Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to taste test this year due to an allergy. But I had taste testers with me.

Hope you enjoy hearing directly from these food entrepreneurs. Let me know what you think.

Thai Feast is brand new to the gourmet food market. The Winter Fancy Food Show was their 2nd show! They are a family owned business based in Dearborn, Michigan.

Their award winning restaurant, Bangkok 96 Foods, opened in 1996, almost 16 years! They created Thai Feast as a way to share their food with people who were moving away from the area.

There aren’t too many frozen Thai entrees on the market. Actually, I can’t even recall one brand. And Thai Feast is gluten-free.

Caroline V. Polly is the one featured in this video. She is dressed in a beautiful, traditional Thai outfit and got quite a lot of attention.

Pad Woon Seen – Sweet Potato Vermicelli, Tofu, Bok Choy, Onions, Red Bell Peppers with Sauce

Pad Thai – Rice Noodles, Chicken, Bean Sprouts, Green Onion, and Egg Flavored with a Fish Sauce

Pad Se’ew – Rice Noodles, Chicken, Broccoli, and Egg Flavored with an Oyster and Fish Sauce

My taste testers said that the flavors were savory with sweet notes.

Owner, Genevieve Vang’s fruit and vegetable carvings were featured in the Clint Eastwood’s film “Gran Torino”.

The premier food, wine, and spirits festival, SF Chefs, is returning August 1 – 7, 2011 to San Francisco’s historic Union Square. This annual gourmet culinary event promotes local restaurants and chefs and offers classes for industry professionals. After all, San Francisco is the epicenter for the slow food movement.

SF Chefs 2011 supports a good cause – the Golden Gate Restaurant Association Scholarship Foundation, which grants financial scholarships to students from the Bay Area entering culinary and hospitality programs.

Last year, I attended cooking demos by executive chefs Matthew Accarrino of SPQR Restaurant, Joanne Weir, and Gary Danko of Gary Danko Restaurant. I also got an exclusive interview with Chef Matthew Accarrino and attended the Sugar Party, where different interpretations of ice cream desserts were explored.

The SF Chefs 2011 schedule includes Preview Events, Grand Tasting Tent, Classes and Demos, as well as Parties.

Meet SF Bay Area chefs and food personalities such as:

• Charles Phan of Slanted Door and Heaven’s Dog
• Joey Altman of Miss Pearl’s Jam House
• Tyler Florence of Wayfare Tavern, Rotisserie & Wine, and El Paso
• Gary Danko of Restaurant Gary Danko

Check out Restaurant Week which is held in conjunction with SF Chefs 2011. Select restaurants will be featuring a two-course lunch for $20 and three-course dinner for $35. Some of the participating restaurants include:

• Crustacean
• Pacific Catch
• Sanraku
• Spruce
• Thirsty Bear Brewing Company

and many more.

Special Perks

If you have a Visa signature card, you’ll be treated to special perks like 20% off SF Chef 2011 tickets, priority admittance, and preferred seating.

This post is way overdue. I’ve been pregnant and super busy preparing for the baby. So here it is – my experience at this year’s Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco in January.

I came across Tisano Cacao Tea, almost passing this booth. There are so many booths, it’s difficult to look at every one. The lady at the Tisano booth grabbed me and asked if I’ve ever tried cacao tea. And I was intrigued! This cacao tea (chocolate tea) isn’t artificially flavored like most other chocolate teas.

Tisano Cacao Tea is made from the cacao plant. Cacao is the raw plant which cocoa powder and chocolate comes from. It contains a lot of antioxidants and Theobromine which provides a long lasting boost of energy.

I’ve seen the product labeled both ways, as “Tisano Cacao Tea” and as “Tisano Chocolate Tea”. They are slowly renaming it to “Tisano Chocolate Tea” to avoid confusion.

What does it taste like? Add some cream and it’s a dark, smooth, rich chocolatey dream come true! I love this tea! You can buy it now at Amazon.com or select Whole Foods locations. Try a free sample here!

