Foodbuzz blogger festival - Day 3

Day 3, Sunday - The morning was cold, dark, windy and rainy. I was so tired from Day 2, that I did not want to open my eyes when my alarm went off at 6.00 AM in the morning. I almost decided to just sleep and skip the Sunday farewell brunch. Something in me pushed me out of the bed at 6.45 AM. I said to myself "I'm going to be late!!!". I was checking BART schedule on my laptop and joyfully realized that daylight savings ended that day and I have one more hour to spare. Hurray!!! I wont be late after all!! I got ready and picked up my umbrella (which I lost in the train on my way back) and left to SF, Sir Francis Drake once again.

The brunch was sponsored by Nature's Pride.

Mine started off with a cup of hot coffee.

I would like to point out here that, I am an Indian vegetarian - which means, I try to avoid eggs too... I don't mind them much as long as I don't get that 'eggy' flavor or texture. I ate only the french toast among all the warm entrees served - Fiesta muffin with vegetable gravy, sausage bites, bacon and french toast.

Salads became the main part of my meal. Compared to the meals I have been eating the past 2 days, these were quite average.

Enjoyed the variety of fresh fruits

I ended the brunch with yogurt for dessert.

During and after brunch, I spoke to some more people, exchanged more business cards and bid farewell to a wonderful weekend of fun, food, foodies and more food. Thank you once again, Foodbuzz for organizing such an awesome event.

Foodbuzz - You Rock!!!

Foodbuzz blogger festival - Day 2

Day 2, Saturday turned out to be a warm, sunny and beautiful day. I took the BART to Powell station and walked down to Sir Francis Drake where we had our morning breakout sessions.

My first session was the photography workshop presented by 'The Cooking Photographer' and 'No Recipes'. They spoke about lighting, composition, colors, props, angle etc. Then I took some pictures of food that was styled and indoor lighting set up. There were about 100+ bloggers for this session and in just 45 minutes, could not gain much.

Next was, a demo of the winning 'Fresh Express' recipe from 'Edible Perspective' by Chef Todd Fisher. The recipe featured Fresh Express spring mix, butternut squash, onion, pumpkin seeds and lavender goat cheese.

Next was a discussion on video blogging. It was quite informative... Planning to shoot my first video soon. Hope it comes out well.

After a whole morning of gyan, it was time to eat again!! Yes, the 'Tasting Pavilion' at Metreon. I walked down and got there a little early and enjoyed the city view in the warm sun until the pavilion opened.

Food!!! Here I come... Mission Cupcakes had a stall again. My experience with cupcakes in general has not been great until now... They had super moist out-of-the-world cupcakes, perfectly sized, deliciously flavored. I picked up 4 out of the 6 flavors they had and ate them quickly.

Variety of cheeses from Norseland Inc., heavenly pumpkin soup from 'Tyler's Ultimate' (from Food Network), Alexia's fries and onion rings, Olive's (The Olive oil experience) flavored olive oils were the next things I tried. Loved the lemon olive oil. Enjoyed the pumpkin soup and the bread that came with simply amazing!!

Nature's Pride had cooking demos all afternoon featuring their winning recipes from fellow bloggers. My 'Foodie gift exchange' blogger Lisa (Korean American Mommy) was featuring her chocolate ganache coated bread sticks.

 

'Madagascar' had chocolates that were made in Africa. They also had vanilla powder which is supposed to be better than vanilla extract. I loved their table scape the most, with vanilla bean, cocoa fruit, cocoa beans etc.

There was an assortment of jams to taste and the jalapeno jam from 'Inna Jam' was my fav. I also tasted raw honey, for the first time, from Big Island, Hawaii. Smoked sea salt from Mendocino compliments any food well. The owner gave me a sample of chocolate with some salt crystals on top and told me a pinch of salt tastes great in coffee too!!

479 popcorn is a must try. They have amazing flavors including 'Madras Curry' :-). (For those who are new here, I'm from Chennai, formally Madras).

The spicy pickles of Pick-A-Peck were amazing.

 

After spending three hours in the tasting pavilion, I walked around with a new blogger friend for another hour and got to the hotel lobby. We both relaxed in the lobby for a while, freshened up and walked to the 'Ferry Building' for the gala dinner.

New foodie friends: Coco from Opergirlcooks and Ngoc from San Jose Love

We sat down for my first ever sit down four-course dinner.
First course: Roasted Golden Beet Tart , Crimson beet, Feta and Currants, Wild Arugula and Basil Puree

Second course: Seared tofu (instead of scallops) with Braised Fennel, Orange Marmalade and garnished with Fried Fennel Fonds 

Cheers to new friendship

Third Course: Mushroom fiesta (as I named it, instead of Lamb Rack) - Portobella mushroom buns, Mushroom patty served on sauteed Wild Mushrooms, Pinot Noir Sauce and Butternut squash puree with parsley puree on the top

Fourth Course: Buttery Almond Cake with Oranges and Spanish Sherry Sauce

Overall, Foodbuzz spoilt me and let me indulge as much as I can. I enjoyed every bit of the delectable meal.

