Get some cocoa powder, coconut milk, and other milk of choice on your way home from work/school/etc. because you’re going to want to celebrate…

National Hot Chocolate Day!

I heard about the holiday on twitter earlier and decided to whip up something for the special event. I actually tried googling to learn more about the holiday, but as it turns out (like it does with many of these food or at least lesser-known holidays) there are multiple National Hot Chocolate Days. But who needs a legit holiday to celebrate something as simple as hot chocolate, right?

That’s what I’m going with…

WIth my newly-found excuse to make hot chocolate, I decided to work up a recipe for something else inspired by twitter – coconut milk hot chocolate. I tried this once a year or so ago when I heard a twitter friend mention it on a particularly cold and dreary day, except I used 100% coconut milk for the recipe. As it turns out, too much of a good thing really can be…well, not so good. The full-coconut milk hot chocolate was just so-so. I found it to be too thick and rich (perhaps because I was using the canned version instead of the carton type?).

Lesson learned. This time, I followed my trick for making oatmeal with coconut milk – I went 50% coconut milk and 50% something else. When I make oatmeal, the other 50% is usually water. Today, for the hot cocoa, I decided to use some rice milk.

And since I was feeling really festive, I also whipped up (literally) some whipped cream for the top. Mmm…

Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate

It doesn’t have to be National Hot Chocolate Day for you to enjoy this cozy drink. Coconut Milk Hot Chocolate yields a tasty twist on this classic dessert beverage. As for making the drink from scratch…For most of my life I used packaged hot chocolate mixes to make hot chocolate, but from-scratch really takes very little additional effort. I made mine stovetop, but you could easily adjust the recipe to make it quicker in the microwave. Oh, and if you’re feeling particularly lazy, you can try skipping the step of mixing the cocoa powder in a separate bowl by putting it straight in the pot…however, I find that usually creates lumps making the extra step useful. And I only used 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder, which I thought tasted plenty rich, true chocoholics may want to add 1-2 additional teaspoons.

Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 1 (but you can easily multiply for fellow chocoholics)

*Vegetarian, Vegan if you use vegan milks and whipped cream*

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut milk (canned), or sub carton version for a lighter flavor or sub other milk of choice if you really want
• 1/2 cup rice milk, plus 1-2 tablespoons (or sub other milk of choice, but please read above story before using coconut here, too)
• 2 rounded teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• sweetener of choice, to taste (I used about 1 teaspoon of agave syrup)
• whipped cream, optional, for serving

Directions:

1. Place coconut milk and 1/2 cup rice milk in a small pot over medium low heat.
2. Meanwhile, place cocoa powder and extra tablespoon of rice milk in a small bowl. Whisk until a paste/thick mixture forms and powder is absorbed. Add additional tablespoon of rice milk, if needed.
3. Whisk cocoa mixture into milk mixture. Heat till hot but not boiling.
4. Pour into a mug and top with whipped cream, if using.
5. Serve and enjoy once the drink is cool enough to safely drink.

Enjoy!

***

PS: It’s the last day of Eat in Month! Gotta admit…I can’t wait to eat out again! lol

***

Reader question: Are you celebrating National Hot Chocolate Day today? Do you prefer “regular” hot chocolate or a particular flavor?

Whether you really love the flavor of peppermint or you’re just trying to figure out what the heck to do with all the leftover Christmas candy sitting around your house, these Peppermint Snow/Dough Balls are sure to fit the bill.

I made two variations of the recipe – one with candy pieces on top in frosting (pictured above) and another that is more like a snow ball with candy inside the cookie and powdered sugar on top.

The key to both is the use of crushed Christmas candy (candy canes, peppermint swirls, etc.).

While both cookies feature peppermint extract instead of vanilla…

…the first is more like a sugar dough ball as the base with the candy sprinkled on top of creamy, sugary glaze.

The latter gets the candy mixed into the batter and then gets dunked into powdered sugar.

So, it looks like a snow ball!

I taste-tested both…

…and I took some to a friend’s house for taste testing. The result of which version was better came down to personal preference.

Bake up a batch of each and decide for yourself! You can even split a single batch of cookies in half and try both methods (at least that’s what I did!).

Peppermint Snow/Dough Balls Recipe

This recipe makes great use of leftover Christmas candy. Just crush it up and choose one of the two methods below to add it to a peppermint-infused sugar dough ball. You can either bake the cookie, top it with icing, and sprinkle candy pieces on top (this is the method described in the main recipe) or stir the candy pieces into the cookie batter, bake, and dunk the cookie in powdered sugar to make it look like a snow ball (this is explained in the alternate directions below)!

