San Diego Sweet Shoppin’ with Amanda

Tags: cupcakes, Desserts, san diego

What can I say, Amanda and I were at it again…..hunting down the best bakeries in the city.  The city of choice this time was San Diego.  Lucky for me, San Diego is only about an hour away so I drove up to meet Amanda where we started our day at one of the best cupcake shops I have been to, no lie!  It is called Elizabethan Desserts Bakery.  It is tucked inside a quaint nursery and flower shop that is flat out adorable.

Get a load of these gorgeous mini cupcakes!  We couldn’t resist so we ordered one of every kind.  Can you blame us?  With names such as Bees Knees, Chocolate Toffee and Monkey Business we were drooling at the counter.

More shots of cupcake goodness

Isn’t the rose one adorable?!  It is called “Plain Jane.”  The red velvet with cream cheese frosting to the left was one of my favorites hands down.

The Mustachio is so darn cute we were afraid to cut into his mustache.  The Pistachio butter cream was killer!

This is the “Black Beauty”  It really was the most photogenic one, pretty tasty too.

The Ho Daddy Chocolate was the first one we cut into and it could quite possibly be the best chocolate cupcake I’ve had.

After a full belly of cupcakes we decided to walk off a couple calories in the flower shop where the sweet owner took some photos of us.

We needed MORE walking so we walked around La Jolla Beach which was perfectly beachy

After the beach, we went to this great lunch/gelato spot called Pappalecco.  My sandwich was so good I am tempted to make a drive back out to San Diego very soon!

Here’s Amanda’s Pizza   YUM!

Later in the afternoon we went in to the very fancy “Extraordinary” Desserts.

Get a load of these gorgeous desserts!  We spent a very long time photographing their beauty,  that was worth the pretty pricetag of these desserts

The Dulce de Leche Cake…it was featured on Food Network’s The Best Thing I Ever Ate.  It was my favorite of all of our choices.

Amanda ordered this lovely Strawberry Shortcake.  Gorgeous huh?

The Pots de Creme was so photogenic but if I am being honest, was just so so

I am a Creme Brulee fanatic, I try it about everywhere I go that offers and this one gets a 6 out of 10.  Pretty, creamy but lacked something I can’t quite put my finger on.

LOVED watching these little birds finish up what was left on the table in front of us.  They are no dummies!

Last on our list was Babycakes.  An adorable little eatery/bakery with lots to offer.  I HAD to take my order home otherwise I may have busted at the seams but my boys and husband devoured these, so I am assuming they were killer!

They are quite lovely aren’t they?  See all of their Gourmet Cupcake selections on their website

Cute little box to go.  Thanks for peeking into our day of indulgence!

Be sure to take a peek at Amanda’s post of our trip too

It’s always a blast when Amanda and I get together, LOVE it.  Stay tuned for more sweet traveling

Dole Food & Wellness Blogger Summit

Tags: bloggers event, Dole

photo from google

What a great day yesterday was at the Dole Event.  My buddy Marla from Family Fresh Cooking and I were picked up by a driver at the crack of dawn and headed out to The Four Season’s Westlake Village.   I want to take my family back to this hotel, it was gorgeous!

both hotel photos from google

We started our morning with a “Breakfast for Performance” Demo and enjoyed a delicious and healthy meal

Mmmm, I am not  a cottage cheese fan usually, but take a look at that trifle.

My blogging buddies digging in

One of the highlights of my trip was meeting my beautiful friend Susan from “She’s Becoming Doughmestic.”  I LOVE her to pieces and wish she lived next door.  We need to be baking neighbors

Doesn’t get much better than spending time at a beautiful place with some of your best buds   Love all of these ladies. Photo:  Marla, Rachael, Me, Amanda, Susan and Maria.

Here we are at our Welcome Presentation where we learned about “The Wellness World of Dole” and listened to a keynote panel discussion on “The Latest Food, Nutrition and Wellness Trends.”  Great information here.  I was reminded…..Eat more fruits and Veggies Jen!  I need that reminder often

On our way to some product demo’s.  Had to snap a picture of this gorgeous chandelier

It was time to get our sampling on.  Think a great day at costco but even better   We had these delicious jello fruit cups and baked bananas.

Got to nibble on all the lastest Dole goodies and lots of salad.

A little chat time before getting the grand tour of the Dole Offices.  We’ve got Amanda, Ann Marie, Jennifer and Maria here

The Dole offices are beautiful, get a load of this centerpiece I wanted to stick in my bag for home.

Love this!

Checking out the Dole kitchen area.  Right photo:  Marla, Rachael, Ann-Marie and Sandy

We enjoyed lunch at the Dole Cafeteria where their staff gets daily healthy menu items to choose from.  If that’s not cool enough they get to eat outside by this gorgeous waterfall.  I could get used to that

Heading to get my facial and Nutrition Consultation….had to stop and smell the roses.  Ok, I am a geek.

photo from google

Another highlight of my day was enjoying one of the best facials I have ever had.  It was a dream.

