Guest Post

Hey Everyone! Click here to check out my guest post on one of my favorite blogs ever, Paisley Petunia.

xoxo,

H

SobeWFF 2011- Closing Party

Time to wrap up my adventures to the 2011 South Beach Wine & Food Festival . Blisters and all we trekked the 8 blocks to Guy's BIG Beach Bar & Grill. After the very long and excited weekend we had, I have to say this closing party was QUITE disappointing! Only a couple Chef Hunt sightings:

Andrew Zimmerman

Guy was there but never came out of the VIP area, in fact no one did. :(

Geoff from Ace of Cakes

 The other guy from Ace of Cakes...name anyone? I am blanking!

Anne Burrell smiling right at me!

That was it.

Pretty lame party, if you ask me. In retrospect, shoulda gone home to watch the Oscars.

I cannot complain though, since I didn't pay for the tickets, he he.

So long SobeWFF, see you next year!

XOXO,

Heather

SobeWFF 2011- Grand Tasting

Day 3 of my trip to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival 2011 took me to the  Whole Foods Market Grand Tasting Village. Here is me waitin in line at 10am, one glass of wine down already! ;)

First up for the day was Emeril's Demo:

Quite boring actually, he gives me the creeps. Anyone else?

Next up, Claire Robinson Book Signing:

Such a sweetie! I heart her!

Then rush over to the Michael Symon demo:

Then back over for his book signing:

J'adore his laugh!

Then back over to Bobby Flay Demo:

Then back over to his book signing:

Bobby & Sam

Then on the way to the next demo, look who we ran into:

Aarti Party! So sweet and gracious!

Finally made it to the Anthony Bourdain Demo:

Yes folks, thats a PBR in his hand! Hilarious!

A peek into the Debi Mazar show (who gave my friend Sam a shout-out in front of everyone, cause they are twitter buds!) Fun!

 

At this point we took a break from demos and book signings and actually made it into the tasting tents! Holy wine and food overload! I personally made it a rule to not try anything that involved a fork- hand held foods only. Of course, I broke that rule a few times with beauties such as this:

After tasting all of the delicious bites and numerous glasses of wine, it was back to business...Chef Hunting!

There is something Badass and sexy about him, no?!

Then back in line for Paula Deen Book Signing.

 Paula and Her husband Michael. Not like I HAD to have his signature, but I got it anyways.

Then a bonus Deen, Bobby!

Cutie Patootie!

Quick Glance at the Tyler Florence Show

And we were ready to head out. Blisters and all, we had a closing party to go to! 

 

SobeWFF 2011- Kidz Kitchen

Day 2 of my trip to the South Beach Wine & Festival was to the Kellogg's Kidz Kitchen. Yes, you are supposed to have a kid with you, but I went with Sam & his mom, so doesn't that count? I was celebrating my 8 3/4 birthday after all! ;)

Now, let me tell you about going to an event like this...you HAVE to go with others, and you have to divide and conquer to be able to see/do it all! While one is on line for one show, the other can be in line for a book signing, and that's exactly how we did it! It's a long, exhausting day, but sooo worth it! Just take a look:

First up, Rachael Ray Demo:

Then I ran into Tony the Tiger:

Then on to the Cat Cora Book Signing:

such a sweetie!

Rocco DiSpirito Demo:

Rocco Book Signing:

Lastly, Giada De Laurentis Demo:

so sweet, such a good show, very gracious.

She even stayed to sign books even though it wasn't scheduled!

That's her signing my book!

An exhausting but super-fun day. I have the blisters to prove it! :)

SobeWFF 2011- Shine & Swine

Sorry for the delay in posting about my whirlwind weekend at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.  I hope you will forgive me! :) I have finally recuperated, but now I just hope to remember all the important details. Let's see how I do...starting with the first event SHINE & SWINE.  (That means moonshine and pig, for those not in the know!) Held at the W Hotel in South Beach and hosted by Adam Perry Lang, how can you go wrong? Well, let me tell you! First, I should tell you that the tickets were won by my friend Sam, by writing a poem about Lee Schrager, genius behind the festival. We find out he won at the last minute and immediately head down to Sobe to live it up. All was good until I get a call 5 minutes from Sobe that Sam, bless his heart, was swatting a spider (A spider!) in his car driving down to Sobe using the FedEx with the tickets in it, and the tickets. flew. out. the. window. NO.JOKE. So then, we went to plan B. Show up and somehow get in. Well, the foodie gods were looking after us that night, cause we walked right up to the women in charge of tickets, told her our story, and got right in (Thanks Ashley!). The event itself was kind of a dud-totally wouldn't pay $100 for the tickets, and the star, Adam didn't show his face once, but we stumbled upon the best spot to stand in the whole party...the entrance/exit to the VIP section. Here is where we had the time of our lives! Check out who stumbled upon us....

That's Jamie Oliver!

Lee Schrager, Genius behind the festival

Rachael Ray!

Also met Art Smith, but his photo is on Sam's camera, since I was taken off camera duty after my flash didn't go off when I took a picture of him and Rachael...

Sorry Sam!

All in all, a pretty exhilarating evening. I must say, I didn't sleep at all that night I was so excited!