You can even make these well ahead of time and freeze them till you’re ready to bake them, which makes these dough balls great for entertaining.

Inspired by Annie the Baker, adapted from my Sugar Cookie Dough Ball Recipe

*Vegan options listed*

Prep time: 1 hour 30 minutes (this includes 1 hour required to freeze the dough after initial prep)
Bake time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 3/4 stick butter, softened/room-temp (or vegan butter alternative)
• 1 egg (or flaxseed-egg)
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• Simple Icing, recipe follows
• Crushed peppermint candy, about 1/2 cup
• Powdered sugar, about 1 cup – this is only needed for method #2 – see Alternate Preparation below

Directions (Scoop then freeze method):

1. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda.
3. In a medium bowl, mix sugar and butter till creamy. (I used a handheld mixer, but you could probably just use a whisk). Add egg and peppermint extract and mix till combined.
4. Mix wet into the dry. Note: it will appear there is not enough liquid for the amount of dry ingredients, but continue mixing. It will form into a dough, it will just be a firm dough. See tips on this post (click) for combining. Careful to not overmix. I’ve found pressing the back of a firm, medium/large spatula into the dough seems to work well. Also note: if you want to go with method #2 for this recipe, see alternate directions below because you would mix the candy in here for that alternate version.
5. Use a small sorbet scoop to scoop out dough into small mounds. Spread evenly on a baking sheet so mounds don’t touch. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, though 1 hour is better if you can wait that long. I often leave mine in the freezer overnight or till I’m ready to eat them.
6. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake balls for 10-11 minutes, depending on how set you want your centers. If you use egg, and you’re paranoid like me, you can use a meat thermometer to ensure the centers of the balls are at least 160 degrees F, which many web sites say is the safe temp to eat eggs. The tips should just be turning lightly brown.
7. Let your dough balls cool to room temperature.
8. Top with a bit of Simple Icing (see next recipe) and top with crushed candy.
9. Enjoy!

Alternate Preparation:

1. Follow steps #1-4 above. Stir in crushed candy pieces.
2. Follow steps #5-6 above. Pour some powdered sugar into a bowl. When cookies are still warm, but safe to touch, dip tops into the powdered sugar shaking excess off. Note: some of the sugar will be absorbed by the cookie.
3. Enjoy!

Simple Icing

I’ve tried making this icing with water before, but milk just tastes so much richer and creamier. You’ll just have to be a little more careful since you’re using dairy. If you’re planning to leave the cookies out for a long time, you may want to consider substituting water. Either way, start with the directions below and add additional liquid as needed to get the icing to the thickness you want.

*Vegan options listed*

Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon milk (or vegan substitute)

Directions (Scoop then freeze method):

1. In a medium bowl, combine sugar and milk and whisk until smooth.
2. Add additional milk if needed.

Peppermint-goodness. I may have to actually bake these before Christmas next year!

Hubby and I spent most of today cleaning up the house and prepping food for company. I made things more fun with my Lady Gaga iTunes playlist and the Dance channel on my Pandora. Good music makes almost everything better, right?

We had friends over tonight for Poker Night!

I managed to squeeze in a Zumba class beforehand thanks to getting most of baking done earlier in the day and utilizing my slow cooker for the main event.

The spread.

I was planning to make chili and corn muffins for the main eats, so I asked hubby to find something we could just throw in the oven for appetizers. He found a Tex-mex mix of 3 appetizers at Costco, and they came in quite handy. The boys loved them!

And I was really impressed hubby made this veggie platter all on his own. It was his suggestion, and he even bought the veggies individually and chopped them himself. I realize that’s not a big deal to most people, but I thought it was awesome.

I made my slow cooker chili recipe for the main eats.

And I also made these corn muffins (and turned one batch into bread).

And I made about a hundred of these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Not really. But I usually bake in smaller batches, so when this recipe said it would make 3-4 dozen, it seemed like I had so many more cookies than I’m used to baking. I had to do them on 3 pans (2 in one round and 1 in another) with about 6 turns in the oven.

We had games on…

…but poker was the main event.

In fact, they’re still playing as I type.

I’m just glad we got all of our cleaning done today so I can relax tomorrow. I’m planning to take things easy for most of the day. I never seem to have much down time, so I’m trying to enjoy it while I still can! As for tomorrow night…we’re having a low key night at our neighbor’s house to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?

Brie. Baguette. Vino.

That was my Facebook update after I finished my last (crazy-stressful-busy) work day of 2011. Phew! It’s also what I was enjoying immediately after shutting down my work laptop.

After enjoying one Christmas with my family and one with hubby’s, hubby and I celebrated our Christmas tonight.