Now, time to get ready for dinner.

Shaina from “Food For My Family“  gets the “You are Awesome” Award.  She was a rockstar on our team that had to prepare an entree with salmon, lentils, cranberries and spinach.  It turned out beautiful.  Thanks Shaina!!

Judges….our dish won for taste, but lacked “presentation.”  Lol!  Oh well

I happen to think it looks delish!

Overall, this was a whirlwind day packed with great information and lots of salad.  I repeat, lots of salad.  Loved every minute of it!  Thank you Dole for putting on a beautiful event!

Here are the wonderful ladies I spent the day with:

o   Shaina Olmanson (Food for My Family) www.foodformyfamily.com, @FoodforMyFamily

o   Jennifer Leal (Savoring the Thyme) www.savoringthethyme.com, @SavorTheThyme

o   Brooke McClay (Cheeky Kitchen) www.cheekykitchen.com, @CheekyKitchen

o   Kathy Patalsky (The Lunchbox Bunch) www.lunchboxbunch.com, @lunchboxbunch

o   Anne-Marie Nichols (This Mama Cooks!) www.thismamacooks.com, @amnichols

o   Katie Goodman (Good Life Eats) www.goodlifeeats.com, @GoodLifeEats

o   Sandy Coughlin (Reluctant Entertainer) www.reluctantentertainer.com, @SandyCoughlinRE

o   Anne Petraeus (Fannetastic Food) www.fannetasticfood.com, @fANNEtasticfood

o   Maria Lichty (Two Peas and Their Pod) www.twopeasandtheirpod.com, @TwoPeasandPod

o   Jenny Flake (Picky Palate) www.picky-palate.com, @PickyPalate

o   Marla Meridith (Family Fresh Cooking) www.familyfreshcooking.com, @MarlaMeridith

o   Gena Hamshaw (Choosing Raw) www.choosingraw.com, @choosingraw

o   Shanna Coady (My Favorite Everything) www.myfavoriteeverything.com, @MyFavEverything

o   Amanda Bottoms (Kevin and Amanda) www.kevinandamanda.com, @kevinandamanda

o   Lorin Falcon (A Cowboy’s Wife) www.acowboyswife.com, @acowboyswife

o   Amanda Acuna (Mommy Mandy) www.mommymandy.com, @mommymandy

o   Susan Whetzel (She’s Becoming DoughMessTic) www.doughmesstic.com, @doughmesstic

o   Rachael Hutchings (La Fuji Mama) www.lafujimama.com @LaFujiMama

*Discolsure:  Dole paid for all  expenses relating to the Dole Blogger Summit, including transportation, accommodations, meals and spa treatments.

Better Home’s and Garden’s Test Kitchens

What a fun few days I had in Des Moines last week for the Better Home’s and Garden Cook-Off in their official test kitchens.  I was there with 5 other bloggers who were so much fun to spend time with.  Take a peek below and see what we were up to

Here are my fellow competitors Left:  Dan from Consumer Queen/King, Amy from Mom Advice, Kate and Sara from Our Best Bites, Aly from She Knows and me   By far some of the best parts of these trips is getting to know other bloggers, such a great group of people here!

Our afternoon started with a quick tour of the test kitchens to make sure we had all of our grocery items for the cook-off, this place was so beautiful!

All of the books in their library were covered in parchment paper.  Looked so cool!

That night we were off to dinner at D’Jango.  No doubt about it, all the menu items were rich and fabulous!

Here was my stuffed chicken breast with blue cheese and mushrooms and a bunch of other yummy things.

Did someone say dessert?  Lol!  Kate, Sara and I pigged out and shared 3 different desserts.  Yes, they were incredible!

Creme’ Brulee….was heavenly

Chocolate Pot de’ Creme….so sinful!  We had one more not pictured, I believe it was a chocolate raspberry cake.

Having way too much fun devouring our desserts

The next morning we were back at the Test Kitchens for breakfast, prep time then the big cook-off.  Here is Amy, Sara, Kate and me right before Breakfast

Breakfast was delish, all of the recipes were from the new Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.

Cute Katie in the red plaid, a judge for the cook-off joined us for breakfast.  She is a food editor for the BH&G website.

Here are our official aprons, fun!

Time to get any prep work done, here is a peek at one side of my kitchen space for the day.

….and here’s the other side.  Lots of great space to work in.

Back for more food….lunch time.  Not sure if we got enough food this trip

Macaroon brownies…to die for!

After lunch we got right to work for the cook-off.  We had about 3 hours, plenty of time.

My spaghetti pies couldn’t have been cuter!  They turned out exactly how I wanted them too and the judges loved them.  Phew!

Here’s Aly, hard at work on her Fish Tacos

The Best Bite Girls taking a soda break

The judges were really complimentary to each of us, probably the most relaxed cook-off I’ve ever been to.  Kind of refreshing   Nice big group shot with the judges and PR peeps.

After our cook-off was over, we got the grand tour of the rest of the building.  We started down stairs to their prop room.  This place was HUGE….and so many goodies to choose from.  This was one of their stylists passing through.

