My First Food Blogging Conference

It's been a year since I started this food blog. In that time I've eaten, written, and learned a lot. But I truly didn't know how much I don't know about the world of food blogging until I attended the BlogHer Food conference in San Francisco. On this brilliantly sunny Saturday in October, I played sponge for a day, soaking in ideas, words of wisdom, tastes, and tips.

Some key learnings and insights:

- Food blogging really hasn't been around that long. It's estimated that fewer than twenty food bloggers existed in 2003.  Many old-timers have been blogging only since 2006. So this whole world has exploded in just the past four years or so.

- Many very successful food blog sites exist that I had never even heard of. Some get over 100,000 hits a day, or have over 200,000 registered users. We even have food blogger celebrities. Check out some of the blogs from people who spoke at the conference: Michael Ruhlman (he even has groupies), Serious Eats, Simply Recipes, Gluten-Free Girl, and the Pioneer Woman. We newbies have a lot to learn from these leaders in the field.

- I sat down at breakfast next to a nice looking woman. What a delight when I found out she is probably the world's #1 food stylist. Delores Custer is a legend, having worked and taught in the field for thirty years, including teaching at NYU and The Culinary Institute of America, and with Julia Child on her baking cookbook. I loved learning so many tips and tricks about what makes food look mouthwatering, such as white plates best highlighting food visually, using tools like steam irons to make cheese melt just so on top of chili, and how food styling has changed since the 50s. What a treat to meet Delores and learn from her wealth of experience. 


- We took a tour of the Ferry Building and learned a lot about its history, architecture, and incredible array of food available there. We also participated in a fun scavenger hunt, taking photos of various food items in the building. For lunch I had a delicious and quick steamed chicken bao and iced Vietnamese coffee from Out the Door. I ate it outside by the bay while people watching. What could be better?

- Food bloggers are a fun and passionate group of people: mostly female (at least at this conference), interesting, supportive, and in love with food and writing. Here no one had to apologize for their foodie obsessions, sharing in minute detail what they ate for lunch, the latest recipe under development, or how to make homemade almond milk. We could talk about the craft of writing, sharing our anxieties and triumphs in the way that writers do. We're all unraveling the technology, potential, and platform of blogs. I loved learning what other bloggers are passionate about and what they're doing, learning from a variety of seminars: recipe writing, storytelling, building a blog brand, food styling, writing tips, food photography, and building an online community.

- I ordered three books after the conference. Dianne Jacob has written a new edition of 'Will Write For Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Reviews, Memoir, and More' which includes an entirely new section about blogging.   I've already read the first edition of her book but wanted to order the new version with its blogging guide. I also ordered Anthony Bourdain's new book 'Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook', after reading an interesting and convincing review on Michael Ruhlman's blog.   I have Bourdain's 'Kitchen Confidential' and 'No Reservations' books and enjoyed them both, and had a memorable Kepler's Bookstore sponsored dinner with him at the Left Bank restaurant a couple of years ago. Finally, I ordered Delores Custer's 'Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera' which took her fifteen years to write. It looks absolutely gorgeous, inspiring, and extremely informative. And I'm still so thrilled that I got to have breakfast with her.

I love discovering that there's so much more to discover about food blogging. For me it's a hobby, a creative outlet that combines writing, food, the Internet, and phototography. Now I see it's also a community, both in person and online, and a way to connect with others. The conference exceeded my expectations: I learned what I need to learn and do next to cultivate this blog. Time to get started.

Apple Upside-Down Cake from America's Test Kitchen

Now that fall has arrived, what better way to enjoy autumnal apple flavors than with an upside-down cake? It's a wonderful dessert using fresh apples from your local farmers' market or from your own trees. The flavors are divine, a change from the usual apple pie and pineapple upside-down cake, something different yet familiar. The cake turns out beautiful once revealed and released from the pan.

I saw this recipe demonstrated on the television show America's Test Kitchen, my favorite PBS cooking show. Using meticulous attention to detail and a scientific approach to testing various recipes, ingredients, tools, and methods, America's Test Kitchen chefs create recipes that satisfy. Watching the chefs prepare this cake convinced me to go online to print out the recipe and try it.

My primary addition to the recipe is adding a teaspoon of cinnamon to the apples when adding the brown sugar. I'm a big cinnamon lover, and love combining apples with cinnamon in recipes. My favorite cinnamons are the ones from Penzey's Spices, especially the Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia and the Chinese Cassia blends. I've tried all of Penzey's cinnamon varieties, and love their cinnamon sugar too for an easy way to add a lovely sweet fragrance and flavor to oatmeal, cinnamon toast, muffins, etc.