I experimented with a new risotto recipe that I’m hoping to share with you guys soon. It was inspired by a visit to Olive Garden a couple years ago where I ordered the shrimp and asparagus risotto. I enjoyed the mindless stirring after staring at 6 databases and roughly 25 excel spreadsheets all day during work. lol

Hubby decided that since I was in charge of dinner, he’d be in charge of dessert.

He brought home two caramel apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate, and we dug into the pecan-chocolate one tonight.

And tonight’s Riesling tasted extra-delicious in the new wine glasses my MIL gave us for Christmas. I’ve been wanting stemless wine glasses for years, and I’m really excited to serve wine to guests using them!

I’m feeling very blessed to have enjoyed three beautiful Christmases this year. I hope your holidays were lovely, too.

What was your favorite Christmas, Hanukkah, or other holiday gift and/or memory from this year?

Hubby has always been a fan of spicy foods, but I’ve only started getting into them since I started dating him. I blame my family for my delayed interest. My family prefers foods with very little heat at all. Not sure why, but that’s how they roll. It works, and I enjoy it, but I’m also having fun flirting with foods on the hot side.

Besides learning to like things spicier eats like more-than-one-star-spicy Thai food, wings, non-mild salsa, and chili, I’ve also really enjoyed the unusual combo of heat with chocolate. Have you seen some of the bars available these days?!

Enter Mexican Hot Chocolate Dough Balls. I took one of my dough ball recipes, converted it to a chocolate version and added cinnamon and cayenne pepper to give it some real kick.

I wasn’t sure at first how much cayenne to add, but like most great questions these days, the answer was just a quick google search away. I found this recipe by Martha Stewart, and since it had a similar dry ingredient amount to a doubled-version of my recipe, I used half her measurement, which ended up being a mere 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne. Not too scary an amount, right? One batch later, and I knew I’d had success. A spicy-chocolate cookie – oh yes!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Dough Balls

These chocolate cookies have a spicy kick thanks to the simple addition of cayenne pepper. Add chocolate chips for extra richness. I bet a drizzle of melted chocolate syrup would be fun, too, and would make great presentation if you were entertaining with them.

Adapted from my Sugar Cookie Dough Ball recipe with spice inspiration from this recipe by Martha Stewart

Prep time: 20 minutes, plus at least an additional 20 minutes for the chill/scoop method (chill time) or at least 1 hour for the scoop/freeze method (freeze time)
Bake time: 10-14 minutes
Yield: Makes about 16 cookies depending on scoop size

*Vegan options listed below*

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you want your cookies – 1/4 is pretty spicy)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 stick butter, softened/room-temp (or use vegan substitute)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg (or flaxseed-egg)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or use vegan chocolate/carob chip substitute)

Directions (Scoop then freeze method):

1. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, salt, baking powder, baking soda.
3. In a medium bowl, mix sugar and butter. (I used a handheld mixer, but you could probably just use a whisk). Add egg and vanilla and mix till combined.
4. Mix wet into the dry. Note: it will appear there is not enough liquid for the amount of dry ingredients, but continue mixing. It will form into a dough, it will just be a firm dough. See tips on this post (click) for combining. Careful to not overmix. I’ve found pressing the back of a firm, medium/large spatula into the dough seems to work well.
5. Stir in chocolate chips, if using.
6. Use a small sorbet scoop to scoop out dough into small mounds. Spread evenly on a baking sheet, leaving roughly 2-3 inches between each ball. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, though 1 hour is better if you can wait that long. I like to bake half of the dough balls after freezing them for between 1 hour and overnight and save the rest to bake off later at my convenience.
7. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake balls for 10-11 minutes, depending on how set you want your centers. If you use egg, and you’re paranoid like me, you can use a meat thermometer to ensure the centers of the balls are at least 160 degrees F, which many web sites say is the safe temp to eat eggs.
8. Let your dough balls cool to room temperature.
9. Enjoy!

Optional Preparation (Chill then scoop):

1. Follow above directions through step #5.
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Refrigerate dough for at least 20 minutes before using a small sorbet scoop to scoop out dough into small mounds. Roll each mound into a ball and spread evenly on a baking sheet, leaving roughly 2-3 inches between each ball.
4. Bake balls for 10-14 minutes, depending on how set you want your centers. If you use egg, and you’re paranoid like me, you can use a meat thermometer to ensure the centers of the balls are at least 160 degrees F, which many web sites say is the safe temp to eat eggs.

