Sweet Noshings Book Tour: Part III

It’s the third installment in the hat-trick/trifecta/trilogy of Sweet Noshings Tour posts!

(Check out Part I of my tour here and Part II here.) Can you believe I’ve done 27 events for Sweet Noshings? I sure can! Each one more magical than the next. Speaking at the world-renowned Omnivore Books in my new home of San Francisco was a dream come true. A whole store full of cookbooks! Drool. We had a full crowd, including my friend Kristin.

(Try not to be too distracted by the MEAT book to the right of Kristin.) And of course I made Boozy Pomegranate Cake.

Next up, Cherry Hill, New Jersey! I was on a panel with Jen (a professional bridesmaid. For real! I’m tired just thinking of all those bachelorette parties) and there were lots of lolz.

Q: Do I need my own personalized step-and-repeat?

Aforementioned lolz.

I even managed to get a bagel while in town!

Then straight to Houston! Check out this stage. Wow!! This crowd had excellent questions, and I hadn’t even fed them yet.

I finally got to meet the amazing Yael!

And Sarah too!

They had my Boozy Pomegranate Cake and Espresso-Cherry Mandel Bread ready to nosh.

And the crowd went wild.

From Houston, it was straight to Horseshoe Bay, outside of Austin, for one of the coolest and most challenging events.

I was a guest chef at the annual Jazz + Wine Stroll! But it wasn’t just signing cookbooks and kissing babies. Day 1, we made dinner for 250. I was in charge of the appetizer, so I did a riff on my Roasted Beet Salad with Pickled Carrots, Lemon Cream, Mint and Almonds. But a little fancier.

Can’t be beet. 

You bet I peeled all those beets. 15 hours of roasting, chopping, pickling and emulsifying later, and salads were served. Ta da! I added arugula, beet puree and some edible flowers. Everyone loved it!

250 salads ready for serving. We plated it assembly-line style on a conveyor belt, which was speedy yet fun. I felt like I Love Lucy as the salads flew by me in need of edible flowers!

We introduced our dishes to the happy strollers!While prepping salads, I was also getting the ingredients ready for my demo the next day. Bourbon and Coffee Braised Brisket! I was a little nervous that the non-Jewish crowd wouldn’t get my shtick, but it was beyond great! We bonded over HEB and whiskey shots, and I really felt the love from the crowd. 

After the demo, we served up brisket samples to 600.

Maybe I’m crazy to serve my braised brisket to a bunch of smoked brisket Texans, but it got rave reviews! Such a fun two days. By the time I crawled into my incredibly comfy Horseshoe Bay bed later that night, I was exhausted. The HB chefs were so nice and funny and helpful with my prep, it almost made me want to work in a kitchen. Almost. But by the time we were done (and they were off to late night karaoke! Oy!) I was missing the chill blogger life. 

After a little break, I headed to Rochester. Have you been? The home of Kodak is so charming! I even got to try some local Jewy brunch at the too cool for shul Radio Social. This shakshuka was so good! I need to go back for the Baklava French Toast with Tahini Maple Syrup (!!!)

Before my shpiel, I made my black and pink cookies on the local news.

Almost showtime!

Laughter abound!

A quick stop in Marin at a Beyond Bubbe event where I talked all about my amazing Bubbe. This was a fun one, because she’s just the best! And more rugelach for everyone.

Last stop for now, Boulder! For their inaugural Colorado Jewish Food Festival in the Mile “Chai” City. Hehe.

My boyfriend tagged along and we made a weekend out of it.

Have you been to Boulder? It’s too cute!

We hiked (aka drove up a mountain and modeled for ModernTribe). 

And checked out the amazing edibles food scene. Blackbelly, owned by MOT Hosea Rosenberg, was a real highlight. We loved sitting in the open kitchen and learning how to make sauce out of meat scraps.

The cocktails (and sushi too) at Japango were also drool-worthy.

I did two events, schmoozed, and sold some ModernTribe swag! Over 1,000 people attended the fest!

I served some of my Baklava Spiced Rugelach with my morning spiel, because my jokes are funnier when you’re eating cookies. Fact.

In the afternoon, it was a hands-on class with OneTable. We made apps and another class made tasty cocktails! And then we got together and noshed and sipped. The group did an awesome job with my Everything Bagel Pickled Beet Deviled Eggs.

Apples, Honey and Goat Cheese Crostini.

And Bagel, Lox, and Schmear Bites!

See ya later, Boulder! <3