Good food never gets old. I will eat Mission St. Cupcakes and Frog Hollow Pears till the cows come home!!
Our day started with breakfast after a brisk mile walk over the Federated Media HQ.
I was very impressed with the organic yogurt, which was as thick as greek!
And the breads and pastries – Larbs and I split a scone along with some toast and fruit
Then came the nerve wracking part of my day – public speaking! Still scares me every time. I was honored to be on a panel with some of my very favorite other blogs to read: Peas And Thank You, How Sweet Eats, Joy the Baker and shutterbean. We talked about taking your blog to the next level – what it’s taken for us to become fulltime bloggers or get book deals or move into podcasting. These other ladies are so inspiring : )
The panel ended with a taste of one of MamaPea’s new Pumpkin Molasses Dough Balls – SO DOUGHY!
I went to support Ashley in her photography lesson for Session II.
When the sessions were over, a group of us went for a walk in search of some salad greens to provide a healthy foundation for an afternoon of taste testing.
After a couple of dud restaurants that were closed, we stumbled upon a quaint French bakery that had the perfect menu –
Warm Goat Cheese salad for me!
The tasting pavilion started at 1pm – and what better to kick it off with than a cup of liquid chocolate!?
Go big or go home.
Here’s a snapshot from last year of the types of foods there are to taste. So many gourmet specialty products – including lots of cheese + chocolate!
2011 Best Of Show
TCHO chocolate
Foodzie‘s Fat Toad Farm Vanilla Bean Caramel
Alaska Seafood’s Lettuce Wraps and Terri’s Cod Chips!
Ganache by Ticings
And their beautiful patterns!
And Ball jars!
Frog Hollow Pears (always <3 )
Green Valley Organics
Fentiman’s Dandelion Soda – like a natural root beer!
Ricotta from Bellwether – like ice cream!
Hotti Biscotti – perfectly smooth crumbly
Vignette Wine Country Sodas –
Tasted like real wine without the alcohol!
CORE bars – made with raw oats that were so doughy and an impressive whole food bar
Three Twins Organic Ice cream (even better when it half melted in my hand!)
Of course, of course the CUPCAKES!! Mission St. rules. Especially the pumpkin!
Oh, and Tyler Florence was there! Impress the foodies.
Larbs and I are laying like two bumps on a log in our room while we relax for a bit and digest. The grande finale starts in 2 hours!
{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
OMG EVERYTHING LOOKS AMAZING!!! I wish I lived in that tasting pavilion!!!
i miss those frog hollow pears!
Next year: Chia seed beer! Ha. In the mean time I want one of those ganache!
You guys were great this morning!
My favorite taste this afternoon was the CORE bar. And the 21st Amendment beers.
Hope to meet you tonight!!!
Definitely – come find me!!
Gah! It all looks SO SO good!! Glad you’re having such a blast!!
Wow! It all looks so amazing! Real food…real people…living life to the fullest…and sharing it with others! Thank you!
Hey! That’s me in your last photo talking to Tyler Florence. SWOON!
omg!! Let’s say hi tonight!
I just looked at that and thought “is that Beth??”
Lucky girl!!
That is amazing! …From that one picture, I totally recognized SO many of my favorite bloggers! You are all awesome!
Holy cow, this look freakin’ amazing!!! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
Now that looks like a delicious day and Tyler Florence to boot! Yum!
Aww, I’m so jealous I couldn’t go this year! The tasting pavillion was my favorite part during the ‘Fest I attended!
You were awesome on the blogger panel and smart move getting some greens before the tasting panel, wish I did!
Thanks!! Hope we can meet tonight!
Public speaking also makes me nervous, but it sounds like you rocked it!
What an amazing day…and Tyler Florence?! Crazy awesome.
Looks incredible!! I’d love to try that organic ice cream!
So would have loved to meet and take a picture with Tyler Florence. I so miss his Ultimate Breakfast show.
I know all of you did well on speaking. Even with as nerve wracking as it was. And the food… I am just gaining weight looking at the pics.
Hey Kath! I’m in school with Anne and totally meant to come find you today after telling her I was going to hunt you down – but alas, I lost you in the group.
I loved your panel presentation & your photos of the tasting this afternoon are fab! I’ll be missing out on the gala but have a blast tonight! Hope to meet you some day 
Sorry to have missed you!!
Ooooh wow the Mission St cupcakes sound amazing! I visited the Frog Hollow stand when I was at the Ferry Building in October and sampled some of their pears and pluots… SOOOOO good! I wish I could have stayed longer. It looks like you had a great day today and how fun that you were able to do a session with so many other great bloggers – they’re some of my fave ladies too! Totally wish I was there.. maybe next year! Can’t wait to see more!