***

Other recipes you may like:

• Chocolate Chip Dough Balls (the original and most popular flavor!)
• Sugar Cookie Dough Balls
• Chocolate “Depression” Cake Minis (emergency chocolate cake when you need a quick fix)

Sweet, chocolatey, and yes…spicy! Try these out this holiday season to freshen up your cookie line up. Happy baking!

I didn’t grow up with a lot of family nearby. Most of my dad’s family lived in the North and most of my mom’s family lived in the Philippines.

(photo from the family album)

Our closest family members, who we referred to as “cousins”, were somewhat distant relatives. I believe the mom of the family, Rose, is my mom’s third cousin.

(photo from the family album)

It never really mattered to us how they were related – they were simply family, and they also lived in the South, just a couple hours away.

(photo from the family album)

We spent many holidays together when I was growing up and grew quite close over the years. I actually like to think of my cousins, Leo and Marlon, as the brothers I never had. Over the college years, the trips to see our cousins grew infrequent, but we visited when we could.

***

This year, for the first time in many years, we decided to visit cousins for Thanksgiving. Hubby and I left Thanksgiving morning from Charlotte and were meeting my parents and sister in Atlanta.

I thought this text message conversation with my mom (sent during our road trip) was particularly hilarious…and telling.

After about 4 1/2 hours in the car, hubby and I were greeted by Rose and some surprise family members – Rose’s sister, Amy, and her family, Rose’s brother, Ben, who came all the way from the Philippines, and Ben’s daughter, Joy, and her family. We were also greeted with a kitchen full of delicious Thanksgiving food.

We had a bit of a Filipino-fusion style Thanksgiving – many of the traditional Thanksgiving fare paired with some traditional Filipino eats: turkey, mushroom gravy, macaroni and cheese, brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, plus pancit…

…avocado popsicles…

…and a Filipino dessert I’ve always wanted to try – suman.

Suman is a sticky rice made with rice and coconut milk that is wrapped in coconut leaves and steamed. When it’s ready, you unwrap it and eat it with sugar.

It’s a wrapped version of the “sweet rice” dish that I love so much. It was good, but I think I like the sweet rice dish better because you cook the coconut milk with brown sugar and the flavors really develop together.

Anywho, as we were finishing up our first round of Thanksgiving eats, Rose, Amy, and Joy decided to whip up a giant batch of lumpia, which is like Filipino spring rolls.

These were made with pork, garlic, green onion, and water chestnuts.

After finishing up dessert, I headed out with the younger crowd to go visit my cousin Leo who got stuck working on Thanksgiving. Boo! He’s a bartender, so it made it easy for us to visit him and have a couple drinks. We also brought him some Thanksgiving eats.

After relaxing for a couple hours, Sis and I headed back to the house for more Thanksgiving food: turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pancit, broccoli salad, and lumpia…

And more dessert: suman (with brown sugar this time), pumpkin pie, a piece of my sister’s chocolate chip/oatmeal bar, fruit, and flan.

Leo came home shortly after with the rest of the gang, so we could enjoy the rest of Thanksgiving day all together. We had plenty of food, laughs, family, and friends, which is exactly what I love on Thanksgiving.

Reader questions: how did you spend your Thanksgiving this year? What was your favorite food?

I stumbled upon the most surprising recipe for delicious and moist chocolate cupcakes when I was searching for the perfect Halloween dessert this year. You may remember these “tombstone” cupcakes I made for Halloween, but did you know they were made with vinegar?!

I used this recipe by Simply Recipes to make those tombstone cupcakes. It was one of those recipes where you’re mixing things together wondering how on earth the combination will yield something worth eating – water, baking soda, vinegar. No eggs? No butter? Hmm…I read through the reviews on the SR post, which verified the recipe was safe to use, but I also learned that the recipe is basically known as “Depression Cake” (among other interesting names). Basically, the style of cake recipe was commonly made during the Depression (and during wars and other tough times) when butter, milk, and eggs were scarce or very expensive.

The trick is the combination of baking soda and vinegar, which helps the cake rise. I knew it worked because those cupcakes were moist and delicious. I had a light bulb moment with my cake mini recipe series when I learned about the baking soda and vinegar combination serving as a leavener. Why? Because my cake minis don’t really use eggs because of the proportions and I need other ingredients to serve as the leaveners. I’ve been using baking powder and flaxseed eggs, but vinegar and baking soda seem more common than flaxseeds/flaxseed meal.

Anywho, I’m hoping to test out this whole vinegar + baking soda trick in other cake and muffin recipes, but my first idea was to apply the new leavener combo to a chocolate cake mini recipe I already had in the works.

The result – an easy, quick-to-prepare, moist chocolate cake.

