Foodbuzz Festival 2011: Last Day (Nov 6th, 2011)

When you're having a great time and with great company around you, somehow time passes by faster. So this will be my last post of the Foodbuzz Festival 2011, but it wouldn't be my last post on San Francisco just yet. I have been planning this trip together with Elisabeth several months back where we will be staying back in San Francisco after the event. Plus I want to show you San Francisco through my own eyes.

If you asked me, I think one week in San Francisco isn't enough, as there was so much more to do in this city. Before I dive in, all good things must come to an end. And with a blink of an eye, Foodbuzz Festival 2011 came to a close where our Farewell Brunch was held at Perry's Place, on Stuart Street.

 

Angela's fork there.. she was trying to steal my fruits..LOL

Trying to make my selection interesting.. :P

Overall, brunch is not great as I didn't find the selection satisfying. The ladies (Emily, Angela, Elisabeth, Dorlene) and I got a great table with a good view of the Bay Bridge. So that pretty much made up the not so great brunch. Also it's the last day to really chat our hearts out since the ladies are all leaving on that same day except for Elisabeth and myself.

After brunch, the ladies and I walked over to The Ferry Building which is just across the road from Perry's Place. When I was at The Ferry Building, I was more like a kid in a candy stall. My first stop was Sur La Table. You definitely can't miss this shop. That's where the ladies and I split up. It was like everybody went looking for their Easter Eggs to fill up their goodie basket.

Can I dare say that it's a cook or baker's haven? I wanted to buy cutleries, food items, more ramekins etc. The sad part is I knew I had to control myself. Trust me, it's not easy at all for me. Since travelling alone, I know I won't be able to lug everything back home [sigh..] However, I did find something that I've always wanted to get my hands on. For me this is important; it's Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract. Without thinking, I checked out with 2 large bottles of the good vanilla extract and a bottle of the vanilla bean paste. For that moment, I feel like I strike a jackpot.. LOL.

Next pit stop I made was Miette. I've heard so much about this place, so obviously I got to try it out. It is this dainty little pastry shop, where their baked goodies are inspired by the patisseries of Paris. Without thinking much, I grabbed myself a pastel pink cake stand, and to celebrate my own pre-birthday in San Francisco, I got myself the Mini Sharffen Berger cake and a classic Eclair. This certainly made my afternoon perfect.

My Pre-Bday Cake..oh! so cute..

Photos of some of fresh produce, and I particularly love the colour of all the butternut squash and pumpkin. All the orange and green, and tiny cherry tomatoes adding a splash of colour.

This was a perfect Sunday. Bright and sunny with some cool wind. Just perfect to stroll around the city. We made our ways back to the hotel, and I was really worried over Elisabeth, since the cold does affect her knees. While Elisabeth rested, I head up to the 36th floor of the Grand Hyatt, to meet up with Emily and Angela. We just couldn't stop chatting and I do miss all of the ladies a lot, even drafting out this post for you.

What do you think of the view? Isn't it spectacular. If you try hard enough to peep to the very left, while that is if you're standing on the 36th floor in the Grand Hyatt, you can see a little of the Golden Gate Bridge, then if you look straight ahead, you can see The Rock or also known as Alcatraz, and Coit Tower. Lastly, if you peep more towards the right, you can see The TransAmerica Building, one of San Francisco's famous landmark, also one of their tallest skycraper in the city.

Having travel quite a fair bit, almost every country or I think every country will have their own Chinatown. The entrance to Chinatown pretty much looks the same world wide. I would say this is more of a tourist to-do thing. Since I'm Chinese, this is one area that I tend to skip. Bonnie @ Bonnie Bella told me that Chinatown in San Francisco is about 2-3 blocks, so there are lots of restaurants and souvenier shops for you to choose from. Do take a stroll and check out what little Chinese antique shops have in store for you if you have time to spare.

I'll leave you now with two grafitti art work that I really like and I think it makes a perfect postcard picture. Do you recall that I mentioned that when travel, one must embrace each country's culture? Well of course, in the books of law, it is considered as vandalism. But in my eyes, whoever drew both of these is truly artsy and I am loving every bit of it. This is San Francisco filled with quirky art works, so go explore, cause I sure did. Till then peeps!!

xx

Foodbuzz Festival 2011: Day 2 (Nov 5th, 2011), Part 1

Waking up to a wonderful bright and shiny morning in San Francisco y'all seems like a dream come true. After having watched Full House when I was way younger, and seeing the Golden Gate Bridge on TV countless times; being here in San Francisco was indeed a sheer joy. Sometimes I even need to pinch and remind myself that this is real. What a surreal feeling for me having flown in from across the world. Did I tell you my flight was close to almost 16-18 hours?