Yum, that salad with the bread in it looks delish!
I’m not that culinary savvy…who is Tyler Florence?
And who’s who in the photo of the 6 of you ladies? I recognize you, Mama Pea and Jessica. Mama Pea is so tall!
I think I would eat myself sick if I were there!!! It all looks so delicious!
Oh my goodness, I’m so totally bummed for not being able to eat all those yummy foods with all of you. I think I would feel as though I’d died and gone to cupcake/chocolate heaven. What a good way to go, huh. And Tyler Florence! What a babe. Did you get to meet him? I hope you two are having an awesome time and I can’t wait to see what festivities go on tonight! Have fun!
The grande finale starts in 2 hours…wow, it’s over…in the blink of an eye!
Congrats on your win, Kath. I know how hard you work at your blog and give it your all; major congrats on your success and award!!
And love the group shot of all the ladies and I’m sure the panel was great. And I wish I could have heard Ashley’s session.
What a food extravaganza!!!
The Alaska Seafood’s Lettuce Wraps look awesome! I wish I had some right now.
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
Oh my, looks and sounds like food heaven to me!! Looks like a glorious time so far!
wow. i am insanely jealous as i type this! thanks for “taking us all with you”, though, even if we can’t taste through the screen! how fun that you are able to attend with larbs this year. enjoy the evening!
Oh I could look at Tyler all day. I went to a cooking demo he did as part of the Food Network Food & wine festival in NYC last year and just stared the entire time
So happy for you Kath! Enjoy your time there.
ack! tyler florence! i heart him.
i just tried that cream on top yogurt on friday, it was yummy and i let my dog have some and he LOVED it!
Oh WOW. That stuff looks amazing. I want some of that ice cream. And STAT.
YAY!! You must be having so much fun!! Love it
What an amazing amazing show! Howw cool
I would stuff myself if I was there!! Looks like an amazing event.
I only have it occasionally, but I love cream top yogurt, its sooo creamy… yummy…. the best!
Agree – vanilla bean caramel was a hit! And those Wine Country sodas… so palate cleansing and crisp.
I can tell by the chairs (and the scenery) that your goat cheese salad came from La Boulange. It’s a famous Bay Area chain of cafes/bakeries. I’m always looking for excuses to stop by for breakfast!
Pssh who needs vodka when you can have shots of chocolate instead!
I skipped out on THIS for midterms?! What is wrong with me?
All the samples look amazing.
Congrats on your presentation!
Mmmmm whole milk yogurt and fried goat cheese. So decadent!!
And I love the Bellwether Farms napkins with the sheeps
What fun! I need to get to a Foodbuzz festival!
Everything looks delicious!!! I’m jealous that I didn’t get to attend
I haven’t been wanting salad in quite a while (which is pretty odd for me), but I think that salad up there just put me in the mood again. Crispy bread and huge chunks of goat cheese on greens? Uggggg I want!
fabulous!
I wish I was there, too. I bet it is so much fun.
Tyler Florence… he’s definitely one of my favorites! So jealous you got to see him in real person.
Clover is one of my favorite yogurt brands — their cows are grass fed on family pastures from start to finish, which is so nice…and I think the taste reflects this extra TLC!
Oh, and HELLO TYLER FLORENCE!
Hooray for Tyler! Love him. Looks like so much fun tasting your way through the afternoon. How do you think your session went? Is there any one big take-away that you can share?
I think it went well, but I wasn’t on the receiving end! Joy, Jessica and I summed up a few points at the end:
1) Be yourself. Write as you and not who you might think people want to read
2) Have a sharp blog design and focus on taking great photos in natural light
3) Engage with your audience
Trust me, you should be on the panel with those ladies that inspire you. You deserve it!
Kath!
It was great seeing you again on Saturday! Shoot me an email with shipment info… we have some Frog Hollow love to send!
Best,
Jeff
PS: Just gave you a shout out on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/froghollowfarm
Thanks for the shout out Jeff!! Just ate my pear for breakfast
Did you try Three Twins’ cardamom ice cream? That flavor is some next-level goodness — I like it more than any chocolate flavor I’ve ever tried (which is saying a lot). Their Lemon Cookie variety is awesome, too!
Despite our foggy weather, SF has some of the best ice-cream offerings around!
No I wanted to but they didn’t have it for sampling!
Oh, man: if you can get your hands on some, do it! It’s especially awesome served with: 1) crumbled cookies from Bi-Rite; or 2) pomegranate arils. (The latter option makes ice cream all the more virtuous
.)
Thanks for coming to support!!
I’m borrowing the photo of me for a post! So great catching up with you this weekend. xo