We were all drooling over all of the cool dishes to choose from.  Fun room.

The tour continued and these guys were shooting for an upcoming magazine page.

We also walked through the kitchen/photo studio where they shot their food.  They let us snap pics of their recipe that will be in an upcoming issue.  How pretty!  Wish I had that set up in my kitchen

Cool decor in one of the main offices downstairs at BH&G, so colorful and festive

Snooping around the offices

Our last day, we got to walk through the actual gardens at BH&G.  This was a great way to end our visit.  So beautiful!

This little guy was my favorite, hanging out in the garden sunshine!  How cute

Thanks for sharing my time at BH&G!  Was such a great time meeting everyone and spending time in Des Moines

The winner from the cook-off is decided by votes only, not our recipes over at the BH&G page.  A few more days left to enter, looks like Our Best Bites will take this one, Congrats ladies!!  xoxo

Thanks to all of you Picky Palate readers who voted faithfully.  Love you guys!!  We’ve got 4 more sets of cookware to give away and some cookbooks coming soon, stay tuned.  In the meantime, there are 2 days left to enter the 6 sets of cookware giveaway HERE.  Good Luck!

BlogHer Food Extravaganza, San Francisco!

Tags: BlogHer Food Conference 2010

What a whirlwind that past weekend has been!  Just got back from an incredible weekend in San Francisco for the BlogHer Food Conference.  Talk about foodies everywhere, it was awesome.

I feel like I say this all the time, but the food blogging community is truly one of a kind.  They are the most genuine and kindest people.  Really.  It was great to be surrounded by the  bloggers we all look up to…The beautiful Ree, The Pioneer Woman, gorgeous Jaden from Steamy Kitchen, the incredible White on Rice Couple, Helen from Tartelette, Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes and so many more.

I really enjoyed listening to  the sessions but I must say my favorite part of the trip is chatting/networking with my fellow blogging friends.  It’s so great to put faces to names we see all the time on Twitter/Facebook.  Love my buddies I stayed with….Shanna, Marla and Amanda.  My trip wouldn’t have been the same without them!

We all had different experiences this past weekend, but here’s a glimpse at how I spent it   All 62 pictues, sheesh Jen!

Day one was crazy!  Check in, breakfast and chit chat filled the room.

My first session was with the White On Rice Couple.  I LOVE hearing their discussions on photography.  What talented beautiful people they are.

Fun cookbook library to browse through.

photo via Italian Dish

Me and Lori from Recipe Girl.  LOVE you Lori!!

The conference was held at the Intercontinetal.  After the morning session, we bolted out to lunch.

We went to “Out The Door” at the mall.  REALLY good

Love this picture of Lori and Amanda.  Love these ladies!

Some of our menu items.

photo via Amanda

….and more

A bit of a rewind here.  Thursday night we were off to a few fun events starting off at Ghiradelli Square to meet the Deen Brothers.

This was the cutest little pink shop, too cute not to take a picture of

This is where we met the “bro’s”

Here they are chatting with Kristen from Dine and Dish

All lined up for cookbook signing and pics.

photo via Amanda

Had to do it

photo via Amanda

After the Deen Brothers, we went to the Underwriter’s Laboratory Event.  We did a little Iron Chef competition.

photo via Amanda

Maria from Two Peas and Their Pod and I

Maggy and Amanda, love these ladies!

photo via Maria

Here we are at the la Petite Soiree Party Friday night, it was a blast!

Saturday morning, Amanda and I knew we were going to sight see around San Fran…or I should say bakery hop!

First stop was Dynamo Donuts that was featured on Food Network’s The Best thing I ever ate.  Talk about heaven sent.  They were incredible!

This maple bacon donut is their famous one.  It was really good.

This was my favorite….the caramelized banana stuffed one.  Delish!

This pumpkin chocolate chip was a close tie for second with that maple bacon

We ate….a lot of donuts.  Luckily just a couple bites of each

Next stop was Fisherman’s Wharf.  LOVE it here.  Lots happening in this area.

Pier 39 was such a treat.  Gorgeous!

How cute are the sea lions?  I could watch them all day!

Boudin Bakery/Cafe was so cool.  Take a look at the Alligator sourdough?  Love it!

These ones hanging from the ceiling were adorable.  I need this in my house!

Lunch time!  Amanda and I got a little soup bowl w salad.  How good does my crab and corn chowder look?

Tartine Bakery was next on our list.  Beautiful very classic desserts.  This was the Tres Leche cake.

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart and a shortbread cookie.  We truly only had a few bites!

Next we went searching for Bi-Rite Creamery but first stumbled across the market.  How gorgeous are these flowers?

Love these colors!

Found it across the street

Gaby and Maria were talking about this salted caramel ice cream and I knew I had to have it.  Was absolutely worth the wait!

Later Saturday night we met up with everyone for the closing party that The Pioneer Woman, Steamy Kitchen and Simply Recipes threw.  This was such a fun night.  Great food, great company.  It couldn’t have been better.