I did sign up for some talks and was supposed to make my way to Foodbuzz's Federated Media Headquarters. However, I was really tired from my long haul flight and decided to get a little more shut eye. Instead I decided to stroll down along Sutter Street together with Elisabeth, where we went out on a hunt for her coffee and breakfast to kick start our day.

Along the way, I found William's Sonoma and I told Elisabeth that I got to head in there right now..LOL.. Can you imagine, I put coffee and breakfast on hold just because of William's Sonoma??!? I think I might have upset her then cause I chose William's Sonoma over a cup of coffee. Elisabeth said graciously to me "Jo, we are suppose to get breakfast and right now you want to make a pit stop at William's Sanoma?" I felt pretty guilty at that point of time. Do forgive me peeps, there isn't a William's Sanoma back home here in Malaysia, so you could only imagine my excitement when I saw one of their outlets. The best part, it's just right behind our hotel. So I said to myself, I shall be back.

Now, looking back I thought it was really funny how it turned out. I put William's a side and continue to look for a shop for us to get our breakfast. We ended up getting bagels at Posh Bagels on Sutter Street  for breakfast. It's only about 1 block walk down along Sutter Street from the Grand Hyatt on Stockton. I hate to do this but I didn't quite like the lady serving over the counter. She's quite a meanie I tell you; so you better make up your mind quick before placing an order. No offense to her, but she strike me as a person who's impatient and has quite a sense of sarcasm in her tone. Other than that, the bagel breakkie was not bad at all. Maybe because I got all my appetite worked up..LOL

After we got our orders, Elisabeth and I sat along the window on the bar stools and people watched. San Francisco like any other city has a culture of their own. Therefore I would say, when you travel, ALWAYS go with an open heart and mind. Don't critic or judge. What you see on the surface may not be as bad as you think it is. Adapt to their culture and blend in as much possible to enjoy San Francisco.

Something hit me though, is that seeing an old lady digging into bins for recyclable tin cans or plastic bottles. I felt really bad for her, and wished that sometimes people don't have to go through that in life. All I could think of was "Gees, where are her children?". Also I made another self discovery of myself knowing that how fortunate am I to be sitting in a shop having breakfast in a chilly morning. That really made me appreciate every single thing that I have gone through during my high and low times and treasure everything that is  happening right in front of my eyes.

After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to get some directions on how to get to the Metreon for the Taste Pavilion session. That is right peeps..more food and I recalled that I can't wait to check out what Foodbuzz had planned out for us. Throughout the whole event, there were 2 big sponsors based on what I observed. One of them being Alexia Foods and the other is Godiva.

This time round, a lot of the food stalls were geared towards promoting organic produce. I definitely can do that, as organic produce is free from pesticides. Although, at one point while I was walking together with Emily @ Savory and Savage; I recalled mentioning to her that I wanted more sinful food, as all of them looked so healthy.. LOL. What can I say, I am a foodie and I had an appetite to try out the real American food.

Emily and I head back to some stalls for second helpings too. There was this one particular stall which was serving seafood. Instead of what everybody always know of the famous Crab Cake or Crab Croquette, they were serving out Alaska Halibut and Caramelized Onion Croquettes with Fig Dijonnaise. One word to sum up this juicy filled halibut croquette which was lightly coated in breadcrumbs and fried to a golden perfection served with a doll-up of fig dijonnaise "YUMMMmmmmmm". It was so "YUMMMMmmm" that Emily and I went back for a second round. Did I make you drool here, cause thinking back right now is sure making me drool. We just couldn't get enough of it and wish we could have more.

Speaking of being a glutton, be prepared for the next photos; cause there I was stuffing myself with all the delicious treats, I snapped as many I could for you to feast with your eyes. To reassure myself, I paced back and forth and walked from one end back to the other to burn off what I consumed..LOL.. as though that would work, in my mind I think it did.