After the whole day out, walking and eating, I was tired and ready to hit the sack and did not go for the scavenger hunt after the dinner. My sweet Murali drove all the way to SF to pick me and we drove back home, while I chatted all along about my busy day.

Foodbuzz blogger festival - Day 1

I love (heart) foodbuzz, for the foodie wonderland they organized over this weekend in downtown San Francisco. The festivities started on Friday evening with reception and street food fare at Herbst pavillion, Fort Mason. I took BART to Powell station, walked to hotel Sir Francis Drake and checked in to get my badge for the event. I also received a bag of foodie gifts from the generous sponsors. Foodbuzz had arranged shuttle buses to get us to Fort Mason. The sun was going down as we started filling the Herbst pavilion. Each of us got a sheet indicating our table number and instructions about the 'foodie gift exchange'.

I got a drink and a mini cupcake from Mission Minis and walked to my table number 29.

An assortment of bread, cracker, cheese and fruit from Frog Hollow farm was laid out on each table and complimented the drink well.

Next we started the foodie exchange. Each of us at the table gave a 'foodie' gift to the fellow blogger sitting in the left. Read more about it here.

Next, we headed towards the food trucks, socializing and exchanging business cards. Being a vegetarian, I did not have as many options as I'd have liked... But, that is always expected i guess... nothing to really sulk about.

I had vegan paella from 'Mind your tongue' truck. I kind of liked their logo - the 'U' modeled as a tongue :P

The vegetarian soft taco at tacolicious was pretty good too. I liked their very flavorful pickled peppers.
Pizza Politana had some great looking wood fired pizza. There was a sign which said 'vegetarian option available'. Unfortunately, there was no one in the booth and I could not request for one :(

Chefs doing their good work to feed us foodies outside the pavilion.

The Indian food cart Curry Up Now had paneer wraps. Somehow, I did not enjoy it as much... May be, I was a full by the time I got to them. The bread (roti) felt a little doughy... I am (unfortunately) a bit too unforgiving when it comes to Indian food...

Mission Minis had a huge center table display that spelled 'FOODBUZZ' using cupcakes. I could not get a good picture of the display (as I am too short), and have tried to show its grandeur in the picture below.

Few other folks out there were 'Spencer on the go' - French take away (They were on food network's food truck race), Ice creams from Straus Family Creamery, Roli roti gourmet rotisserie and 4505 Meats.

Finally, around 9.00 PM, it was time to head back home. Murali picked me up from Fort Mason and we drove around downtown for a while, went home and hit the sack.
Day 2 was fully packed, with break out sessions, tasting pavilion and a great gala dinner. More about all that in the next post.

Foodbuzz blogger festival - Foodie gift exchange

I attended the food blogger festival organized by Foodbuzz over this weekend in downtown San Francisco. It is a weekend filled with fun, food, foodies and more food. This was the first time I was there and was a little nervous about introducing myself to the people I didn't know!! I was very happy when Foodbuzz announced the new 'Foodie gift exchange' program to break the ice. Each of us would take a foodie gift that represents us and our blog to exchange with a fellow blogger. Since Friday (Nov 5th) was Diwali, I decided to have my foodie gift revolve around it. I was busy the whole of last week making goodies for Diwali and I put samples into zip-top bags and labeled each bag with their name and the list of ingredients. I also put in a hand written note titled 'A taste of Indian Diwali' briefing about the festival and the package.

On Friday, when I got into the Herbst pavillion at Fort Mason for the reception, I was seated at table 29. I gave my gift to Lisa at Korean American mommy. She was one of the Nature's pride sponsored bread ambassador.

I received a cute bag full of great goodies from Cathy at Show Food Chef . I wonder how she knew I loved persimmons... There was a jar of amazing Persimmon Jam and a piece of persimmon jelly. I loved the organic granola, two bars of organic soap and a cute t-shirt :) Thank you so much Cathy.
The gift exchange did break the ice and made me more comfortable talking to my fellow bloggers. Thank you Foodbuzz.

Happy Diwali - Begining the celebration with Theratti pal

First of all Happy Diwali to everyone. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about Diwali is fireworks!! Surprisingly, It is not food, but that is the second thing :) Now, a short social studies lesson... I'll keep it short, I promise. Diwali is called 'The festival of lights' and is one of the most popular festivals of India. Kids and adults alike, love this festival. It is celebrated as the win of 'good' over 'evil'. The mythological story behind the celebration is different in different parts of India. In the south, it is the win of Lord Krishna (and his wife Sathyabama) over Narakasura. In the north, it is the win of Lord Rama over Ravana. The festivities involve, getting up in the wee hours of the morning (I hate this part), taking oil bath (Ganga snanam), puja (prayers), wearing new clothes, eating yummy food, sweets and snacks and the best of all bursting crackers. Let me stop the lesson here. See, I keep promises :)

Being in the US, we miss all these grand festivities, yet try to keep up the tradition. Murali misses the crackers the most!! I have some sweet memories... If you know me well enough, when I said sweet, you would have guessed it will be about food!!! Mom making adhirasam is the highlight. You can never be sure how it would turn out. It is the 'finikiest' sweet ever!!! But she would somehow conquer it almost every time. She relates to the time when I was 2 or 3 years old and loved even the worst ever adhirasam she made. I just named it 'tulsi' (God knows why I named it that!!) and ate a lot of it. The other thing I enjoyed during Diwali is rangoli, the colourful Indian art. More about it here. I remember those Diwali days that were completely washed down by rain ruining all the fun, especially with fire crackers. Okay... I hear you shout "Enough of Nostalgia". I'll stop.

