foodbuzz and fancy cooking

this weekend i had the pleasure of attending the foodbuzz food blogger festival here in san francisco. i met some awesome new food blogger-y friends and enjoyed so much free stuff they really did spoil us; cocktails, kitchen gadgets, wine, beer, chocolate, jam, salt....i could go on and on though i must say my biggest score was a bottle of olive oil from the olive oil tasting....perfect timing as our bottle just ran out.

and of course tasting and talking about food all day put me in the mood to cook cook cook.

sunday started off by forgoing our usual weekend bagel trip for homemade breakfast of waffles and tempeh bacon (devoured...not pictured).


then what for dinner? well anytime we're looking for a big dinner project the artful vegan seems to be the place to turn. i think this was the first time i actually made complete recipes from there...usually they overwhelm me so i just pick and choose bits from a few recipes and put them all together in my own way. somehow it seems less daunting that way. this time we chose three appetizers to make (please forgive the poor lighting, setting the clock back is bad for food blogging)....

olive, eggplat and black beluga lentil caviar on toasted crostini


cumin-balsamic roasted mushrooms


heirloom tomato stack with bitter greens, avocado, basil and curried hazelnut mojo dressing


all in all a fun and delicious weekend!

-d