 

So what do you think? There were tonnes of selection to choose from. I think I was really spoilt with the choices, but I do have my favourites. If I were to choose, I would go back for more fluffy Alaska Halibut Croquettes, Warren Pears which were absolutely soft, not too crunchy when it's ripe and ultra sweet; absolutely perfect for poaching [that's how I love my pears to be..], Watermelon Infused Beer which leaves an after note of cooling sensation from the natural watermelon juice, Godiva's Pumpkin Spiced Latte with no sugar required and only needs about 2-3 tablespoons of good Maple Syrup, where this latte combination was absolutely smooth and had a real musky rich flavour from the blend of some cinnamon; perfect cuppa for any chilly days and to end it with Three Twins' Mint Confetti Ice-Cream which was ultra smooth, and has just the perfect balance of sweetness, blend of chocolate chips and mint infused cream.

I am going to leave you now to enjoy the above and hopefully you will come back for more? Do come back anyhow because Day 2 was a long fruitful day, and the next coming part 2 will be quite exciting.. Till then!!

xx

Foodbuzz Festival 2011: Day 1 (Nov 4th, 2011)

This is definitely a back dated post. Whatever it is I'm still going to post it up for you. I'm finally here in San Francisco, and it has been a blast over the weekend having met so many new friends, and also it was really nice to finally meet Gina @ SPCookie Queen and Elisabeth @ Food and Thrift Finds for the very first time.

I don't quite know where to begin while I'm drafting this for you, as I have so much to share and it feels like I like to pour everything out right now. To keep it short, first day was really fruitful. From checking into The Grand Hyatt Hotel on Stockton and getting ready to attend the Foodbuzz Awards Dinner at Terra Gallery on 511, Harrison Street.

Snapshots of the Grand Hyatt below for you my friends. The rooms according to the front desk personnel, have been refurbished and upgraded. Neutral tones filled the room with Zen style which immediately gives you the sense of calmness and tranquility. It sure did transform my tiring hectic long haul flight to a relax mode. The beds were covered with crisps white lush soft linens. Talk about staying in San Francisco with style and comfort. Elisabeth and I were so thrilled that we got to stay on the 17th floor and we had spectacular view of the Union Square. Just in case I didn't mentioned earlier, I got to share the room together with Elisabeth.



2 Beautiful Ladies: Gina & Elisabeth

Moving on now.. My oh my! The cocktail session was definitely fun.. I've embraced my nerves and stepped outside my comfort zone and started looking out for foodie friends that I recognise and introduced myself to so many that I've not met.You guys have certainly welcome me to San Francisco. A quick shout out to Angela, Bonnie, Emily, Gina, Visda, Heather, Luna, Julie, Joshua, Cora, Devaki, Nam, Krissy, and so many more.

During the mingling session, Gina introduced me to Visda @ Eat, Drink and Just Be!. To my surprise; she said and I quote after her"Hey! I recognise you Joanna. You made Top 9 today (November 4th, 2011)." I was super shocked [in a good kind of way] cause I didn't even know I made Top 9 since I was in a plane flying to the United States the whole time; and felt really awesome for that moment. Come to think of it, I believed I felt that my head got slightly bigger. Never in my dreams that a stranger who's a super nice lady would recognise me. She's no longer a stranger to me now ;).

Everyone helping to themselves and loads of food photo porno here..LOL

As for the food, I have to say some are not bad especially the ones from the Small Plates Action Station. I truly enjoyed the Pan-Seared DayBoat Scallop. Just perfect, juicy, tender and could just taste every bit of the fresh herbs and ingredients used. Delish! Sadly I didn't get to try the Glazed Marin Sun Farms Pork Belly. However, according to Elisabeth, she said the pork belly was tasty as well.

The Buffet Station had an interesting menu. However, I do have mixed feelings on the selection on the Buffet Station menu. It's comforting but I suppose it could be better and taste great in my opinion.

Moving on to the dessert selection, it was not not too bad. As you might already know I'm a sucker for desserts. So it's nothing new if  I had more photos on desserts..LOL.

Desserts were all made in mini bite sized. So the portion was just right. As much I love my desserts, I thought that the macaroons were a tad too sweet. My favourite dessert had to be the Mascarpone Cheesecake. The cheesecake base has a twist to it. Instead of regular digestives, the base was substituted with Gingersnap Crumble [yummm]. Overall the combination of the Mascarpone Cheesecake was really good and strike a perfect balance.

That's Visda..playing paparazzi. ;p ..

Not forgetting, I met Heather @ Heather in SF  who introduced me to my very first Manhattan. I must say, I am not crazy over the drink and Heather know about it..LOL. Then again being a foodie, we must step out of our comfort zone and give everything a try.

Overall I think I did pretty good for my first day in San Francisco.. Stay tune peeps, more coverage of SF for you in the upcoming posts..

xx