Sukhi’s is always one of my favorite booths to visit at the Fancy Food Show. They always have a generous sample plate of delicious Indian cuisine. And after visiting their booths after so many years, they know us!

What’s new this year is a new line of frozen authentic Thai entrees – red curry vegetables and green curry chicken.

Want gourmet Indian food fast? Try Sukhi’s frozen entrees. Their samosas are so crispy and delicious! You won’t believe they were frozen.

Sukhi’s NaanWiches are great on-the-go. Their NaanWiches are now frozen for better shelf life. Check out flavors like spinach and tofu, chicken kebab, and chicken tikki masala.

WOW Baking Company makes wheat and gluten free baked goods. And boy, their baked cookies and brownies really deserve a wow! They are soooo good!

WOW’s chocolate brownie was my favorite. Moist and chocolatey, you can’t even tell that it’s wheat or gluten free. It’s absolutely delicious!

Ramar Foods International, owned by the Quesada family, has introduced a line of frozen Filipino food entrees named Kusina ni Maria (Maria’s Kitchen), after grandma Maria Quesada. Love Filipino food but don’t want to cook? Check out their frozen lumpia, pancit kit, and chicken adobo entrees. The back of the box even has a Tagalog lesson and a little history of the Quesada family.

Ramar Foods also owns Magnolia ice cream. What’s new? Magnolia tropical milk bars! I’ve been waiting for their Thai tea milk bars to come out.

And they were worth waiting for! Frozen Thai tea on a stick? Love! It’s creamy smooth, rich in flavor, and available at your local Asian grocery store.

Twelve Beverage makes alcohol-free, all natural, sparkling adult beverages. This was perfect for me since I’m pregnant.

Twelve Beverage got its name for a beverage you can drink from “12 noon to midnight”. They have 2 flavors – Original and Rouge, blended with herbs, spices, juices, and organic teas.

Original has citrus, pear, ginger, and fennel notes. Rouge contains notes of pomegranate, black currant, black pepper, and ginger.

SPI West Port, Inc, the company who makes Alo Drinks, has launched a brand new line of fruit-flavored coconut water with aloe (of course), called Coco Exposed. Yum! Coconut water is so refreshing.

The coconut water flavors are Mangosteen and Mango, Peach and Kiwi, Passionfruit and Pineapple, Wheatgrass, and Goji Berry and Lychee.

Xan Confections debuted their Coco Preggers dark chocolate truffles. They saw my pregnant belly and made sure I tried this sumptious chocolate with DHA and folic acid. So good and good for you!

I am in love with their Big Mouth chocolates! They are made of organic crisp brown rice and marshmallow base with a layer of our signature caramel and natural peanut butter covered in dark or milk chocolate.

Every year, I bump into some Food Network celebrity. This year, it was Duff of Charm City Cakes. He has a new line of cake decorating products.

Duff and his team made this cake that represented San Francisco. Pretty awesome, huh?

I missed Zhena of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea last year because she was pregnant. And this year, I’m the one who’s pregnant. She gave me great pregnancy advice, by the way.

This year, she had a contest to win a tea expedition to Sri Lanka. Zhena took winners to organic tea gardens, beautiful Sri Lankan beaches, and an elephant orphanage in January 2011.

She told me the inside scoop for this year – a new line of tea candles and tea-shirts. Check out her wide variety of teas.

Ito-En was also at the show. They have a line of teas called Tea’s Tea, which is marketed to Americans. I tried their apple green tea and it was juicy with a hint of green tea. They also told me they improved their blueberry green tea. But I still like the original flavor better.

I also visited the Brent and Sam’s Cookies booth. Chocolate chip pecan is their most popular flavor. These cookies are bite-sized goodness in a box.

There were 2 guys manning this booth and they wanted to get in this picture. Were they the owners – Brent and Sam? Stay tuned – I’ll find out next year!

