Foodbuzz Festival 2011

The first day of the Foodbuzz festival was a whirlwind of delicious food and friendly faces.

We all know after the food - the shots of the hotel room are the most important thing (I love it when people post them).

 The bathroom has a sink that looks like a bathtub.

I think the sink is slightly larger than the actual bathtub...

I do have to say that attending a conference with food bloggers is a very fun experience so far.

People are super chatty and everyone mingles so meeting new people is extremely easy - I highly recommend.

Even before it was time to head out for the cocktail party - fellow bloggers gathered at the bar on the 36th floor and started to get to know each other.

Foodbuzz provided buses to get everyone to the cocktail party which was a wonderful convenience.

Now for the important part - the food. I didn't take a ton of pictures because I was having too much fun but here are the highlights:

Gorgonzola cheese in endive, crab louis salad, pickled onions, chicken salad in puff pastry and some basil hummus.

Mini pizza with garlic, jalapeno and lime cream.

Vietnamese spring rolls, beet ravioli, Tuscan kale tart and lentil salad "to go" box.

Meatloaf muffin topped with mashed potatoes, potato-broccoli soup, Tuscan beef stew, baked four cheese macaroni.

My favorite of the night was the potato-broccoli soup. I loved this soup - so much so I want back for seconds and thirds:-)

My second favorite was the Brandade (salt cod) cakes.

I am really tired and I need to get up early in the morning - Night all!!

Local Farm Stand

Yesterday I finally paid a visit to the local farm stand at Full Circle Farm. It is an 11- acre sustainable farm that has educational programs and provides community supported agriculture (CSA). 


I picked up eggs - 

 And some beautiful kale and collard greens -

 I am very excited to finally find a source for farm fresh eggs. Though, supposedly they often sell out very fast. I will have to put a trip to the farm stand down on my weekly schedule.

This morning I made quinoa with bits of collard greens chopped fine and stirred into the pot of quinoa while it cooked. On top of that I put a gently poached egg (the very nice woman at the farm stand urged me to not over cook the eggs as their flavorful yolks were best enjoyed while they are still runny). And I also added a generous topping of Parmesan cheese. The orange bit on the side is a piece of sweet potato. The egg was delicious! Creamy and buttery tasting with a depth of flavor that makes store bought eggs seem like cardboard in comparison. And check out the color! A deep gorgeous orange so unlike the pale yellow of the battery farm eggs. 

The dogs enjoyed steamed sweet potatoes with a raw egg yolk  - The camera died before I could take a picture but considering it turned out to be orange upon orange kind of image I doubt it would have been that appealing to look at. Raw egg yolks are wonderful things to feed dogs as it promotes a thick and shiny coat. I have also been known to crush the egg shells and add them in but only if the shells are crushed fine so there are no large sharp bits. I was too lazy to do that this morning.


I also picked up some locally made honey - I am going to figure out a good use for the honey and the greens tomorrow...