While I love a good buttercream, when you need a chocolate fix fast (and you’re feeling lazy), buttercreams seem like too much work.

Instead, I did a simple chocolate ganache that takes less than 5 minutes to stir up (and stirring is about all you’ll need to do to make it, too!).

Are you ready for this?

Chocolate Depression Cake Minis (for 2)

These cake minis were inspired by a version of the famous Depression Cake I found online. Why a “depression” cake? No, it’s not meant to be eaten when you’re sad, though I’m sure it would help pick you up (emergency chocolate anyone?). The recipe was apparently famous during the Depression because it made a moist chocolate cake without expensive ingredients like eggs or butter. The trick is the combination of baking soda and…wait for it…vinegar. The vinegar reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise and don’t worry, you can’t taste it at all. Promise, kay?

Be sure to see the directions below for those who need their chocolate fix fast! This recipe could become your go-to!

Adapted from another one of my cake mini recipes with Depression-Cake-style twist inspired by this chocolate cupcake recipe by Simply Recipes  

*Vegan*
Makes 2 Cake Minis
Prep Time: 10 minutes cake, 5 minutes ganache
Bake Time: 20-24 minutes
Cool Time: 10-30 minutes, depending on how badly you need a chocolate fix and how patient you are. 10 if you don’t mind scooping the cake from the ramekin. 30 if you prefer to eat it cake-style (removed from the ramekin and placed neatly on a plate).

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons sucanat (or sub sugar, but the cake will be more sweet)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons brewed coffee (or 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee/espresso powder stirred into 4 tablespoons warm water until dissolved)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil (or other oil of choice)
• 3/4 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two ramekins (3 inch diameter) with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sucanat, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt until ingredients are well-combined (and cocoa powder lumps are broken up).
3. In a medium bowl, combine coffee (or water/coffee mixture), canola oil, vinegar, and vanilla and mix well.
4. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture until just combined (careful that no flour bits remain, but that you also do not over-mix).
5. Evenly distribute batter into the two ramekins. Bake until cake is cooked through (or a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean), about 20-24 minutes (I found this cake mini takes a little longer than some of the previous versions).
6. Cool cakes to room temperature. Run a knife around the edge of the cake in the ramekin to loosen the cake (circling a couple times until you see the cake loosening from the bottom)
7. Pour Quick Chocolate Ganache, recipe follows, over cake mini (spread with spatula if you’re feeling particularly Type-A) and, if desired, top Cake Minis with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

***

Chocolate Ganache

*Vegan option*

Makes enough to top 2 Cake Minis
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoons heavy cream (or sub vegan cream/creamer

Directions:

1. Pour heavy cream into a microwave-safe mug and microwave until very hot/almost boiling.
2. Add chocolate chips to the mug and stir until chocolate chips melt and are evenly combined with the cream (you may have to zap it in the microwave for just a couple seconds longer.

Optional ganache preparation: If you don’t want to use the microwave, you can place the chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl, heat the cream in a small pot/sauce pan and pour over the chocolate chips. Stir till well-combined.

***

Optional cake preparation if you’re in a hurry: cool cake until safe to eat, but leave cake in the ramekin.

Pour chocolate ganache, recipe above, over cake mini and…

…Use a spoon to enjoy.

Scoop and savor.

While I love my other cake mini recipes, this one may become my new go-to quick-fix dessert for a couple reasons: ease of preparation, speed, removal of need to let cake cool (I can get to my cake faster, guys!), and did I mention this recipe is faster than most of my other dessert recipes? Yeaaaaaaa!

Happy baking!

After leaving the Tasting Pavilion, we decided that we had enough time to make a quick trip to Tartine Bakery before the Gala dinner.

We cabbed it over and got in line. Even around 3pm-ish (forgot what time it was exactly), the place had a wait.

Everyone huddled around the display case as they made their way through the line.

And you may be able to tell why from these photos – look at those sweets!

Want.

We were there for chocolate croissants primarily, but they were sold out! So, we picked up a couple things instead.

I’ll have to come early enough to get a table sometime so I can enjoy a piece of this yummy-looking quiche.

Mara and I split a gougere.

And I had a plain croissant. So buttery. So flakey. So right.

***

Soon enough, it was time to get ready for the gala dinner. I was sad it wasn’t going to be at the Ferry Building like it was last year, because that was so stunningly gorgeous with all the lights and high ceilings. But, I was happy that this year’s gala was in our hotel since it meant not having to walk very far in heels and rain.

{me, Lori, Christin, Karen, Maissa}

The gala started with french fry appetizers by Alexia, the sponsor for the evening. The fries were actually created using several blogger-created recipes by fellow Foodbuzzers.

