Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Foodbuzz Blogger Festival - Foodies just wanna have fun!


Day two of the Foodbuzz Festival was quite the busy day; in the morning I had a photography class with Laura The Cooking Photographer and Marc of No Recipes, later I went to a video class.  I really enjoyed the photo class and came away with some great tips.  Marc recommended a Sasco 40w indoor natural light bulb placed in a lamp with a sheer shade over it; place the lamp on the side of a plate for nice shadows.  I'm going to try that and see if it helps; since its dark by 5 now.

After the classes wrapped up we had a lovely walk on the streets of San Francisco as we headed to the Metreon for a Tasting Pavilion extraordinaire.  I wish all of you had been walking with us.

If you ever get the chance to wander the streets of San Francisco, I'd highly recommend it; it's a lot to take in so pace yourself!  If you are ever in need of an inexpensive tour guide food works for me.


Come on Lisa, quit gawking at the awesome Williams Sonoma Store, we have to get to the Metreon before all the food is gone.


I was so excited to find this table, Bloomfield Vineyards is close to my house and I will be going to visit them soon and do a post.  Rebecca Bloomfield was so sweet and her wine so good.  I can't wait to share more about her.


Alaska Seafood had the most popular table there, the line went on forever, and so we waited and watched for our opportunity to swoop in for one of their amazing fish tacos they were handing out.  While in line I met two of the funniest bloggers who waxed on and on about the Royal Hawaiian Honey they had just tasted.  Only hardcore foodies wait in line to get food and talk about food while they are doing it!

I had to take a photo of Harvey for you, or at least that's what I'm naming him.  He should have had sun glasses on, because the paparazzi photo'ing him must of blinded him.


Fine if I have to eat your amazing Three Twins organic ice cream I will, but only for my readers. 


We needed a break after some hardcore sampling so we wandered out to the balcony, with a view you wouldn't believe.

Out there I ran into my new friend Lindsay from last night and a new friend I just made Ngoc of San Jose, Love.  If anyone has her URL, can you let me know!


Me and Lisa - Korean American Mommy posed for a glamour shot!  Before she went in to demo her winning recipe for Nature's Pride, and man were they good, we got to sample them.


Took in the amazing views!



Who says Foodies don't like to have fun!  The most rocking spot in the pavilion was the Buitoni booth, where Lisa, Sara and I convinced Chef Dennis to do a flipbook with us!  Since Chef Dennis is so famous, I'm not legally allowed to release it, but I can show you these photos!
  

Sara's face in the background is priceless!


I had met Emme from Food Samba at her table where I got to taste her winning avocado mint smoothie for Moovision.  I adore her, she is such a sweetheart, I'm a fan of hers.


We had added Trish from Dish by Trish to our posse earlier in the day, I had walked into the hotel lobby and there was her gorgeous smiling face, she had just arrived and hadn't met anyone yet.  See how easy it is to make friends if you flash those pearly whites.  

Then there was a gala, with so much food it was shameful, but in a good kind of way.  I even ate beets and loved them.  Actually the beet tart was my favorite, if anyone finds that recipe, please share.  I tried to photo all the dishes but our table was in the dark, and you all know what happens when you flash food, right!  But lucky for me earlier in the evening I met this really nice guy Mike Ahmadi FoodMuse, I had come home dead tired, logged on and saw his post, and my sadness from leaving the festival turned into a huge smile, his food photos were angelic and he's really cool too!

I did happen to get this cute one though!  We had other great company at our table too, Jeanne - Simple Math Bakery, Mariko - The Little Foodie, Damaris - Kitchen Corners, Trish - Dish by Trish, Emme - Food Samba, Lisa - Korean American Mommy and Myself of course.  I think the company rivaled the food.


Gina










25 comments:

  1. OOhhh!!! Your posts are making me feel better! With your wonderful photos and descriptions, I almost feel like I was there. San Francisco is my home city, and you are all making me a bit homesick. I haven't been there since my last high school reunion in 2003.
    Excellent pics Gina!!
    Thanks for the lighting tips... might have to give that a try, this time change does indeed make things difficult. My husband was laughing as I wouldn't let him eat all of our soup so that I could take pictures the next morning!

