Wow, the past 48 hours have been intense—such massive, massive news. Suffice it to say, I have had trouble tearing my eyes away from the news reports and focusing on writing my column (and I can’t just blame these monstrous allergies that came out of nowhere to attack me and knock me down, blergh).
This past weekend at Pebble Beach Food & Wine was quite the culinary and cocktail and vino whirlwind—I can’t believe what epic spring weather we scored this year. I managed to hit the Grand Tasting Tent on Saturday, two fascinating wine tastings, the delicious Tom Colicchio Tribute Dinner, and a little after-party action. Here’s my slideshow on Flickr of the weekend, with a bunch of fun chef sightings.
My highlight of the entire weekend, however, was interviewing chef Daniel Boulud. He kindly hung out with me for half an hour, and to escape the noise of the tent, we held the interview in the back of a Lexus (the event sponsor) parked out front. (Hey, Lexus—you should make some cars into official interview pods next year, it was perfect!) I will post interview highlights in the next week—I had to get this column out first! Kudos to Coastal Luxury Management for yet another year jam-packed with talent and great tastes.
Since this past weekend knocked me out, and I’ve been feeling the call of a spring cleanse, starting on Cinco de Mayo, I’m going to be taking it easy for the next three weeks by going vegetarian and laying off the sauce. There are a few events where I will have to fall off the wagon, like the Swamp Cabbage fundraiser event where I’m going to be judging jerky, and hello, the Star Chefs event will certainly pose some sobriety/vegetarian challenges. But otherwise, I’m looking forward to some time to back away from the ever-decadent temptations in my life.
A few more events for your radar: please don’t forget the SF Chefs Unite dinners for Japan are this weekend, please take a look! And Sunday, we salute our delightful mothers—I have a lineup of some Mother’s Day places here in case you still haven’t figured out what you’re doing yet (you better get on that!).
Lastly, did you know next Thursday May 12th is Bike to Work Day? It’s a great way to get inspired to hop on a bike—and you’ll have lots of encouragement to do so. City streets have been better than ever to ride on lately, with many more changes underway, so I hope you’ll check it out!
Enjoy the sun, hop on your bike, and I’ll see ya in the vegetable aisle!
Interviewing chef Daniel Boulud at Pebble Beach Food & Wine (yes, in the back of a Lexus).View tablehopper Newsletter from Tuesday, May 3 2011
