2012 Foodbuzz Blogger Festival

 

We just rolled ourselves home from the 2012 Foodbuzz Blogger Festival, another year of eating, drinking, eating, meeting fellow bloggers, and drinking. Once again we had a fantastic time – this year, we spent more time getting to know the San Francisco food scene and less time in workshops.

 

The festival started on Friday evening. We started off getting our swag bags – filled with goodies from a few different food companies – our favorites are below (and seriously, the caramels are *amazing*!). We also got $50 to spend on dinner at any restaurant of our choosing!

 

 

 

 

After checking into our hotel a few blocks away (yes, we got the swag before going to our hotel!), we got ourselves a little bit dressed up, and headed to the Welcome Party  at the Sir Francis Drake, on the 21st floor (thank you very much!)

 

A toast to our friend Elizabeth at The Bare Midriff, who couldn’t make the festival this year.

 

 

 

Some snacks we had – spiked spicy watermelon and tofu cubes (I know this doesn’t sound delicious to everyone, but totally our kind of food!). And a happy Strudel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got booted out of the happy hour, we made our way to Butterfly for dinner… delicious!

 

The best part of being in SF? Our good pal Erica joined us!

 

 

seared tuna

 

 

and salmon

 

 

We had planned on taking a cab back to our hotel (for Strudel and Streusel) and BART for Erica, but none were to be found. So, instead we hoofed it. It was a little chilly and long (and we were a bit boozed up), but we made it back to our respective destinations in about 45 minutes. We immediately crashed for the night, because Saturday was the big day.

 

Up early the next morning,  we headed down to the Ferry Building for the 830am start time.

 

 

We met up with Foodbuzz group, and learned about CUESA, a local organization that works to “educate urban consumers about sustainable agriculture and to create links between urban dwellers and local farmers.” They’re the ones that put on the Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Plaza, and they do an absolutely amazing job.

 

After learning a bit about how the market is run, the Foodbuzz staff kindly handed out $7 worth of tokens for us to spend on the market. Before we could get to that, though, we were starving and headed inside to get some coffee and breakfast.

 

Since last year, we’d be hearing about Blue Bottle coffee and had to try it. We were worried about the ridiculously long lines but “luckily” for us (and I can say this because there didn’t seem to be a problem) the fire alarm had gone off, so the building had been cleared. As soon as we were all allowed back in the building, we made a break for the coffee shop… totally using the fire drill to beat the lines! We still had to wait about 10 minutes, but it was *absolutely* worth it. Also, a Sourdough Cheese Wheel from the Acme Bread Company. SO delicious!

 

 

 

We spent some time wandering around inside.

 

 

 

After that, we headed outside to see what the market had to offer. It was amazing!

 

 

 

 

After gaping our way though the market, we headed to the Taste Pavillion for an afternoon of snacking. We actually did a good job of mostly looking and kept our eating to a minimum, knowing the insane amounts we’d want to eat over the rest of the day.

 

Some great SF public art along the way

 

 

 

 

More on the festival in the next day or two!

 

Posted on October 24, 2012
This entry was posted in travel and tagged blogging, festival, Foodbuzz.