Now what about the delectable results? First enjoy the intoxicating smell emanating from the oven while the cake cooks. Then wait patiently for the cake to cool while your stomach grumbles, first for twenty minutes on a wire rack and then for another twenty minutes once it's inverted from the pan. Waiting makes your mouth water even more, and the anticipation creates an overwhelming urge to dig in. Then comes the payoff, the moment when you can finally take your first bite. The combination of warm, tart, cinnamony apples with butter and brown sugar makes a luscious fruit topping. And the buttery yellow cake underneath has just the right firmness, texture, and cakey goodness to complement the apple topping just so.

All the little details in the recipe add up to create this scrumptious confection, from slicing the apples in two batches with different thicknesses and cooking times, to the additions of sour cream and cornmeal to the cake batter, to using firmer Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples to prevent sogginess. Everything works together in perfect harmony, all the effort and waiting are worth it, and the cake not only looks beautiful but tastes fabulous. This cake makes a great dessert for any fall day, an autumnal treat that will not soon be forgotten.

The website requires user registration in order to access recipes, but it's free, easy, and worth it. Without further ado, here's the recipe, adapted to include my cinnamon addition. Enjoy.

Apple Upside-Down Cake

From the episode: Old-Fashioned Fruit Desserts

Serves 8

You will need a 9-inch nonstick cake pan with sides that are at least 2 inches high for this cake. Alternatively, use a 10-inch ovenproof stainless steel skillet (don’t use cast iron) to both cook the apples and bake the cake, with the following modifications: Cook the apples in the skillet and set them aside while mixing the batter (it’s OK if the skillet is still warm when the batter is added) and increase the baking time by 7 to 9 minutes. If you don’t have either a 2-inch high cake pan or an ovenproof skillet, use an 8-inch square pan.

Ingredients

Topping

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter , cut into 4 pieces, plus extra for pan
• 4 Granny Smith apples or Golden Delicious (about 2 pounds), peeled and cored
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar (4 2/3 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon high quality cinnamon such as Penzey's Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia
• 2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon

Cake

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (5 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal (optional)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (1 3/4 ounces)
• 2 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. FOR THE TOPPING: Butter bottom and sides of 9-inch round, 2-inch-deep nonstick cake pan; set aside. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Halve apples from pole to pole. Cut 2 apples into 1/4-inch-thick slices; set aside. Cut remaining 2 apples into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Heat butter in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. When foaming subsides, add 1/2-inch-thick apple slices and cook, stirring 2 or 3 times, until apples begin to caramelize, 4 to 6 minutes. (Do not fully cook apples.) Add 1/4-inch-thick apple slices, brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice; continue cooking, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves and apples are coated, about 1 minute longer. Transfer apple mixture to prepared pan and lightly press into even layer. Set aside while preparing cake.

3. FOR THE CAKE: Whisk flour, cornmeal (if using), baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside. Whisk granulated sugar, brown sugar, and eggs together in large bowl until thick and homogeneous, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in butter until combined. Add sour cream and vanilla; whisk until combined. Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into pan and spread evenly over fruit. Bake until cake is golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.

4. Cool pan on wire rack 20 minutes. Run paring knife around sides of cake to loosen. Place wire rack over cake pan. Holding rack tightly, invert cake pan and wire rack together; lift off cake pan. Place wire rack over baking sheet or large plate to catch any drips. If any fruit sticks to pan bottom, remove and position it on top of cake. Let cake cool 20 minutes (or longer to cool it completely), then transfer to serving platter, cut into pieces, and serve.

Technique:

• 1. PRECOOK APPLES
  Precook half of apples in butter to deepend their flavor and reduce their volume, allowing more to be added.
• 2. ADD FRESH APPLES
  Add raw apples, brown sugar, and lemon juice to pan, then cook briefly to preserve fresh flavor.
• 3. PRESS INTO PAN
  Transfer apple topping to cake pan and gently press into even layer.
• 4. ADD BATTER AND BAKE
  Spread batter over apple topping and bake.
• 5. SET AND COOL
  Let cake cool in pan for 20 minutes to help set apple topping, then transfer to cooling rack to keep cake bottom dry.

