What's For Lunch: Grilled Brie with Apples and Fig Jam Sandwich

This afternoon I stopped in at the Boudin Bakery Cafe in the Macy's Union Square cellar to grab a much-needed lunch break. The grilled brie with apples and fig jam sandwich on the menu immediately caught my eye and I knew I didn't have to look any further. It did not disappoint, and I cannot wait to make my own version once I'm back home. This delicious sandwich featured brie and havarti cheeses, sliced green apples, and fig jam on a Parmesan-crusted multigrain bread. The perfect combination of sweet and savory flavors.

Meanwhile, what's that I said? I'm at the Macy's Union Square? There isn't a Union Square in Philadelphia!  Yep, that's right, I'm in San Francisco for the weekend. I'm here for the third annual Foodbuzz blogger festival. (Foodbuzz is the company that runs the ads on my blog, which you see on the right of the page.) The festivities start tonight with a welcome reception, dinner, and blogger award ceremony at the Terra Gallery. Tomorrow morning features session programming on topics related to food blogging, which will be held at the Foodbuzz corporate headquarters. Following the morning sessions, I will rue my decision to not pack fat pants by attending the Taste Pavilion, which will be held at City View at Metreon. The Taste Pavilion will feature over 60 food and beverage providers offering their products to taste. I took a look at the list of vendors who are scheduled to be there, and it looks pretty amazing. Tomorrow night's festivities include a cooking demo with Tyler Florence and gala dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The weekend concludes with a farewell brunch at Perry's on the Embarcadero on Sunday morning. I have a feeling that it's going to be quite the whirlwind, but I'm definitely looking forward to meeting, networking, and hanging out with my food blogging colleagues. And, unlike the last blogging event I attended, this time I will actually have updated business cards in tow (hooray!).

I most likely won't report back until Monday, but I'll be sure to give a full run-down of the sights, smells, and tastes of this food-centric San Francisco event. Have a great weekend!

Tastemaker: Godiva Coffee

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program, I was recently sent two bags of Godiva Coffee's latest seasonal flavors -- Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Pecan Bark -- to taste and review. I am not typically a coffee drinker (somehow I managed to make it through college without getting hooked on the stuff) -- I think I can count on one hand the number of cups of regular coffee I've ever drank. However, I am a fan of frou-frou coffee drinks such as mochas and lattes. Given this fact, I was interested to see how I would like these two seasonal flavors. With the first day of fall just one day away, I decided to start my taste test with the pumpkin spice flavor.

The verdict? I actually like it! Though I don't think I'll be adding a daily cup of joe to my morning routine anytime soon, I could see myself brewing up a pot of this coffee as a mid-morning or late afternoon treat. Since caffeine has never really affected my ability to sleep (perhaps one reason why I didn't drink the stuff in college), I could also see myself brewing up a pot of this flavored coffee to serve with dessert.

The pumpkin spice flavor itself is not too pronounced, but there is a definite cinnamon and nutmeg nose to the coffee that you sniff with every sip. Pumpkin pie spices are some of my favorite flavor combinations -- and drinking this cup of coffee inspired me to head back into the kitchen and do a little baking. Coming up next, the recipe for a pumpkin spice coffee cake. Because what goes better with a cup of coffee than a slice of freshly baked coffee cake? Well, aside from freshly baked donuts, of course.

Godiva Coffee is available nationally in your local grocery stores; to find a store near you, go to www.godivacoffee.com.

Project Food Blog

Foodbuzz, for whom I am a featured publisher, is sponsoring a contest called Project Food Blog in which nearly 2,000 food bloggers are "competing in a series of culinary blogging challenges for the chance to advance and a shot at the ultimate prize -- $10,000 and a special feature on Foodbuzz.com for one year." Sounds like a pretty tasty reward to me! For the first challenge, bloggers are asked to write a post about "what defines you as a food blogger and why should you be the next food blog star."

My New Year's Resolution for 2010 was to eat fewer processed foods. For January, I made it a goal to not eat any processed foods at all (or in the very least, eat foods that were only minimally-processed) -- as the months have passed I have become a little more lenient in what I eat, but the goal remains the same -- to reduce the amount of processed foods in my diet and increase the number of natural ingredients that I use and eat each day. I decided to start my blog as a way to keep track of what I was eating and hold myself accountable to my resolution.

Here's my first post about my plan here:

Saying Goodbye to Processed Foods

I was a (lacto-ovo) vegetarian for about a decade. In the past few years, I have slowly (and conscientiously) added meat back into my diet. To learn more about my thoughts on eating meat, check out this post here:

Meat Week

Monday through Friday I post an article about a recent meal I've eaten -- either one I've eaten at a restaurant or one I've made from scratch (or nearly from scratch!). Here are a few of my favorite posts:

What's For Breakfast: Eggs Florentine

What's For Lunch: Veggie-Stuffed Pita

What's For Dinner (or Breakfast!): Waffles with Vanilla Sauce

What's For Dinner: Enchiladas

What's For Dinner: Individual Crustless Broccoli Pepperjack Quiche with Mixed Greens

What's Baking: Mom's Banana Nut Bread

What's Baking: Apple-Pear Pie

What's For Dessert: Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Local food, farmers markets, organic, free-range, and sustainable farming practices are just a few of the buzzwords floating around the foodie world these days. As it happens, these are all very important things that I take into consideration when deciding what to buy at the grocery store or what to order at a restaurant. As a food blogger, my hope is that I can make eating fewer processed foods a goal that can be easily attainable by any of my readers by showing what works for me, through the ingredients and tools I use and recipes I make. Thanks for visiting!