{Teri & Me}

We had a special treat for the evening – a cooking demo by Tyler Florence.

Appetizers

Salad – bibb lettuce, honey-roasted pears, glazed pecans, blue cheese vinaigrette

Main course – Brandt Beef Farms Filet Mignon and Meyer Lemon Roasted Prawns – heirloom carrots, celery root puree and peppercorn demi glace.

I thought everything was cooked nicely and the steak was super tender. I really liked the prawns, as well.

We got not one, but 3 desserts! The San Francisco Trio – Sourdough Bread Pudding, Cowgirl Creamery Cheesecake, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Mousse. They were all nice. I would have preferred the bread pudding warm, but the flavor was nice. I thought the chocolate was rich and light all at the same time, but the cheesecake was my favorite.

Phew – after all that yummy food I was stuffed. Again, some people went out for a night on the town, but I headed back with my roomies to chill in the hotel room and relax. We had one event left, and I’d be heading to the airport before I knew it.

I actually spent some of the night packing my bags, setting aside my honey badger travel outfit, and calling in a reservation for an airport shuttle. I like taking the BART to the hotel and something more direct for the way back. After a pretty productive night, I hit the sack.

***

In the morning, I headed out with my roomies to the last event of Foodbuzz Festival – the farewell brunch.

The brunch was sponsored by Godiva Chocolatier, who gave us some pretty sweet swag in our swag bags – 2 bags of flavored coffee, a travel cup, and chocolate.

They had a coffee station, a cold buffet, hot buffet, as well as speciality Godiva coffee drinks available upon request.

I wasn’t much in the mood for eating since my anxiety was starting to build with the thought of hopping on an airplane in just a couple short hours, but I found a couple tasty things to eat.

And before I knew it…it was time to go.

I bid adieu to my friends – old and new…to my roomies…

…and to the crazy-hilly streets of San Francisco that I love so much…

I walked back to my hotel, got my bags, and waited for the shuttle. The shuttle service was really awesome. It picked me up from the hotel and dropped me right off to gate I needed at the airport. I loved how stress-free it was. For $16 (plus tip), it seemed worth it.

I grabbed a quick lunch at the airport and charged my phone before boarding the plane.

The flight took off at 1:30pm San Fran time and was roughly 4 1/2 hours long. The Foodbuzz swag came in handy as a snack. I really enjoyed this Bunny Bar by 18 Rabbits.

I thought it had a nice mix of oats and dried fruit. The flavor was good, too, and the texture was chewy.

I bought wi-fi for the flight home and caught up on emails and blog stuff. It turned out to be a good distraction from the flight itself. I even helped a football-loving couple next to me keep tabs on their team who was playing while we were in the air. Things were going pretty good until the crew announced that two of the bathrooms weren’t working (when we were about halfway through the flight). Then all by the first class worked. Finally, they announced none of them worked. Yikes! Luckily, by that point, we only had about 45 minutes left in the trip. I was just glad it was the bathrooms not working and not something more serious that could interfere with the flight of the plane, ya know? Anywho, we landed safely and early around 9pm Eastern time. It kind of sucked to lose the whole day to traveling, but I think it was better than doing the red eye like I did last year. I would have liked to squeeze in a couple more restaurant visits on Sunday, but since I’m low on vacation days for the rest of the year, I’m trying to save them for the holidays.

All in all, I had another great trip to Foodbuzz. Thank you to Foodbuzz Festival!

And to all my Foodbuzz friends new and old – it was so much meeting you and hanging out with you. I hope to stay in touch on the blogosphere and see you at another conference soon! I have all the cards I collected gathered, and I can’t wait to check out your blogs!

After our adventure at Fisherman’s Wharf, we were going to attempt to hit up Tartine but decided we didn’t have enough time to go there and back before dinner. And, after last year’s debacle with the shuttles, I was absolutely not going to be late for the shuttles this year.

After relaxing at the hotel for a bit and then a quick outfit change, I headed out with my roomies to the Foodbuzz Festival 2011 Welcome Reception, Dinner and Blogger Award Ceremony.

We were greeted with snacks and wine.

I went with the white option.

We grabbed a table…

…and then food. The focus was on hummus thanks to sponsor Sabra. I had veggies, a hummus tart, and chicken salad mini sandwich, which were all tasty.

{Me, Mara, Farihah, Megan, and Emily}

And one of the best parts was meeting so many fellow food-loving bloggers! I had so much fun hearing about what they did (in real life), where they lived, and what their blogs were about. Not to mention I got to see a lot of my blog friends that I’ve met before but don’t get to see very often since we live so far apart.

