Austin Food + Wine Festival 2015 (and Other Shenanigans)

A little recap of my weekend at the Austin Food + Wine Festival, and other FOMO shenanigans!

Y’all! As I mentioned in my last post, this past weekend was epic. It involved multiple venue and costume changes. Only in Austin can you go from a Drag Queen Bar Crawl to a polo match to Eeyore’s Birthday in the same day. True story. But the highlight was definitely the Austin Food + Wine Festival.

Yes way, rosé!

If you aren’t familiar with Food + Wine, it’s a weekend chock full of awesome celebrity chef demos, events like Rock Your Taco (hehe) and Sips + Sweets, tons of restaurant food samples, and loads of booze. This was the 4th year Austin hosted the event and I’m sure next year will be even more epic. Bottom line: if you like food and/or wine, you should be there. I think that covers everyone, right?

It was so great to see my favorite wine expert and paella chef Lisa!

My BF Tim Love ran the super popular hands-on grilling demo. It was probably 90 degrees that day, and the sun was as strong as a Polvo’s margarita, but a little Texas heat couldn’t keep people away from the meat. Tequila also helped.

Photo by Hayden Walker of Austin Food Magazine. 

Grills gone wild.

Grills gone calm.

I snuck into the chef’s tent where I saw the likes of Richard Blais and other chef presenters! And by snuck, I mean I was invited.

Gail! <3 her.

Gail & Richard Blais hug it out.  Blais busting out the liquid nitrogen. Glad I wasn’t in the front row for this one!

Total KitchenAid chef porn!

So this happened. Just when I didn’t think Graham Elliot could get any cooler.

Photo by Hayden Walker of Austin Food Magazine. 

How wore it better?

Photo by Hayden Walker of Austin Food Magazine.  Well, the one on the right is.

And of course, this wouldn’t be Texas without brisket.

Photo by Hayden Walker of Austin Food Magazine. 

Sundae Funday with Lick! Lady Bird Lavender Crisp was insane. (Photo by my friend Jane– go follow her on Instagram!)

(Hi Tieks!)

And then this. A sample from the not-yet-open modern deli Lox, Stock & Barrel! Can. Not. Wait.

And that was just one day! The rest of the weekend I escaped from the hoi polloi with a polo match. 

Everyone needs a Vineyard Vines whale hat. Huh.

Horsies!

I also managed to meet up with my new friends Simone and Jennifer!

They were in Austin for a Paleo conference, and also to film a demo for their new cookbook of paleo Jewish food called Yiddish Kitchen!! I’ll make sure to update y’all when it’s out, but in the meantime, here is some gluten free bagel porn.

I’m not lying when I say these bagels were delicious not just for a gluten free bagel, but for any bagel. So impressed. 

The one mildly appropriate photo from the Diva Drag Bar Crawl. Let’s play which one is the real woman!

And last but certainly not least, a dinner with Camp Campbell at Olive & June! Camp Campbell brings together an exclusive community of young female change makers to inspire thought leadership and foster creative collaboration. It was such an honor to be included.

Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison! She was so inspiring. “Ask people for help along the way. It’s a strength not a weakness.”