July 12, 2007

Well, Kim and I just got back from the Fancy Food Show yesterday and we had 50 messages on the phone. We were only gone for 1 full day. Can you imagine?

We didn’t take the camera to NYC but I’ll tell you in one word what it was like, big. There must have been 5 thousand, conservative estimate, vendors. Rows on rows of vendors. We got to sample so many different products. I found a chocolate made with sheep’s milk and one with goat. I’m trying to get it in bulk rondos so I can make chocolates from it. It’s also lactose free, which is very nice.

We also sampled some avocado oils, maple sugar flakes, a thousand cheeses, a hundred olives, a dozen olive oils, a smattering of chocolates, fruits, veggies, hams, other deli meats, waters, yes waters, and plenty of soft drinks. We were expressly looking for some great soft drinks to supplement or replace the ones we have. We also found some great iced teas. Yum.

The maple sugar flakes were interesting. I’m going to incorporate that into some salads and other dishes and see what flavors I can get. I also loved the avocado oil. That was interesting. We didn’t have a plan this time around and just drifted from vendor to vendor. At one point, Kim and I split up. We had a fun time but the place is just too big to wander. We never made it downstairs to the organic pavilion or to any of the focused food tastings or anything like that. Kim took notes in the beginning. Next time, we’ll have to have a solid game plan and I’ll have to prelose about 20 lbs. I only prelost 8 lbs this time.

At the end of three hours the first day, I was full. At the end of 5 hours for the second day, I was stuffed. No wonder I gained so much weight.

We stayed at the Algonquin, yea! and at the Dylan, not so yea, and we ate at Perilla, which was great. I’ll have other articles about the Algonquin, the really bad buffet at the Dylan and their horrible restaurant, and about the great food we had at Perilla. But that will have to wait. I gained seven pounds at the fancy food show! Ouch.

We had fun but fighting the NYC traffic was not fun. Next time, I think we’ll register early, yeah, right, and stay only at the Algonquin or some other hotel. This moving from the Algonquin to the Dylan was for the birds.

Don’t worry. I’ll put in a review of the Algonquin, the Dylan and Perilla. Oh, and we met my brother, Johnny and his girlfriend Carla and my Mom at Me Bar, a great little bar on top of the La Quinta in Korea town. It has a very close view of the Empire State Building. The drinks were cheap and strong and we had a great little rooftop experience. All the trendy people were there, even the great Chef Mark. 😉 I had to give out autographs, ouch, I just pinched myself. Anyway, even without the attraction of the trendy set, which I thought was a little overrated, it was a nice secluded place for a drink in the broiling heat. The view is interesting. It was a real neck bender.