This is a monster of a pictorial post. I loved making photographs of our Sunday afternoon and capturing our time there and all the wonderful food we saw and ate. And I hope I make you hungry.
On Sunday afternoon, Scott, Skylar and I went to the Taste of Adams Avenue
Needless to say, elastic pants are a good thing. We ate so.much.food and probably only punched our cards at 10 restaurants, maybe even less.
Some of the portions were like mini-meals, not just “samples”.
Let’s break the day down by ethnic cuisine.
Thai: a spicy vegetable curry, rice, and a fried wonton
Skylar loved the wonton! Fried dough, cmon. Good stuff.
Vietnamese: Spicy chicken, black bean & basil tofu, mixed brown rice, and a fried sesame ball
And I taught Skylar how to hold food for the camera.
Hold it still, don’t create shadows on the food, open palm, don’t shake.
Her little 4 year old hand did great, right?
The sesame ball was awesome.
Sweet dough, that’s been fried, and filled with some kind of sweet-ish paste. <– How could that not be wonderful.
Italian: Margherita pizza with basil
Perhaps my favorite images of the day are these three pizza images.
Shooting directly on top of wood with natural lighting in the restaurant. Loved it.
I wanted to make pictures of pizza all day!
And perhaps Skylar’s favorite food of the day.
She wanted to eat pieces of pizza all day.
Mexican: Beef tacos with spicy sauce, onions, and lime juice.
Mediterranean: Hummus, a yogurt-ish sauce, naan/pita bread, chicken, and veggies
Skylar’s in heaven with pita bread, naan, hummus.
Ice Cream is its own category. So much ice cream!
And there were more places we didn’t even make it to that were serving ice cream!
Ice Cream #1: A Mexican ice cream shop. Pick two flavors.
Raspberry + Cookies & Cream. This was not a “sample”. This was a full-on bowl of ice cream!
We hated it. Kidding.
Ice Cream #2: Viva Pops. Some vegan flavors.
It was a key lime sorbet-like treat.
Scott, who I would not desribe as a key lime guy at all, said this was the best thing he ate all day.
Better than pizza, tacos, or anything else. That’s high praise.
And Skylar loved hers, too. I cannot eat ice cream and I don’t even like anything ice cream related. It gives me a horrible stomachache so I didn’t try the Viva Pops.
I want to have Vanilla Banana Avocado “Ice Cream” instead! I know I’m safe with what I make in my own kitchen!
Ice Cream #3: Softserve with vegan options
Ice Cream #4: if you count these ice cream-ish Starbucks drinks
I like that picture.
Skylar liked the actual drink better than I did.
Start ’em young on Starbucks, right?
We had a great day of family fun!
Lovely weather: 75F, sunny, no humidity, no bugs, no big crowds, no parking hassles.
And we enjoyed eating our way up and down Adams Avenue.
Skylar’s favorite(s) of the day: pizza and ice cream
My favorite of the day: the sesame ball
Scott’s favorite of the day: the key lime Viva Pop on a stick
We can’t wait to do it again!
Thanks to Marisa at McFarlane Promotions for our tickets.
And I ran into Amanda, who won my Taste of Adams Avenue Giveaway, but neither of us remembered to take photos! We were clearly in a food coma.
From my last post, Pretty Salt, it sounds like many of you have tried pink Himalayan salt.
And there are some serious salt lovers, too. Not me, I’ll stick with sweets over salts.
Questions:
1. Have you ever been to a Tasting Festival?
I love these types of events, because for $20 to $30 bucks (sometimes less, sometimes more), you can get more food than you could ever eat.
You get a diverse selection of food from whatever an Italian restaurant chooses to serve to whatever the Mexican restaurant dishes up. Can you see what incredible diversity in food there is in just a couple city block span here? Another reason why I love San Diego.
I have done tons of events like this in the past and they are always so much fun.
The last one I went to was the Greek Festival a couple weeks ago.
And I have also done plenty of pub crawls in my former life. Same concept, but with alcohol. You can “sample” and “taste” drinks from many establishments. And the stories are always epic from pub crawls.
2. Is there diversity in the food in your area or neighborhood?
I grew up in rural Minnesota. There wasn’t much diversity in the meat, potatoes, and tuna casseroles that were found in the corn fields my “neighborhood”. Boy, how times have changed and I am happy that Skylar loves trying all types of foods!
She’s 4 and she was a bottomless pit and loved sampling it all!