My buddy Amanda and I.  Love her!

Fun appetizers

Mmmmm!

More bacon goodness!

The photo booth at the party was so much fun!  Here are my So Cal ladies!  Amanda and Lori at the top, Marla, me and Kathy at the bottom.  LOVE my sistas!

…and one more

Love this one too!  Think we had way too much fun w the photo booth!  Lol!

Ok, we are ridiculous now!

Soooo happy I got to see Angie of Bakerella Saturday night.  Wish we were in the same town, I just love her!

On our way to the airport.  Had a blast rooming with you Amanda!  Until we meet again…..better be soon!

This is my favorite.  Amanda, me and Marla on the right, my fellow OC buddy.  Love her to pieces too

___________________________

Loved every minute of BlogHer Food!  So glad I was able to go

Labor Day Fun at the Beach

We had a great time with our family visiting from AZ over Labor Day weekend.  We hit up Newport Beach and Crystal Cove….2 of our absolute favorites!  Here are some of my favorite shots of the weekend

It was totally overcast at Newport Beach, but the kids still had fun!

Jane’s Corndog’s is a must at Newport Beach!

Crystal Cove Beach is so beautiful.  LOVE it!

Thanks for stopping by   See you soon!

My Tribute To Levain Bakery

Tags: Cookies, Levain Bakery, New York City, review, travel

I knew one of the things on my “absolutely do” list in NYC was Levain Bakery.  When I was in NY a couple years ago, I never made it there and I told myself this time I am going for sure!

Levain Bakery was on Food Network’s Throwdown with Bobby Flay and  the second I saw those beautiful gigantic cookies, I just knew I had to go!

Amanda and I had our big cameras ready to go and ordered one of every beautiful cookie they had.  Not even kidding, these were the best cookies I have ever had, by a mile.

Sitting out front of the bakery and a shot of the display case, mmmm!

Ok, starting up at the top left we have the Dark Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip Walnut, Oatmeal Raisin and my absolute favorite…Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip

Does it get any better than a tower of Levain Cookies?  Seriously!

No joke, Amanda and I were taking photos of these cookies for a good 45 minutes.  People probably thought we were nuts!  Lol.

The ooey gooey inside of the Chocolate Chip Walnut

Hands down this Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie was the best cookie on the face of the planet.  I might just have to order some through the mail

This Dark Chocolate Chip was a very close 2nd place.  Heaven!

Loved this Oatmeal Raisin too!

Thank You Levain Bakery for making my NYC trip so sweet.  I am beyond thrilled I was able to FINALLY get to taste your cookies.  Will definitely be back….in the meantime I’ll be placing my order for cookie in the mail today   xoxo

Unilever Pampering and BlogHer Expo

All I can say is….”Wow” about this trip that Unilever took me on.  First the awesome hotel room, then we got our feet massaged, hair done, fed and so many other fun things?  I feel so lucky to have been invited to such an amazing event.  THANK YOU.

On 3 separate occasions Amanda and I had the opportunity to go up to the Penthouse Suite where Unilever turned it into a Culinary and Pampering getaway.  It really was beautiful.  Bloggers from the BlogHer Conference were invited to pop in to enjoy the treatment as well. Pictured above was the “foot massage” room.  None of us wanted to get up after our 5 minutes!  It was awesome especially after walking all over NY

This was some of the goodies over in the Culinary part of the Penthouse.  For breakfast we had muffins and scones then for dinner we had PF Changs new home menu along with Ragu pictured below and so many other tasty dishes.  Photo by Ragu team.

Another room of the Penthouse was set up with baskets of  flip flops, craft decorations and glue guns.  I got right to work on my own design.

Cute huh?  Love my yellow flippies

Here was another room where there were 2 little salon stations set up to get our hair done.  Amanda and I were so excited for this

Tada….here we are right after our “hair” appointment.  Loved the girl who did my hair, she was so great.

Saturday morning Amanda and I went to the BlogHer Expo and had so much fun.  Can you believe I met Padma from Top Chef?  I was so nervous to talk to her so Amanda ran over to her and asked if we could take a picture with her.  I would have never had the nerve to do it.  So glad she did, I am a huge Top Chef fan.

Adam Gertler from Next Food Network Star was also at the expo, he was really nice.  Had a great morning chatting with all the sponsors at the expo.  Even got a photo with a Milk Mustache at the Got Milk? booth

Also got to meet Marmaduke the dog!  He was the cutest ever

This was a kitchen set where they were filming for the Rachael Ray Show….never saw Rachael, but kept hearing about it

Ahhh, my long lost buddy the Dough Boy!  It was so great to see my Pillsbury friends I have worked with on Picky Palate.  Love them all

At the Pillsbury booth, they asked us to do some video for them for Pillsbury.com about baking tips, etc.

Later Saturday night Amanda and I went back to the Hilton to pick up a book and lo and behold Ree….The Pioneer Woman walked through the doors.  I immediately saw her and had to chat for a second.  I just love her, she is as beautiful and sweet as you picture her to be.  So glad I finally got to meet her even for a second

Martha Blogger’s Party, Subways and Donut Plant!