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  2. You are so nice to post all these pictures and stories of your weekend.
    I can only imagine the thri;;. I read this and I think I wish I was young again.
    You konw, I've always wanted to go to San Francisco; twice it was booked and something happened that we had to cancel.
    Maybe next year;who knows
    Thank you for sharing.
    Rita

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  3. Please join us next year Rita, I'd love to meet you! You too Kim!

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  4. Gina, it was so great to meet you! I wish I had gotten to see you before the very end of brunch! Next year for sure!

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  5. Thanks for sharing Gina. I will definitely hold out for this event next year. It's so much fun to meet the people that you know on line. I haven't been that active on FB lately so didn't know that Lisa won the Nature's Pride competition - how awesome! Isn't SF a wonderful city?!

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  6. Love your photos, Gina! You are absolutely stunning! Great descriptions, feels like I was there for the ride!!

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  7. Hi Gina!
    OMG I'm on your blog. haha. I think we have similar taste in photography because I took shots of the same things you did. didn't post them though. boo, the yummy cocktail shrimp that I didn't have :(
    Sorry I didn't add you earlier, I haven't gotten around to looking up all the business cards I got.

    -Ngoc

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  8. The beet tart was my favorite too! Love your pictures, it's bringing back such good memories from the weekend.

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  9. All is stunning. If I could ever manage to get myself there, I would eat the beets, too!

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  10. Your photos are rockin! And I really hope you'll visit DC one day! Miss you!

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  11. I love reading these but it kills me that I missed all the fun. You guys look like you had a blast. Thanks for letting us live the experience, even if only a little, through you.

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  12. It looks so like so much, and then there's the amazing food, and the wonderful bloggers you met. Thank you for making the Festival come "alive", for the rest of us.

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  13. Gina, It sounds like it was an amazing trip. You took some wonderful photographs...I felt like I was there! And those cupcakes looked so delicious. I'm craving something sweet right now. Thank you so much for sharing with me. I have to go next year!

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  14. Love all the pictures, lively and fun.

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  15. Your photos are all so perfect, and you covered just about the whole event...makes me feel like I was actually there, but not!...sigh...hopefully, next year.

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  16. Love all the photos, so glad everyone had such a good time :) I am sure the food was amazing and I can see that the company was :)

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  17. You're right, you had a great table! I love all your fun captions on the photos. It's amazing to me that as I read everyone's posts, there was actually food I missed. My scale doesn't think so. :(

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  18. Gina - What a great post and recap of such an eventful weekend. So many familiar faces and names. Great photos of fellow food bloggers. Hopefully next year I can join in on the fun too! :)

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  19. it's so nice that you had so much fun! wish i was there... thanks for sharing this.

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  20. I thought our (Chef and me) pictures were censored and now I discover everybody is looking at them!! [little/big moment of embarassement] We did have a lot of fun though. I just hope everybody focuses on the wonderful food pics instead of mine :) You've go to send me the coolest pics of the weekend by email!

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  21. awww i wish i went so that i can meet you too Gina. but thanks for your post :) i'm really glad to read all the wonderful experiences you had at the foodbuzz fest :) hopefully, i can come too in the next one :)

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  22. you are just too funny!! Thanks for all the happy memories you were certainly a big part of them!
    And thank you for taking such great pictures, I will treasure them!
    Dennis

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  23. Thank you for sharing the photos from the festival! I had a work event that I had in Sonoma on Saturday night and was not able to make it. It is on my list for next year! Great photos - enjoyed reading your posts!

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  24. What great photos and food. Gina you are such a cutie and so much fun! The photos of Chef Denis are so funny :)

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  25. Hi Gina. Thanks for letting me take your picture at the Tasting Pavilion. It was so nice to meet you. Here's the link I promised to send.

    http://www.ineedtext.com/FoodBlog/2010/11/12/the-taste-pavilion-at-the-foodbuzz-blogger-festival/

    Happy holidays to you and your family. I've got to go back to your pecan cranberry cookies and check 'em out. They look awesome.

    Shelly

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