Facebook Feeds

Facebook is everywhere you look--in the movie theaters, bookstores, and online. With 500 million users, it's the virtual place to be when you want to connect with your friends. It also happens to be a Silicon Valley success story, headquartered in Palo Alto next to the Stanford campus. Even though Facebook started in a Harvard dorm room, its move to the Bay Area has been key to its success.  It's here that Facebook has found its home.

So where do Facebookers like to eat? Based on information in two books written about the company ('Accidental Billionaires' and 'The Facebook Effect'), news articles, and in-person sightings, here's a list of some of the local places that feed the Facebook folks:

- The Counter, an inventive customer burger franchise on California Avenue in Palo Alto, the same street as Facebook's headquarters. My husband saw Mark Zuckerberg eating dinner there one week night recently. The Counter has something for everyone with its checklist of items that you can choose from including type of bread, patty, sauce, and toppings. If you haven't tried it yet, you should. Be sure to order the killer sweet potato fries.

- Village Pub, an upscale gourmet restaurant in Woodside. A splurge destination for a romantic meal or special occasion, the Village Pub was also the setting for a dramatic meeting that Mark Z. had with some VCs. The food is divine, and the service top-notch.

- Antonio's Nut House, a quirky dive bar that has notoriously moody wait staff. It also resides on California Avenue and is a popular hangout for Stanford students.

- China Delight, located just a couple of blocks from Facebook's previous office location. China Delight is one of many Asian restaurants in downtown Palo Alto. I've never eaten there, but have often enjoyed nearby Jing Jing's, as well as the Classico Gelato shop and artsy fartsy Aquarius Theater on the same block.

- University Cafe, an airy coffee house on University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto. It's a good place to meet for coffee, breakfast or lunch, and a great place to people watch with a constant stream of pedestrians strolling by.

- Finally the Old Pro, a sports bar also located in downtown Palo Alto. Even though Mark Z. said he wasn't planning to see 'The Social Network' movie, he and the other local Facebookers attended a private screening of the movie at Mountain View's Shoreline Century Cinemas on opening day. They celebrated later at an after party with appletinis at the Old Pro. If you see the movie, you'll understand why they ordered that particular drink.

Kudos to all the Facebookers and 'The Social Network' movie makers. You're making history and may be on your way to some Oscars too. Cheers!

Craving Kara's Cupcakes

What is it about cupcakes that's so sweetly satisfying? Of course there's the sugar, the marvelous mix of cake and frosting, and the incredible new flavors at gourmet shops sprouting up across the country. But it's more than that. Eating cupcakes creates an emotional connection to the past, evoking warm memories of birthday parties, baking in the kitchen, and celebrating with family and friends. Cupcakes are not an everyday treat; they're something special to enjoy on worthy occasions.

Cupcakes are also wonderfully accessible. It's a smaller commitment than buying a cake, everyone can choose the flavors they want, they look festive, taste fabulous, and can be eaten by hand. Cupcakes are adorable, and gourmet versions elevate the category, opening up incredible innovations for the dessert table.

One of my favorite local gourmet cupcake spots is Kara's Cupcakes in Palo Alto. They have five locations in all including San Francisco, San Jose, and Napa. They even have a mobile KaraVan to bring the cupcakes to you for special events. They cater for weddings and parties, and make an extra special dessert for any reason to celebrate.

What's most wonderful about Kara's, as they aptly promise, is that they bring 'a sophisticated twist to an old fashioned favorite.'  At Kara's you don't order just ordinary chocolate and vanilla. Oh no, you get to order from an array of enticing flavors such as Meyer Lemony Lemon, Raspberry Dazzle, Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Ganache, Passion Fruit, and Java. I have to admit I've tried about a dozen of the flavors (!) although I had to do so as part of a consulting project I was working on (no, really!).

One weekend after brunch at Hobee's, I took my three kids to Kara's and let them each choose a cupcake to have after dinner for dessert. As we ate them later, I asked each one to describe their cupcakes to me. Here's what they said:

Jacob chose Coconut, a chocolate cupcake with coconut cream cheese frosting. He described it as having creamy, flaky coconut frosting, with a delicious coconut flavor that's stronger than the chocolate flavor. It's like a Mounds candy bar in cupcake form.

Valerie chose Kara's Karrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting. She said it had a yummy cream cheese frosting, walnuts, nutmeg, and raisins. She said it was moist and just as delicious as chocolate. Her strongest endorsement: "Mmmmmm."