Photo via Amanda

Thursday evening rolled around and it was time to get ready for our Martha Stewart Blogging Party.  Amanda and I got dolled up and first stopped by a Smucker’s Dinner party.  As we were looking for a taxi we saw this very tempting bike taxi (below) and we decided to jump in.  We are lucky we are alive, it was a little crazy!  These guys zip in and out of traffic like they are nuts!

Our driver took a second to snap this photo of us with my iPhone, Lol!  We look so calm here.  Most the time we couldn’t stop laughing because we thought we were going to die!

Photo via Amanda

After our Smucker’s Dinner we had to hurry over to the Martha Party.  I had NO idea what to expect.  The second we walked through the doors, I knew we were in for a treat.  We checked in by our blog names, received our official badge then were escorted upstairs for the party.  Unfortunately we arrived a little late and Martha had already left….but we still enjoyed ourselves, trust me.  There were oodles of beautiful cupcakes, cookies and these adorable mini burgers below.

Photo via Amanda

These little burgers were awesome.  I think we had plenty of these   I LOVE that Amanda found the recipe in Everyday Food below.

Photo via Amanda via Everyday Food

Photo via Amanda

Not only was there great food, but there were Nars Make-up Artists applying individual lashes for everyone.  How fun is that?!  I love that the guy told Amanda…..”No photos of me please.”  Lol!

Photo via Amanda

This was the view from the room where the party was.  How gorgeous is this?!

Photo via Amanda

Little break for our “Martha Party” Photo

Friday morning, we experienced the NYC subway station.  Needless to say, Amanda and I both agreed it seemed like we were walking into Hell as we ventured down the dark, hot and completely filthy stairs.  I must say Amanda is awesome, girlfriend was able to get us to our destinations with no problem, like she was an old pro.  I was so impressed and would have been completely lost without her.  Glad that I can say I have “done” the subways.  Definitely not my favorite form of transportation, but talk about saving cash.  It was much cheaper than the ol’ crazy taxi driver.  Actually kind of fun too

Right Photo via Amanda

Here’s our subway.  Amanda was brave enough to snap photos inside our train.  Love it.  Most of the time they were very full.

Doughnut Plant may have been the highlight of my weekend.  You probably think I am nuts, but these doughnuts were the best I have ever tasted.  Take a look at their flavors…

The Creme Brulee Doughnut was out of this world.  It’s the little one on top in the next picture.

So, we each purchased 2 doughnuts (at $3.00 a piece) and shared.  Before we dug into them we had to stack them up and take some photos.  Top was creme brulee, dulce de leche, carrot cake and peanut butter and jelly.  Drool!

This was the tiniest little doughnut shop ever, but was packed with people lined up almost out the door.  This was the little doughnut area right by the check out.

I believe this was the blueberry one, we didn’t try it, but it looked fabulous.

Here’s the peanut butter and jelly ones.  Square with peanut butter glaze on top and jelly throughout.  YUM, loved this one too.

Photos of inside of doughnuts via Amanda

My favorite part was that they all had filling inside.  The carrot cake doughnut had cream cheese frosting throughout.  Wish I could grab one right now   Make sure to visit Amanda’s blog for her post about the Martha Party

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Hope you enjoyed more of our trip.  Still to come…BlogHer Expo, Unilever Pampering, milkshakes, rice pudding and Skyline Views

Running Around New York City Day 1

This image of hotel from Google

Last week was such a whirlwind of excitement.  My buddy Amanda and I literally ate and shopped our way through NYC for 4 days straight.  I’m not even sure where to start.  Together we took almost 1,ooo photos over our 4 day visit!

Unilever put us up in this ultra Swanky and totally fabulous Royalton Hotel during BlogHer10 for some Culinary Fare and Pampering before and after the conferences. Can you get over how cool this place is?!  Take a look at our awesome room!

Loved our room, very chic

It was so nice to find a note under our door that said….”open door for fresh muffins.”  Sweet!

Ahhhhh, we loved this

this photo via Amanda

We also came home the first evening to find these adorable make-up bags full of lotions and LOTS of deodorant.  It was so hot in NY last week, so we appreciated the goods!

The streets of NY are incredible, such energy everywhere you go.  This was directly to the left of us towards 5th Ave.

This was to our right, just one block from Time Square.  People EVERYWHERE always on the go……and always on cell phones

Love these streets.  Amanda and I walked all over them.

After Amanda and I got settled last Thursday we headed to SoHo area and ate at this famous mini food truck, Waffles & Dinges.  Talk about the best waffles ever!  Definitely worth hunting down if you are in the area

I’ll leave you with Amanda’s waffle

Up next is our Martha Stewart Blogger’s Party and more of the fabulous places we ate!

Thermador Event, Scottsdale Arizona

photo from google images

Last Wednesday through Friday I was fortunate enough to spend time with 19 other bloggers at the first annual, Now your “Steam” Cooking Thermador Blog Event.  They graciously put us up in the beautiful Gainey Ranch Resort in Scottsdale, AZ and boy did they feed us….well!