3. Best thing you ate or did over the weekend?
If you’re just catching up on posts from over the weekend, here are mine since Friday:
- Pretty Salt
- Dark Rum Caramel Sauce (and FoodGawker and Tasteologie liked my pics which was my #2 highlight of the weekend behind the festival. Photography and improving my own skills means everything to me lately!)
- Cookie Monster
- New Camera Bag
- What I’m:
- KISS + Winner
- Juicy
Have a great week!
I have never been to anything that huge – just smallish ones. I don’t think I’ll be going to any in this little town either, but maybe someday I can make a trip out of it. All of your photos are gorgeous.
Skylar’s hair is so LONG!!! And of course her favorites are pizza and ice cream- she’s a smart 4 year old. :)
That looks like so much fun. I’ve never been to a tasting festival, but I’d love to try it.
Awesome photos. And the icecream looks so delicious. My favorite is black currant. Feel like having one right now! :)
that sesame ball looks amazing!!!!
Oh my gosh, I LOVE things like this!!! It looks like SUCH a fun way to spend the day!
How fun. You know that pizza is what called my name though ;-)
These are all beautiful photos and it looks like you had an amazing time!
I spent most of my weekend at Comfest, a local, community festival (as the name implies!) Lots of love, good music, and laughter.
That looks like so much fun! Philadelphia has a food festival, but you have to pay individually. Like the “samples” you had, they’re so big that I’m full after three or four, but it’s still good fun. I used to live in Astoria, Queens. It’s the mecca for diverse food. I miss the bagels, Columbian plate, Greek tzatziki and Mexican tacos. So good! A few months ago my boyfriend and I went back and got all the street food off our old corner. We were stuffed and it was delicious. I guess every day is like a food festival in Astoria!
YUM! I love events like this where you get to taste a little (or a lot ;)) of so many awesome foods. I’ve never had a sesame ball – that looks amazing. Glad y’all had fun- cute pics!
Awesome photos! Loved “sharing” your tasting experience with you. My best tasting experience was in May during the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival – some of the best restaurants in town participated, it was amazing.
Sadly, we live in the suburbs of Atlanta, so there are mostly chain restaurants around us. There’s usually an annual Taste of.. event for the area that we live in, but places like Outback and Chick-Fil-A were there last year… so, yeah.
Looks like it was red bean paste inside that sesame ball. Those things ARE amazing. Love them. Bets thing I ate this weekend were some Peach Blackberry Mini Pies that I made both Saturday and Sunday. Nom nom nom…
I remember your posts about the ATL Food & Wine festival. I was reading them from Aruba and we were exchanging emails about F & L in Aug :)
And I lived in NC and then in Myrtle Beach SC and Outback and Chick-Fil-A and Bojangles and Cracker Barrel were pretty much all she wrote. And Nascar cafe :)
Red bean paste, yes! thank you!
That looks like a dream day to me! Everything looks AMAZING, Averie. You are such a talented photographer. I love traveling along with you as you joyfully discover this new passion of yours. And I agree, those pizza shots are out of this world! Pictures on wood are always so lovely. See, the problem with me is that I am NOT passionate about photography, just cooking and eating. So, I have to force myself to spend time on the photos for my blog. I should just get you to fly over here and be my professional shutterbug! xox
your pics are always soooo beautiful though! seriously, if that’s what your “not caring too much about it” pics look like…if you did begin to care, you’d be a professional in like… a week b/c your pics ROCK!!!!
shooting on wood, the best. love it.
xoxo
That looks like a blast!!
I’ve never been to a tasting festival, but I’d like to! There is one in the fall in my city, I think!
I live in a diverse city, so the food options tend to follow suit. I love trying new things! For being so small, it’s pretty awesome for vegan dining too.
Best thing I did over the weekend? Beach and Whole Foods hot bar. Hands down.
That looks like such an amazing afternoon! I’ve been to a few tasting events- most notably the NYC Veg Expo and the chocolate show. Both were absolutely AMAZING! Here in PA there’s not too much diversity, but in New York…well, it’s New York. Tons of diversity, and I love it!
Best part of my weekend….spending lots of time with several groups of high school friends. Love them so much!
DROOL! I shouldn’t have looked at this before breakfast. Now I want to eat everything, and think my oatmeal is just going to be lame after your amazing taste adventures!
It looks like you and your family had a wonderful time!! I would love to go to a tasting festival!!!
Ahh I would have ‘hated’ that ‘sample’ size ice cream too! ;D I have to say you take some beautiful photos!! And I know I’ve said this before but Skylar is such a cutie! :) You look like you had a lovely family day!
Thanks for the compliments on my photos and Skylar. It was a great day :)