Amanda chose the most sophisticated flavor, Fleur de Sel, a chocolate cupcake with ganache frosting, a sprinkle of fleur de sel on top, and caramel filling. She chose this flavor because it was filled. She described it as a dark chocolate cupcake with salt on top. Very moist, with a sweet caramel filling. It had an extra strong dose of sugar, nicely balanced by the salt.

I chose Sweet S'mores, a chocolate cupcake with graham cracker crust on the bottom and toasted marshmallow frosting on top. To me, this cupcake exemplifies what's so great about gourmet cupcakes. It transforms the traditional s'mores dessert into a whole new, mouthwatering form. The burnt marshmallow topping was fluffy and light, the chocolate cupcake moist and flavorful. The crumbly graham cracker crust had an utterly delicious, buttery toffee flavor. What a great combination of textures and flavors, and an impressive improvement on the original. The flavors danced on my taste buds.

The hardest part of eating Kara's Cupcakes is resisting the temptation to go back for more....and more!  They're that good.

Lee's Sandwiches

I love walking into a new food store or restaurant and instantly knowing I've found something authentic, different, and good.  I'd heard about Lee's Sandwiches for a while and thought I would finally investigate.  The closest one is in Sunnyvale so it was not along my usual driving route. Lee's offers mostly traditional Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, a wonderful combination of French baguette and Vietnamese fillings. It also has European style sandwiches, breads and pastries, Asian drinks and smoothies, and desserts. The company started in 1981 with a catering truck in San Jose. It has since grown to dozens of retail locations in California, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma. Lee's Sandwiches represents both a wonderful melding of Asian and French cuisines, and American entrepreneurial zeal.

It takes several visits to get a good sampling of Lee's offerings. There's so much to try! The company's website gives a good overview of the menu, complete with photos,  descriptions, and nutritional information. I truly enjoyed the vegetarian sandwich with fried tofu, vermicelli, bean curd, yam, carrot, house pickle, jalapano, cilantro, salt, pepper, and soy sauce all tucked into a soft baguette. I also loved the BBQ pork sandwich, which had the same tangy pork that's in Chinese bao. I also savored the grilled chicken sandwich with its soft baguette featuring just enough al dente on the crust, nicely seasoned chicken pieces, and crunchy julienne vegetables. The grilled pork sandwich is similar to the BBQ pork sandwich (I prefer the more flavorful BBQ pork to grilled). My daughters gobbled up the more familiar ham & cheese baguettes, a nice option for the less adventurous and for kids. What delicious sandwiches! The combination of spicy, tangy, savory, and sweet flavors, the soft bread with crunchy vegetables, and the melding of red, green, orange, and other colors makes for a satisfying new kind of fast food meal.

To top off the sandwiches, Lee's has many unusually tasty drinks.  The Thai iced tea with tapioca pearls features a refreshing black tea with sugar and condensed milk flavor, a pumpkin orange color, and the dark, chewy tapioca pearls which find their way up the extra large sized straw. Many different smoothies also tempt the palate. These are quite large, and in between what I think of as a smoothie and a milkshake, so be forewarned that either you drink up with an equally large appetite, save some for later, or share. The avocado smoothie was so unexpected and yet familiar with its green color, smooth texture, and unique creamy flavor. It was like drinking a guacamole elixir, with no salsa or chips needed. The mango smoothie was sweet and refreshing, more of an Asian mango flavor (such as Indian mango lassi) and probably more likely something kids would enjoy. I always opt for the big, chewy tapioca pearls at the bottom of smoothies. I also enjoyed the coconut delight dessert, which is like coconut Jell-o. It's not for everyone but I found its light coconut flavor and wiggly Jell-o texture a refreshing finish to my meal.

Here's hoping a Lee's Sandwiches will move up farther north and closer to Menlo Park. I have no doubt it would be full of hungry, happy customers as soon as its doors opened. I'd be first in line, eating my way through the menu.

Buck's of Woodside: Wacky and Wonderful Top 10 List

10. Friendly and comfortable for families, entrepreneurs, ladies who lunch, and the occasional celebrity.
9. Great breakfast menu including killer coffee cake and Buck's buckwheat pancakes.
8. Unique Silicon Valley landmark, and a fun place to take out of town visitors.
7. Situated in wealthy Woodside just a short drive from Highway 280, Sand Hill Road and Stanford University.
6. Shaquille O'Neal's size 23 shoe displayed on the wall. No kidding.
5. New York steak sandwich with 7 oz. NY strip, lettuce, tomato, and onion strings on sourdough toast.
4. John McEnroe's mangled wooden tennis racquet from a match against Jimmy Connors.
3. Dining next to an anaconda skin, narwhal tusk, and Cracker Jack prize collection.
2. Silicon Valley start-ups have gotten funded and launched here including Yahoo, Netscape, PayPay, and Hotmail.
1. Hot crab with melted cheddar on sourdough baguette: Buck's most popular sandwich, with good reason. Try it!