Thermador wanted us all to see an upclose and personal demonstration of their latest product…..The Thermador Steam and Convection Oven.  Watching the staff at Thermador show us all the bells and whistles of the oven really showed how passionate they are about this product.  It was amazing to see everything that could be done in a small but completely effective space.  I have been a fan of the Thermador brand since my competitive cooking days when I won a recipe contest to be in a cookbook of theirs.  Being in their gorgeous showroom and around the wonderful people who run their company just assured that they are a great company and brand.

I’ve posted probably one too many pictures of our trip, but thought I’d give you a run through of our time with Thermador   Also, see bottom of post for a list of all of the attendees

First stop was dinner at Mastros.  Delicious food. Really enjoyed chatting with everyone.

This shrimp appetizer was the star of the show.  Talk about gorgeous presentation!!

Thursday morning we all gathered in the lobby awaiting our 5 SUV’s to take us to the Thermador Showroom.

I have a weird thing for light fixtures!!

We got a full tour of their showroom and caught a glimpse of the chef preparing breakfast!!

Chef Kyle telling us all about the delicious breakfast.

You should have seen all 20 bloggers snapping pictures left and right through the entire event.  Was quite entertaining!  We’re such foodies!

A little oven demo.

Chef Kyle baking our tenderloin in the convection oven.

Time for lunch.

More foodie Paparazzi!  I have to say that I just LOVE the White on Rice Couple.  Todd and Diane could not have been sweeter sharing their incredible talent with all of us.  It was such a pleasure to spend time with them on this trip.

Lindsey firing up the torch for our creme brulee!

My roomie and food bloggin’ buddy Brooke from Cheeky Kitchen working those mashed potatoes.  They were so yummy!

My fellow OC buddy Shanna from My Favorite Everything.

Lunch was awesome hence the thousand pics I took of the beautiful food!

The creme brulee was adorable in these star ramekins!

This tomato jam was irresistible.  Shanna posted the recipe HERE.

Thank you Thermador for the incredible day in your showroom.  The food was out of this world, your staff could not have been nicer and your products are gorgeous!  Loved every bit of this trip

Thursday evening we had dinner at 5th and Wine Restaurant.  Pretty much had to roll myself to the vehicles after this.  Massive Food Coma, but oh so worth it

Had a fun gondole ride after dinner back at the hotel with Kristen, Brooke, Chris, Russell, Jennifer and Me   It was….the most interesting gondole ride I’ve ever taken, don’t think our gondolier enjoyed our silliness much!!

Here are the fellow bloggers I had so much fun spending time with in “Steamy” AZ!

Kristen Doyle – Dine & Dish http://dineanddish.net/

Tina Haupert – Carrots N’Cake http://carrotsncake.com

Katie Goodman – goodLife {eats} http://www.goodlifeeats.com/

Lindsey Johnson – DesignMom Blog www.designmom.com

Maria Lichty – Two Peas & Their Pod http://twopeasandtheirpod.com/

Ciaran Blumenfeld – Momfluential Media http://www.momfluential.net/

Diane Cu & Todd Porter – White on Rice Couple http://www.whiteonricecouple.com/

Shanna Coady – My Favorite Everything http://www.myfavoriteeverything.com/

Brooke McLay – Cheeky Kitchen http://www.cheekykitchen.com

Shaina Olmanson – Food for My Family http://www.foodformyfamily.com

Jane Maynard – This Week for Dinner http://www.thisweekfordinner.com

Jenny Flake – Picky Palate http://www.pickypalate.com

Jennifer Leal – Savor the Thyme http://savorthethyme.blogspot.com/

Russell Warnick – Endless Simmer http://www.endlesssimmer.com/

Sarah Freymoyer – Classy Mommy http://www.classymommy.com/

Jenna Weber – Eat Live Run http://www.eatliverun.com/

Tanya Patrice – I Ate a Pie http://www.iateapie.net/

Becky Bracken – She Knows http://www.sheknows.com/

Disclaimer: Thermador paid my travel, room / board, meal expenses for my time in Scottsdale, AZ however the opinions expressed in this post about their products are my own.  Thanks!!

Memorial Day in San Diego!

Tags: Seaport Village, USS Midway Museaum

We had such a fun day sight seeing in San Diego on Memorial Day!  The weather could not have been more beautiful.  We started off walking towards Seaport Village for lunch.  How adorable is Seaport Village?!  I hadn’t been there in years, there is nothing like walking around right by the water and feeling the sea breeze   Take a look at our trip through Seaport Village and the USS Midway Museum

The boys and I stopped for a quick pic before heading to lunch.

This picture is sooooo my boys!  They are like this about 90% of the day

The back part of Seaport Village around the restaurants.  I LOVE it here.

Waiting for lunch….

Some of us got Pizza from this cute pizza shop…..

and some of us got lunch at this yummy sandwich shop!