Now that my appetite is slowly returning, I’m excited about the upcoming Winter Fancy Food Show coming to San Francisco’s Moscone Center in January 2011. I’ve been to 3 Fancy Food Shows, have always met great vendors, and discovered new and amazing specialty food products. Some of my favorites from last year were Sukhi’s biriyani, Alo Drinks new flavors, GreeNoodle, and Republic of Tea’s hibiscus tea.

Of all the things I blog about in the food world – specialty food products are what I’m most passionate about! I love trying all natural food products and have extensive grocery bills to prove it. I also enjoy trying new products sent to me from food companies.

Whenever I’m at the gourmet grocery store and I see someone struggling with the dilemma of which product to buy, I will step in and give them my opinion (whether they want my help or not). They usually do end up valuing my opinion.

It’s daunting to go to the grocery store  to browse so many products on the shelves, not knowing which product to buy. You can only choose based on the label and then take a gamble by buying it. If y0u don’t like the product, then you’ve lost your money. Specialty and gourmet food products usually cost more so they’re more of a gamble.

That’s why I love the Fancy Food Show. I can sample new products right then and there and figure out what’s amazing and what’s not. Then I share my favorites with you!

This year, the process to obtain a press pass is more stringent. I hope that they will approve me so that I can take photos. You can only take photos with a press pass. Otherwise, I will still enjoy the show as a regular attendee.

Check out my favorites from past Fancy Food Shows. I’ve gone to every Winter Fancy Food Show since 2007, missing only 2008 because it was in San Diego that year.

Past Fancy Food Show Posts:

2010

Fancy Food Show 2010 – Ethnic Foods

Fancy Food Show 2010 – Teas

2009

Fancy Food Show 2009 – Part One

Fancy Food Show 2009 – Part Two (Teas)

Fancy Food Show 2009 – Part Three

2007

Fancy Food Show 2007 – Acai

Fancy Food Show 2007 – Tea

Fancy Food Show 2007 – Finale

This weekend, August 27 – 29, will be the Eat Real Festival held in Oakland’s Jack London Square. The goal of Eat Real is to “support a regional food system by bringing farmers, food producers and eaters together”, quoted from their website. Eat Real Festival is a combination of local food, music, crafts, and film.

Events will happen concurrently on 4 stages. See schedule for details.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the events happening onstage:

Saturday

• Homemade Kombucha w/ Dara Marin of Sage Table
• Japanese Whetstone Sharpening w/ Josh Donald from Bernal Cutlery
• Home Roasted Coffee w/ James Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee
• The Art + Science of Home Brewing w/ Regan Long & Sarah Fenson of Local Brewing Co.
• Conquering the Crepe w/ Chef Robert Dorsey III of the Blue Oak Cafe
• Make Your Own Tamales
  w/ La Borinqueña Mexi-catessen

Sunday

• Chinese Noodle Pulling w/Chef Gordon of Ark Restaurant
• Kimchi w/ Delilah Snell of Backyard in a Jar
• Acid Cheesemaking w/ Mateo Rutherford of Green Faerie Farm
• Ultra Small-Batch Raspberry Jam w/ Dafna Kory of INNA Jams
• Makin’ Bacon w/ Chris Arentz of Avedano’s

Highlights of this year’s Eat Real Festival include:

• 80 of the Bay Area’s most delicious street food trucks and carts once again featuring select sustainable and local ingredients;
• Fermentation tasting stations featuring handcrafted beer, wine, kombucha and assorted iced teas and lemonades;
• Collaborations featuring Bay Area food craft producers;
• Urban Homesteading Zone highlighting a do-it-yourself lifestyle including canning and preserving, cheesemaking, animal husbandry, vertical gardening and more;
• An entertainment stage filled with music, pizza tossing, noodle pulling and the Flying Knives butchery contest;
• Literary festival with Bay Area writers taking to the stage to tell stories of food, from things eaten off the street to a food poetry slam;
• Outdoor short film festival;
• Fundraising Dinner for community partners. Tickets to go on sale in July.
• Eat Real’s community partners include La Cocina, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers and People’s Grocery.

For more info: http://eatrealfest.com/

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