people think its ugly. I think its awesome!
Cool fountain in a little park full of redwoods. This was part of a “food” walking tour that I took with Urban Adventures. The food part was pretty much nonexistent, but it was a pretty nice tour anyway. It could have been shorter though – 4 hours walking up and down San Francisco’s hills will leave you pretty sore!
Allie and I drove to Napa, where we stopped at Domaine Chandon. I had the Etoile Brut, which I enjoyed a lot – nice and dry with lots of tiny bubbles. I would have brought home a bottle if it would have fit in my suitcase! Allie had a sparkling red, which was beautiful, but too sweet for me.
People picking vegetables in French Laundry’s garden. Talk about Farm to Table!
Scenery just doesn’t get much more beautiful than this. Napa took my breath away!