These days, Diwali for me is more about the food. Trying out traditional Indian recipes and preparing them the traditional way from scratch without any short cuts. Theratti pal or pal kova or milk halwa is a very popular diwali sweet in south India. It is a VIP sweet, that in brahmin weddings, the groom and his family are welcomed by the bride's mom with this one. It tastes awesome and is Murali's favourite sweet. It is made with minimal and simple ingredients found in any kitchen. The only thing needed is lots of patience.

Ingredients:
Milk (preferably whole milk) - 5 cups
Sugar - 1/2 cup (or a little less, based on your taste buds)
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:
In a non-stick pan (taller the better - prevents too much spluttering), boil milk on medium heat. Keep stirring to avoid burning and boiling over. Believe me, it can be a tough mess to clean up. When the milk is reduced to half, add the sugar and mix well. When the mixture slowly thickens, it will start spluttering. Now, add cardamom powder and start stirring continuously until a light brown thick granulated texture is attained. Enjoy hot, warm or at room temperature.

It stays good on the counter for 1-2 days. But if you want to store longer, transfer to a dry container with a tight lid and leave it in the refrigerator (can stay up to 15 days). To serve, warm up in the microwave oven and indulge in deliciousness!!

Halloween Dinner

Halloween parties are always fun.. It is a major celebration in the US, and yet, not a holiday. I wish we had the day off. This time it was on a Sunday and it became a whole fun-filled weekend. The fun started on Friday morning with Halloween celebration at my son's school . I went in with my DSLR and a tripod and hence became their official photographer :). I had fun all morning clicking pictures of costume clad kids. Then, I spent the afternoon grocery shopping for the week and specially for the Halloween night dinner.

Smita had called in for a costume party and potluck dinner. I had not decided on my costume until the end and at the last minute dressed up as a cat. The kids went trick or treating and then we had our scrscrumptious dinner.

I wanted to cook Halloween themed food. For appetizer, we (I say 'we' here because, Murali helped a lot here) prepared pita chips in Halloween shapes like bat, pumpkin, broom, witch etc. I had picked up a box of cookie cutters which had these fun shapes, cut pita bread, added seasoning, brushed olive oil and baked in the oven. We also made humus dip for the side and decorated a face on it.

For main course, it was orange and black coloured rice. I prepared tomato rice (orange rice) using my mom's signature recipe and Black pepper rice (black rice). I layered them one above the other with a face decorated on top.

For dessert, it was rasgulla ghosts decorated with cloves.

Apart from these, we had wonderful punch, samosas, puffs, parata, and three kinds of side dishes prepared by Smita and Vidhya.

I had a lot of fun making these dishes and all of us enjoyed eating them as well.
I was running short of time and could not click the best pictures:( I will post the recipes soon.

Persimmon - The passion of fall

It is fall. There is chill in the air and leaves everywhere... The first thing I look forward to during fall is the persimmon fruit and it perfectly matches the colour of fall.

I tasted it for the first time, when a friend at work brought slices in a box and I instantly fell in love with it. She told me the name of the fruit, but it did not register. In fact, I heard the name for the first time and 'persimmon' was not a easy one to remember... I had seen only the slices and not the whole fruit and I don't know the name... Hmmm... I din't know what to look/ ask for in the grocery store.

Next fall, I was at the farmers market and saw this beautiful pumpkin orange fruit (I din't even know if it was a fruit or vegetable). I went ahead and tried the sample and immediately knew it was the same one I had at work. I spoke to the lady at the stall and learnt about the two popular varieties, how to pick the right fruit, when to eat etc. Read more about persimmons here. I picked up few fuyus (the variety that can be eaten when crunchy) and enjoyed them. They have a sweet crunch - more like a cross between apples and chicoo (sapodilla). All in all they tasted awesome.

This fall, I picked up a couple of Hachiyas. The guy at the stall asked me to keep them tied in a plastic bag with apples to let them ripe. These have to be left to ripe until soft, before you can eat. if eaten earlier, it would leave a powerful astringent flavour lingering in the tongue. the first one was totally soft, I cut the top and scooped the pulp with a spoon and enjoyed the goodness. Tasted very similar to chicoo. The next one was soft, but had some hardness left - just a little, I'd say... I tasted it and wished I hadn't. It was that bad!

This wonderful fruit has such a short season, from late September to late October. Before I eat my heart's content, the season is over and they are all gone!!