{Aubrey, me, Ilana}

{me, Ayah, Kailey, Mara}

After the welcome reception, we headed upstairs for the main-event eats.

There were a couple stations with different small bite plates of food.

I fit as much as I could on one plate (Tuscan beef stew, Butternut Squash Orzo, Brown Sugar Butter Roasted Chicken, Baked Four Cheese Macaroni, Whipped Potatoes with Pecorino Cheese on Meatloaf Muffins, Potato & broccoli soup)…

….and in my stomach.

I hit up the cook station area in search of scallops and pork belly.

Cha-ching!

I found both.

And then, even though I was feeling pretty full and trying to save room for dessert, I grabbed a couple things off the other table I missed.

Housemade Beet Ravioli and Mai’s Roll (Vietnamese spring roll).

All the eats (except maybe the scallops and pork belly?) were creations by fellow bloggers, so it was really cool to taste their recipes-brought-to-life. I think my favorite was the meatloaf, which just happened to be the recipe by my roomie, Mara.

We heard from the Federated Media CEO…

and Jennifer of Tiny Urban Kitchen who won Project Food Blog (and donated the money to a great cause – you can read more about it by clicking here – she’s so cool)…

…and then we had the awards ceremony. You can check out the full list of nominees and the winners by clicking here. Congrats to the winners!

After the awards, they brought out dessert.

I wanted to try one of everything and I think I nearly succeeded. I believe I only missed one. My favorites were the cheesecake and chocolate cake. Yea, I had two favorites.

After wrapping up eats, congratulating the award winners, and catching up with some blog friends, it was time to discuss what to do for the night. This working girl had been feeling on the brink of coming down with something for the last week or so, so I decided to call it a night and head to the hotel. I ended up staying up a bit late to catch up on some blog posts, but I was still happy to do it from the comfort of my bed.

Next up – a trip to the Ferry Building and breakfast at the farmer’s market.

Reader question: If you weren’t at Foodbuzz, based on the photos/descriptions you’ve seen (here and on other blogs), which food item would you most like to try? If you were at Foodbuzz, which one was your favorite?

I had the pleasure of visiting one of the world’s most famous restaurants last Thursday with Foodbuzz roomie Mara of What’s for Dinner? I have to thank Mara for making the restaurant suggestion when we were deciding where to go for our splurge meal of the trip to San Francisco, CA.

Chez Panisse was co-founded by Alice Waters (chef/author) and Paul Aratow (film producer/professor) in 1971 and is famous for using local and organic ingredients. The restaurant has been entertaining foodies for many years – I like to think of it as the type of place my dad would love to visit. You may recognize Alice as being a pioneer of the local/organic/slow food movement, and she has even been called the “mother of American cooking.”

Note: Both of my nicer lenses broke before Foodbuzz, so I used the factory lens for my Foodbuzz trip. It works well with good natural lighting, but the quality of photos won’t be that great in low-lighting like the type we had at this dinner. Sorry!

(this photo – credit – Mara – What’s for Dinner?)

From the Chez Panisse web site:

“Alice and Chez Panisse are convinced that the best-tasting food is organically and locally grown and harvested in ways that are ecologically sound by people who are taking care of the land for future generations. The quest for such ingredients has always determined the restaurant’s cuisine. Since 1971, Chez Panisse has invited diners to partake of the immediacy and excitement of vegetables just out of the garden, fruit right off the branch, and fish straight out of the sea. In doing so, Chez Panisse has established a network of nearby suppliers who, like the restaurant, are striving for both environmental harmony and delicious flavor.”

We took a long cab ride from San Francisco to Berkeley for our late dinner out. A nice woman waiting outside offered to take the photo of Mara and me. As it turned out, the lady was Mary Jo – a pastry chef of the restaurant. She gave us the inside scoop to ask Pete (a busboy at the restaurant) to give us a kitchen tour, saying he did a wonderful job.

The menu at Chez Panisse is particularly interesting.

I found this note about the menu on the Chez Panisse web site:

“The menu which changes every night is designed to be appropriate to the season and composed to feature the finest sustainably-sourced, organic, and seasonal ingredients including meat, fish, and poultry.”

The restaurant has the same menu for all guests on any given day. I’d never been to a restaurant that didn’t offer at least a choice of two options per course, but I was down for whatever Chez Panisse had to offer. It was kind of like an eating adventure.

The menu turned out to be quite the experience for me, providing dishes that contained many ingredients I don’t typically like. I was ready for the challenge, though with an open mind and empty stomach.

