12,000 Miles Traveled...

12,000 miles later...I am back on US soil.  


This winter holiday, I flew from San Diego to Cleveland, OH; from Cleveland, OH to Oslo, Norway; and from Oslo, Norway back to America's Finest City. I relished the quality time with family, caught up with cherished friends, and spent bliss-filled days with my fantastic boyfriend.  I caught snowflakes on my tongue, froze my butt off in the ice and cold, and shed tears when my flight was cancelled (a second time!) due to winter weather.  I was lucky enough to eat fresh homemade bread almost everyday, to give hugs even more often, and to learn to make German Linzertorte from my grandma.  On multiple occasions, I ate till I thought I would burst, but I don't regret a single bite.   I came back a few pounds heavier, slightly exhausted, but throughly relaxed and very happy.

With Christmas, New Years, and my whole winter vacation over, the feeling of letdown is heavy in the air.  Yet, the haze is parted when I think of my passion for eating well and all the amazing food that I can't wait to share with you in 2011.  

In my last post (I had a giveaway, I haven't forgotten!), I asked what you might like to see here on The Cilantropist.  Overall, many expressed they felt the content was just the right variety of recipes between sweet and savory and they loved this place just the way it is.  Fantastic!  Hearing this thrilled me to pieces, but we all know nothing is perfect.  So here's what you thought: 

Foodbuzz Festival: The Food

Hi there friends!  Can I offer you an apology?  I seem to have been completely absent from my blog for almost one and a half weeks now, ack!  So sorry to have left you all alone, but not to fear, I am alive and well, I have not been gobbled up by a woman-eating monster, and I have a few reasons for being away.  First, I was completely caught up making my video for Project Food Blog (yesssss!  I did advance to the next round and will share my next VIDEO entry with you this week!) and I am SO excited about it.  I can't wait for you to see it!  Immediately after finishing my video, I jetted up to San Francisco for a weekend of eating, socializing, and general debauchery at Foodbuzz's Second Annual Food Blogger Festival. 


The weekend was filled with events (and of course my tummy was filled with food) and I got to experience it all with both new and old friends.  I have loads that I want to tell you about, but I thought I would break it down into The Food and The People.  And really, for The Food, I just want to tell you about the Taste Pavilion from Saturday afternoon (I may have been too preoccupied with those aformentioned People on Friday night to take any real notice of what I was eating) and share some details about several amazing new food vendors and local food craftsmen that I discovered.   

The Taste Pavilion was located at City View at the Metreon, and the venue couldn't have been more perfect.  The space indoors was large enough to so that all 350 of us bloggers could comfortably weave around and eat to our hearts content, and then outside there was ample space to breathe in some fresh air, bask in the sunshine, and take in the scenery.  

Foodbuzz did a fabulous job of organizing a variety of excellent vendors and local food craftsmen for the Taste Pavilion, and I think there were only a few that I might have missed out on.  Almost all the food and wine I got to sample exceeded my expectations (and I am a tough critic!), but I had a few favorites that I just had to tell you about.