Thanksgiving Catch-Up: Blogging Through the Holidays!

I literally have one more final left then I'm on vacation. I've taken a hiatus from blogging so I could focus on pre-final tests and papers, then finals themselves. As always I have soo much to blog but I wanted to let you know how my holidays have been. We're currently getting ready for Christmas (I'll be in full-swing Christmas mode when finals are done) but we've already had some of our traditions here: Thanksgiving being the first one. Mike and I both attended our families Thanksgiving dinners, then I attended my parents' dinner, then our personal one here at home. Three Thanksgivings. Yeah, I'm still full. I won't get into my recipes (except for one that I'll post later) so I'll just let you know what I was up to for my weekend-long feast.

On Thanksgiving day I woke up, watched the parade, then headed off to San Jose to see my family. We usually have that dinner pretty early because my aunts and uncles have dinner with their in-laws too and so on. There was no shortage of food there either.

My uncle and the newest member of our family - his grandson!

I had a great time with my family and enjoyed seeing everyone since it had been so long and I've moved pretty far.

On Friday it was also Mike's birthday (he's a Thanksgiving baby) so we had plans that night but my parents always have their own Thanksgiving for us the next day so I attended that too. This is the spread my mom had for us. It consisted of turkey, homemade stuffing, yams, homemade mashed potatoes, rice (because we're Mexican and we eat it with almost every meal), and cranberry sauce.

Yeah, I rocked this...

Our last Thanksgiving was on that Saturday. I started this tradition when Mike and I moved out last year so we could have our own leftovers. It's really what got me started in blogging again. I had forgotten how fun it could be to cook multiple items at once, and the pressure and satisfaction that comes with pulling it off. Folks, this is for you, I owe you one.This year I found out something about myself. I don't like turkey. I mean I'll eat it, but I usually go after all of the side dishes. And I realized the older I get, the lazier turkey makes me. It's just not my favorite thing, but I made one anyway. Along with my turkey I had stuffin' muffins, mashed potatoes, yams, rice, and a potato salad.

*Confession* I don't know the difference between sweet potatoes and yams and I honestly don't know which ones I made but they were good. Also, I'm sorry if my version differs from the traditional way, I don't know what that is either but feel free to let me know.

These are the ingredients that my lovely father chopped really really tiny for me. He's the best at it. These are bags of celery, green onion, and the turkey neck (let's all ignore the third thing together). I sauteed them in a bunch of butter then added a box of Stovetop stuffing and half a bag of plain stuffing. This is my secret. You're welcome :) unless you do it too.

For my potatoes I did the usual boiling of potatoes and whipped them with cream and butter (calories and I are good friends over the holidays).

My stuffin muffins ready to go....

My yams crushed up with crushed pineapple, walnuts, brown sugar and topped with mini marshmallows.

This is the first time we had this but we got them from Mike's dad. This is the exact recipe we used. Please try them - they're delicious and very unhealthy!!

This is the guest of honor. Not too bad huh? 

Not a bad feast for college students on a budget. We both really enjoyed it too. Don't worry I didn't forget about dessert! I'll be posting my Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe soon. See you all then. Cheers!

Foodbuzz Fest - Round 2

 

In my last post I shared some pictures from my first day in San Francisco for the third annual Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival. I had already spent my Friday sight seeing and then attending the Sabra hummus tasting and blogger awards. Saturday started bright and early for a totally exciting day. It started with classes on improving your blog presented by successful food bloggers. This was our fabulous lineup! Not a bad start to a day.

Then I got to meet one of my favorites!! This is Chuck Lai from Foodgawker. If you've never been to Foodgawker then PLEASE do! I was so excited and he was so nice to take a picture with me. I could tell it was going to be an awesome day.

Sessions continued with giant pictures of food in every class. What a hard day huh?

After the featured panel and the two classes, it was 12 and time to head over to The Metreon for the Taste Pavillion. The Taste Pavillion is an awesome set-up for food and drink vendors to get their products out there and network with us.

A line of hungry food bloggers were greeted by an amazing view of the city and more than 70 vendors standing at booths just waiting for us to try their products. It was a beautiful sight.

After all the sampling I decided to circle back one more time to makes sure I didn't miss anyone then I saw him; Tyler Florence was just sitting there! How did I miss the line to meet him that I'm sure formed as soon as he stepped in the room?? I begged to get in line but the worker told me it was already cut off so three girls let me cut in front of them as long as I took their pictures. Umm, hell yes! So that's literally the story of how I got to meet the tallest, cutest, sweetest, chef in the world.

Look at him eying that free drink. Yes he took it. Yes it was awesome.

This man is seriously tall.

After this and not being sure if I wanted to cry or scream and restraining both urges, Mike and I went back to the hotel. I was free until later that night when we would be able to see Tyler Florence do a live cooking demo presented by Alexia Foods. Everyone showed up looking cute, ready to see him cook. While waiting, we were presented with the new Alexia fries that our bloggers had come up with. Delish!

I was able to meet some really amazing food bloggers. This me, Ally from A Girl and Her Fork, Debbie from A Feast for the Eyes, and Josh from Just Eat.

Here is Dorothy from Crazy for Crust, Allie from Eat at Allie's, me, and Ally. Can you believe we're all from the Sacramento area and I had never met any of them before?

Our table (that I may or may not have ran to) was in the front and right next to the stage where the demo would be. There were samosas and butternut squash risotto bites and wine - lot's of wine. The waiters never let our glasses empty, so I technically only had one glass :)

Then the demo started. He cooked pan seared pork chops with spaetzle and red cabbage. Oh my goodness it smelled so good. He talked about food, his kids, and The Great Food Truck Race, of which I am an avid watcher. Then he wrapped up with a Q and A.

There are so many beautiful things about this picture.

Tyler stopped his Q&A to let us eat (personally I would have eaten a bowl of cereal just to hear him talk longer but....) For dinner we were served a deconstructed salad, Filet Mignon with prawns and veggies, and a dessert trio.

The night didn't quite wrap at 10 for some of us. A few of us (Just Eat, My Veggie Table, cough cough) offered to take the wine the staff was going to toss out and drink it. We're such good foodies. LUCKILY for us, Saturday night was when we turned our clocks back so we got an extra hour of drinking sleep. To make it better, the next morning was our farewell brunch at Perry's right on Embarcadero.

There were lot's of breakfast basics and the view of the Bay Bridge was completely amazing. I was told it was going to be raining all weekend but you would never have know if you looked at our view.

The (old) Bay Bridge and Embarcadero St.

I had an absolutely amazing time in San Francisco. This was unlike anything I had ever done and I'll definitely be doing it again. I met amazing people, tried amazing food, and got lot's of cool gifts that I'm still in the process of trying. This was extraordinary food experience

Until next time my fellow foodies... Cheers!