Fancy Food Show 2008 San Diego

The Fancy Food Show was held in San Diego this year and while I really missed my favorite stops in San Francisco (Kara's Cupcakes, shoe shopping in the basement of DSW and dinner with my cousin Shelly who know every amazing place to eat in San Francisco) I had a lot of fun in San Diego. My friend Aven joined me on this trip. She just purchased a fantastic health food store so she was so much fun to go with. She was excited by all of the great products and was always on the lookout for glutten free items. YUM??


We stayed at the beautiful W San Diego.
Our room was a bright and cheerful.

It had a fun chalk board on the wall.

There was a fantastic lounge that had heated sand and lots of beach chairs.

I was so happy to be there in the sunshine while everyone back in Utah was in the snow...Ha.

I am afraid I was a bit of a bore on this trip (poor Aven). We spent a lot of time watching movies in the room. We watched Hairspray and Gone Baby Gone which I loved. I also read the book Into thin Air...which made me realize I will not be climbing Mt Everest anytime soon.

San Diego Top Ten:
1-San Diego Airport is amazing. It is so open and airy. It is also so close to downtown. As soon as I land in a new city I start worrying about missing my flight back to SLC. It took like 15 minutes to get from the convention center to the airport so there was nothing to worry about.

2-The weather was fantastic for the last 3 days we were there.
We ate dinner at an italian restaurant in the gaslamp district. We sat outside on the patio and the weather was perfect! I had a plate of amazing risotto.

3-The Mass Transit system was so easy to navigate. We rode the train/trolley to Old Town San Diego one afternoon and had Mexican food there. While we were there we walked into this surf shop that had all of these old skateboards hanging from the ceiling.

I took these pictures for Jake I knew he would think it was as awesome as I did.

4-I got a signed copy of one of my favorite cookbooks Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey.
5-Walking to the convention center every morning in the beautiful San Diego air.
6-Walking around the harbor.
7-Watching the movie Enchanted in an old theater in the Gaslamp district. Aven and I were the only people in the theater. It was like a private screening.
8-Eating Dinner with two of my very favorite people in the world Barbara Emmerich and her husband Bill. We ate at this fantastic restaurant Kimo Sabe. It is an Asian Fusion restaurant. I love eating with Barbara Emmerich and her husband Bill. They are the true definition of Foodies.
Aven and I split an nut encrusted piece of Brie with Jalapeno Jelly, Grilled Squaw Bread, Chile Rub Tortilla, Honey Roasted Garlic and salad greens....yum. Barbara and Bill ordered bacon wrapped Mexican prawns...oh my gosh amazing. Then we ordered a couple of main dishes to share.
The dish I ordered was named Good Things Growing it was a mix of roasted vegetables with a portion of the profit from this dish going to the humane society...love that. The main dish's were ok but I must say the best part were the appetizers and the dessert
Lets just talk about the dessert......I ordered Warm Gingerbread Cake with a ginger sauce and ice cream. This was the best thing I ate during my whole trip to San Diego. Yummm.
9-Seeing all of my specialty food friends.
10- New Food Finds from the Fancy Food Show

Valerie Confections- They make an amazing Black Pepper truffle. I loved it.

David Rio Chai Tea-This chai tea is amazing. It is just the the perfect combination of spices.
Bo's Best Selling Pancakes. Ok I did not actually try these but I think the packaging is fantastic. All of the bags have a cute little pancake person on the front of the bag.