You know I had to take a picture of my sandwich before I ate it!!  How good does it look?

Hubby’s sandwich….yum!

Grilled cheese for the little guy!

Pizza was devoured, now onto the drink

Yikes!  I should have brought his toothbrush

I love this picture!

This is the cutest Fudge Shop, love their choice of colors!

I totally picked up some of these cute teaspoons, you’ll be seeing them in my photos soon

This balloon maker was incredible!  He made the best balloons I have ever seen.  Guess he’s been at Seaport for over 20 years!  You must visit him if you go!

The crazy fire eater!  Lol!

The boys loved this robot guy!  He was actually really good.

It was time for the aircraft carrier museum!

I think they enjoyed themselves

On the upper deck, LOVED snapping pics up here!

My guys are so cute!

I think they could have looked at these airplanes all day!

I’m sure they’ll hate that I dress them in the same shirts sooner than later, so I’m taking advantage for as long as I can!  I think it’s so cute

This statue was so awesome, it was ENORMOUS….hard to tell in the photo, but it was really incredible to see

Oh my, I was so excited when I saw the Fish Market Restaurant right next to the museum….this would be our dinner location!  We had a gorgeous view of the water from our table.  I had every intention of photographing my dinner, but my lighting was not very good and we were all STARVING

Love this picture….and his freckles

We had to steal the bread away from this little guy, he kept yelling “I love bread….and BUTTER!”  He pretty much filled up on this   This was the lighting I had to work with at dinner.  I kinda like it in this photo, but not so much for the food photos

Ice cream time!

Couldn’t help snapping all these pics of my cutie, love when they aren’t paying attention to the camera….which is most of the time

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Thanks for sharing our little day trip!

Bertolli Trip….Last But Not Least…Rocco DiSpirito

Tags: Bertolli LA Event

Photo via Pat.

Our last activity with Bertolli was a quaint meet and greet with none other than Rocco DiSpirito.  Our limo drove us to the beautiful Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire Hotel where we would meet Rocco for a “small bites” dinner at the gorgeous Culina Restaurant.  What a beautiful place it was.  Everything was just perfect there.  Take a peek at our time with Rocco   Thanks Bertolli!

Lovely restaurant!  Photo by Pat

One last group shot before meeting Rocco   Photo via Shelisa

Our fun place settings.  Photo via Briana.

Love this one of Rocco.  He was so much fun to chat with!  Photo via Pat.

Our lesson on fine wine   I don’t drink, but you better believe I ate!!  Photo via Pat.

We were all ooing and ahhing over these gorgeous flower bowls. They were all real flowers and were just beautiful!  My photo

Mandy and I were literally right in front of Rocco during dinner.  Yes, we were totally staring!  Lol!

Oh my gosh, I love this picture of Brittney!   Photo via Amanda

We watched the 4th video of “Into the Heart of Italy” before it was even posted online Photo via Pat.

Our fabulous “small bites”  dinner menu   Photo via Shelisa

I had to snap a picture of the fancy water we were poured

Before I took a bite, you better believe I had to get a good shot of this work of art!! Involitini De Manzo=Pure heaven!!  Thank you Chef Victor!

Oh man this was good too!  I snapped this photo of Caponata Di Carciofi….baby artichokes, this was really good too

This was probably my favorite!  Suppli Al Telefono….. Risotto and mozzarella?  Incredible!

Here is Chef Victor Casanova, he is incredible!  Rocco asked if he’d bring out the slab of Kobe beef to show us.  That square of beef is worth a small fortune!  Photo via Amanda.

Pretty!

Kobe beef in all it’s glory

After we ate dinner, we all got in line to have Rocco sign our cookbooks. Photo via Pat

I jumped in first

Hmmmm, I don’t even remember what we talked about!

I think I just laughed alot

Amanda…..you go girl!!

Cute Mandy and Rocco

Brittney with Rocco.

Sarah and Rocco   Photo via Pat

How adorable is this?!!  Yes, I snapped this one of Shelisa and Rocco   Love it!

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Photo via Pat

Congrats to entry #26 Allie who was chosen as the winner from Random.org to win a signed copy of Rocco’s new book.  I’ve sent you an email Allie

Bertolli Trip…The Best Gelato Shop Ever, Scoops and The Cheese Shop of Beverly Hills

Tags: Bertolli LA Event

Photo via Brittney

Right after we ate all we could stand at the Gourmet Food Trucks, we jumped back into our limo and headed to Scoops.  I really can’t begin to tell you how amazing this place was.  You just must try it for yourself.  The owner Tai Kim is the sweetest man ever.  He gave our whole party free Gelato.  Thank you Mr Kim!!  He creates very unusual different flavor combinations of gelato.  My favorite that I could eat all day was the lavendar honey.  YUM!!  The salted caramel and salted chocolate was amazing too!