Jelly Belly, the World's #1 Gourmet Jelly Bean

They can rot your teeth. They have little nutritional value. They're not natural, organic, sustainable, or low in carbon footprint. But we love 'em, because they taste so good.

It's our family tradition to stop by the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield on our way back from Lake Tahoe where we vacation every July. This gives us something to break up the long drive home, and eases the inevitable end-of-vacation letdown.

Stepping into the Jelly Belly factory, shop and restaurant center is like entering a cross between Chuck E. Cheese's and the candy store of your childhood dreams. It's meant to get your children and the child in you excited, and it works. Where else can you get a piece or pizza or a hamburger in a jelly bean shape? The factory tour line can snake out with a wait time of almost an hour, but where else can you indulge your Willy Wonka candy factory fantasies? For us the highlight is the large shop which offers every kind of Jelly Belly you know about, lots you've never heard of, all kinds of branded merchandise, chocolate candies, and even lower priced Belly Flops, the jelly beans that came out misshapen but still taste great.

We have to set some ground rules before we head into the shop. Usually everyone can choose whatever confections they desire, as long as the total amount comes up to about two handfuls. Yep, that seems like a lot and it probably is. The kids fill up their bags with a mix of their favorite flavors. I usually get a pre-packaged bag of whatever strikes my fancy. Last time I tried the pomegranate flavor which I enjoyed not only for its tart, fruity flavor from real pomegranate juice, but also because it has Vitamin C and antioxidants added in. Jelly beans for the health conscious--who woulda thunk? My other favorite flavors include raspberry, black licorice, tangerine, and sizzling cinnamon.

Brad goes for the unusual, including buttered popcorn and jalapeno. To me the buttered popcorn flavor tastes bizarre. It just doesn't translate well from the original food to jelly bean form. And forget about the jalapeno for me, although Brad loves them and often gets jalapenos on his pizzas, in his omelets, and in his burgers.

Jacob's favorites include black licorice, sizzling cinnamon, and mint mint chocolate chocolate chip. Valerie has a hard time choosing favorites but loves lemon lime, root beer, and tutti-fruitti, while Amanda's up for most flavors like watermelon, bubble gum, and green apple.

Not only does Jelly Belly offer its fifty regular flavors, it also has extended its offerings to include Sports Beans (to give exercisers some carbs and electrolytes), Cold Stone Creamery ice cream flavors, Sunkist fruit flavors, Cocktail Classics, and BeanBoozled trick flavors. BeanBoozled jelly beans are nauseatingly brilliant when you think about it, with each normal flavor having a lookalike disgusting twin.  The top banana flavored bean has an evil twin that tastes like pencil shavings. The trick is to know which is which without actually having to taste barf, skunk, rotten egg, or booger flavors.  I remember once Brad's father Brian bravely tried a barf flavored Jelly Belly. He declared it sweet and tasty, and laughed at himself since he knew his sense of taste obviously wasn't as acute as it used to be!

It's also fun to experiment with Jelly Belly recipes which require combining different flavored beans to create something different. Did you know eating two cappuccino beans, one cream soda bean, and one chocolate pudding bean equals tiramisu flavor?

Jelly Belly has a fascinating history, a classic American success story. The brothers Gustav and Albert Goelitz emigrated from Germany and bought a candy store in Illinois in 1869. The family's second generation invented Candy Corn around the turn of the century. In 1960, the family's fourth generation based in Oakland expanded the company to include jelly beans and America's first gummi bears. The first eight Jelly Belly flavors were born in 1976: Very Cherry, Licorice, Lemon, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Root Beer, and Grape. Gustav Goelitz's descendants continue to make more than a hundred kinds of candies over 140 years after the brothers arrived in the U.S.

So if you're driving back from Lake Tahoe or Sacramento and want something sweet and fun, try some candy from the Jelly Belly factory and shop in Fairfield or the standalone shop in the Nut Tree shopping center. Your mouth will be happy.