The starter proved to be the first challenge – olives with fresh herbs and orange peel. I’ve never been a big fan of olives, but I recognize them as a delicious food item. I’ve been trying to eat them over and over the last couple years to no avail. But, on this night…they were absolutely delicious! I absolutely loved them and was really excited to finally get why everyone seems to rave about olives so much. I’ve been enjoying tangy flavors lately, so I’m thinking that helped me enjoy the flavor of these olives. The firm texture also helped.

Our menu for the evening.

Nice hearty bread with butter.

First course – from the menu – “Wild mushroom tart with watercress and rocket”

The first course was another challenge. Mushrooms and I have never really gotten along over the years. There’s something about the texture of mushrooms that I find unappetizing, though I adore the flavor. I frequently leave mushrooms in foods cooked with them, and though I will try to eat them, I can usually only down one or two in a sitting.

Of course, tonight was special, and I managed to eat the whole tart! This meal may have contained the most mushrooms I’ve ever eaten in one meal. And did I mention I enjoyed them? The tender mushrooms paired with the crisp tart shell – yum! The side salad was pretty nice, too – I love my greens.

Mara and I opted for the wine pairing that came with the meal.

The wine matched the dish perfectly.

Second course – (from the menu) – “Roasted Ling cod with shell bean ragout and herb butter”

I’m not much of a big seafood person, but I wasn’t going to let that throw me off. I was really excited about tasting such a well prepared piece of fish. The funniest part of the night was when Mara and I tried to figure out what the delicious “broth” in the bowl was. “It’s so rich…and…buttery? What is it?” Yeaaa, a quick check of the menu revealed that the “broth” was in fact melted butter with herbs. Niiice.

The fish was lovely, the shell beans were tasty, and the green beans were cooked perfectly crisp-tender. This course was paired with another white wine that again matched the course exactly.

As we were wrapping up the second course, I noticed that the same guy had been clearing our plates. Clearing plates => bussing => busboy Pete? As he collected the plates from our second course, I decided to go ahead and inquire further – “excuse me…are you…Pete?” He seemed surprised I knew who he was (even though I didn’t really know who he was…hehe), but when Mara and I referenced Mary Jo, he was all in. We asked if he’d have time for a kitchen tour, and Pete suggested we do one after finishing our entrees.

Third course – (from the menu) – “Spit-roasted Rancho Llano Seco pork loin with wilted greens and parsnip puree.”

The pork was melt-in-your-mouth tender, and though I normally like to trim all the fat off of my meat, the outside crust had an amazing flavor that couldn’t be missed, so I ended up eating some of it. The puree was silky and the greens was cooked just how I like them (not too soft, not too firm). Everything was seasoned perfectly and tasted amazing.

Within a couple quick minutes of finishing our main course, Pete whisked us away to the kitchen for the grand tour.

Spices and the old-school order board.

Dessert in the works.

I kind of wanted to have a Veruca-Salt-moment and jump onto the table digging into all the sweets. But I refrained.

Local produce!

The restaurant also had a map on a corkboard in the kitchen showing where all the farms in their network were located.

Our fabulous tour guide Pete showed us the biggest mushroom I’ve ever seen! Scary!

Back to the table – the view of the restaurant from the kitchen.

Pete surprised us with mint tea before the dessert course. The tea was piping hot when it came out…

…but just ready for drinking by the time they served dessert. I’m not sure if they did that on purpose, but I like to think they planned the timing perfectly on purpose.

Dessert course: “Pear sherbet coupe with Champagne glee”

I’m not a big sorbet/ice cream person when it comes to dessert (give me baked goods!), but I loved every bite of this.

This crispy cookie with almonds was quite nice, too.

And as though we hadn’t gotten enough nice little touches to our dining experience, Chez Panisse gave us a small plate containing tiny pieces of chocolate and pate de fruit. The chocolate was lush and creamy and the pate de fruit was chewy and sweet. They were both delicious, and I kind of wished I could buy more to take home.

Oh, and I can’t end this post without mentioning what a wonderful job the staff at Chez Panisse did for Mara and me. From the host who greeted us to the pastry chef waiting for her ride to the busboy who gave us a tour of the kitchen, everyone made us feel so welcome.

I was so thrilled to have dined at a restaurant so integral to the local food movement, and I can definitely see why Chez Panisse frequently ranks in the top 100 restaurants of the world. The biggest lesson – simplicity can be powerfully delicious. Each meal was so special and detailed as to appear extravagant, and yet it was so simply prepared. Though I already tend to be a simple cook, but this experience was great inspiration for me to strive to make simple excellent.

Reader question #1: Have you ever been to a restaurant that inspired you to change the way you cook?

Reader question #2: What’s the most famous restaurant you’ve been to?