Photo via Pat

When we arrived at Scoops, we ran into Chef Tal Ronnen who had a stack of his latest cookbooks with him.  He signed them and gave them to the Bertolli girls who picked 5 of us to take his book home (drew from a hat to make it fair).  I didn’t win, but Thank you Amanda for giving me your book!!  I am anxious to flip through it

Here I am with Tal, who was busy chatting with someone else

Photo by Amanda

Ahhhh, here is Mr. Kim.  If you are ever in LA you have got to stop at Scoops.  Love him and his cute shop!

Photos via Pat via Amanda

Photo via Pat

Photo via Pat

How cool is his little spoon chandelier?!

Photo via Pat

Amanda and I snapped pics of her Gelato outside, look at that!!

original photo of me by Mandy

Shelisa in heaven with her “scoops”   original photo by Mandy

original photo by Shelisa

Off to the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills!!  Photo by Mandy

What a gorgeous cheese shop this was, loved it and all it’s stinkiness!  Photo via Pat

Look at all this cheese!  Yum!  Photo via Pat

The nice cheese man let us all try a fabulous gorgonzola!  Photo by Pat

Mmmm, Prosciutto!  Photo via Pat

Love this photo I snapped

Wishing I would have got some of these chocolates!

Photo via Pat

Thanks for coming along with me as I share my gazillion photos of the Bertolli Trip

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Up next, last but not least…..our Hour with Rocco DiSpirito!!

Bertolli Trip….Chasing Down the LA Food Trucks!

Tags: Bertolli LA Event

Right after the Farmer’s Market we were off to chase the LA Food Trucks!  This was one of my favorite things we did last week with Bertolli!  We meet the adorable Sarah from Tastespotting who helped Bertolli plan our fabulous day around LA.  She is as beautiful as she is talented.  Sarah jumped on Twitter and found exactly where the trucks were.  We hit the jackpot, there were at least 6 trucks lined up ready and waiting to be sampled!!  Take a look at our tasty finds…..

Our first stop was the World Fare Truck which had this fun upstairs eating area.  We hung out here for a while and sampled one of everything on their menu.  Not kidding! Photo by Shelisa

Here we are on top of the World Fare “Bustraunt!”

They brought us brownies….cookies…

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes….

This darn Butterscotch Bread Pudding was too good for words.  I might drive back to LA just to sink my teeth into this again

How fun that these trucks are in a different location every day.  They tweet of their whereabouts and people show up….lots of people!  I can see why, the food is incredible!

These fried mac and cheese balls were ridiculously good.  Photo by Briana

Amanda modeling the inside of the mac and cheese balls!  I believe they were truffle mac and cheese balls, yum…

This was a medley of peppers….don’t remember the title of the recipe, but I remember they were fantastic

Cooks working hard!

Head chef Andi….how adorable is she!?  She was so nice too, came and chatted with all of us.  She is very talented.

Had some gorgeous shrimp plates from the shrimp guys.  I was so full by this point, I just looked

Mandy and I

Snapping pictures of….

These gorgeous tacos.  I remember being so full, but sampled a bite and YUM! Photo via Amanda

Jenny, Shelisa and I….full as can be.  Photo via Amanda

Jenny, Shelisa, Amanda and I.  Photo via Amanda

Sarah from Tastespotting, Amanda and I

Up next…..the best Gelato Shop ever and a Beverly Hills Cheese Store to die for….told you we took a zillion pictures!

 

Bertolli Trip…LA Farmer’s Market

Tags: Bertolli LA Event

As soon as we finished breakfast at the Griddler Cafe last Tuesday our next stop was the amazing LA Farmer’s Market.  We had so much fun browsing around and snapping hundreds of pictures.  I’m sure people thought we were nuts!  I thought I’d share some of my favorite photos from the market

Mandy and I getting ready to check things out

Heaven!

I had never heard of Rambutan.  How crazy does it look?!  Wonder what it tastes like?

There were dozens of gorgeous bakery shops.  I couldn’t help but snap pictures of the yumminess!

Wishing I would have ordered a couple of these!

The adorable Amanda   Photo by Brittney

Brittney and Jaclyn….photo by Mandy

Shelisa in action…photo by Mandy

This hot sauce store was hysterical!  Couldn’t help myself…had to snap a pic

You better believe I bought a bottle of this one

Gorgeous little candy shop….photo by Amanda

Sticker Shop….photo by Amanda

One of everything Please!  photo by Amanda

Uh….Yum!  photo by Amanda

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake…Photo by Amanda

Photo by Amanda

Love this picture Photo by Amanda

Good thing my boys didn’t see this, how fun does this treat look?!  Photo by Amanda

Mandy and I couldn’t help ourselves at this cute little purse kiosk.  She snapped this one

Shelisa took this one of us deciding what bag to get!  I ended up with the one I’m holding but in black…Love it!

After we bought our purses, we walked around the Grove.  Gorgeous outside mall/movie theater

Brittney found the Dancing With The Stars Band walking around at the mall.  Tried to sweet talk us some tickets but drats, they wouldn’t budge!  Photo by Shelisa

Shelisa snapped this one…heading back to the limo ready for our next adventure!

Up next….The LA Food Trucks!  YUM