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