Foodbuzz Tasting Pavillion and Gala Dinner

So I already posted about #fbzfest (aka Foodbuzz Blogger Festival) night one, which was pretty awesome in and of itself. Then Saturday arrived.

I knew today would be a “marathon, not a sprint” as it involved sessions from 9-12, eating at the tasting pavilion from 1-4, and then yet another multi-course meal at 6:30, so I tried to pace myself. Starting with the continental breakfast buffet. (I love muffins.)

The morning sessions included a panel on “taking your blog to the next level” featuring a lot of well-known bloggers, like Jessica, Joy, and others. Following that, I went to two sessions: one on “the DSLR-free zone” by Greg of Sippity Sup, Angi of Rice and Wheat, and Chuck of Foodgawker, which was cool, especially listening to Chuck talk about iPhoneography. It really is an art form! : )

I also attended an Adobe Lightroom session to learn how to edit photos. Marc from No Recipes did an awesome job with this and I was SO motivated to make my pictures beautiful! However, I got home and realized I have EVERY part of the Adobe suite EXCEPT Lightroom. #FAIL I had had visions of perfectly edited photos in this post, but that dream has to wait a little bit.

Then it was time for the Real Deal – The Tasting Pavilion!

My four favorite bites were chocolate ganache with edible icing stickers from Ticings;

Hottie Biscotti—Winter’s Gift (white chocolate with peppermint);

A red velvet mini cupcake from Mission Minis;

And number one, the Morning Bun from Bovine Bakery.

Sweet goodness, this was an afternoon. I know I talked about cleaning up my diet as part of No-Nonsense November, and while I was VERY awesome and healthy with my eating last week, I definitely indulged in some of these treats because hey, it was the foodbuzz fest! Truly a special occasion.

(Melissa, Alyssa, Me, Beth, Cate, Courtney)

Oh and I forgot one other part. I met Tyler Florence and got a signed copy of his cookbook

Though I did miss getting in on the posed picture like Courtney Granola:

I almost didn’t make it back down to Union Square as it was POURING RAIN and ridiculously windy. I was half an hour late to cocktail hour, but that doesn’t mean I missed the open bar.

(Our new awesome friend Allie, and my dates for the weekend)

The dinner was sponsored by Alexia Foods and part of the deal was a blogger competition to create the next flavor of their frozen oven fries. So basically for the appetizers during cocktail hour, we had fries. Lots of them. Four varieties with different spices. The sweet potato ones with thai spices were winners in my book, but hey, they were all pretty good.

The lighting at the beginning of dinner was truly horrible for photos for inexperienced food photogs like me, but by this point I was getting over the camera thing.

I found myself at a fun table with Cate, Courtney, Allie, Jillian, Anna, Kath, and Laura and we got to talking and noshing on appetizers while Tyler Florence rocked his magic on stage with a cooking demo. Unfortunately a lot of us were really hungry so there was a bit of talking and some #tylerflorencedrinkinggame going on at the other tables!

Finally, food was served. This picture came out thanks to the tip I learned this morning: use an iPhone as an external light source! Genius.

And dessert:

Cowgirl Creamery cheesecake, cold bread pudding, chocolate mousse.

What a great day of eating, talking, and getting to know other bloggers. This really was an awesome event to remember. As evidenced by this ridiculously long post.

(above picture courtesy of Bobbi from N Her Shoes—loved these ladies above!)

I ran three miles the next day and burned every single calorie off. Clearly. WORTH IT.

until next post,

Courtney

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