Elevation Burger Blogger Event

elevation burger - giant 10 patty burger

Being a huge fan of many bad-for-you foods, I was pumped when I heard about the Elevation Burger Food Blogger event. After all, don’t most all of us get a craving for a big, juicy burger once in a while? (Granted we don’t always want a giant 10 patty burger like the one pictured above – this one was just a prop for photo purposes).

In the increasingly crowded Austin burger scene, new burger joints are popping up all over the place next to established favorites. With all of these choices, how do Elevation’s burgers stack up? (bad pun I know…)

Click here to see what we thought and for more gratuitous burger photos

Guest blog from j9online – Marinara: Tomatoes…and Basil…and Squash… Oh My!

J9's Marinara Sauce

This post is courtesy of our great friend and Blogger Jeaneane McNulty from j9online!

Sometime around late July/early August, my garden gets unruly. It’s getting enough water (thanks to my handy-dandy timer-controlled drip irrigation system), an abundance of sunshine, and not enough human attention, so the things that like it hot start to get a little, um, “frisky”. One day, I noticed a pile of very ripe tomatoes where my countertop used to reside. Curious, I ventured out of the AC to check on the growing things and – gasp – the basil is bolting! The eggplant has suddenly produced a dozen ripe fruits! A mega-squash is visibly lengthening on the vine and the bell peppers, while copious, are tiny from overcrowding.

Folks, it’s time to stop the madness and make some marinara!

Click here to read about marinara mania!

Parkside x2

Trinchero Cabernet Sauvignon

  • Trinchero Cabernet Sauvignon

For as long as I can remember, I have been more than willing to try any food, and really, any drink, at least once.  After all, isn’t a sense of culinary adventure the key ingredient to being a foodie?  Part of my adventurous nature is inherited from my Mexican lineage – memories of my childhood include pig slaughters, fish frys, and barbacoa for Sunday breakfast.  The other side is continually nurtured by wonderful people I meet along the path of food discovery – a motley crew of cooks, mixologists, and people who just love to eat.  Mollejas (sweetbreads)? Sure. Chicken liver pate? Bring it on. Duck rillette? Um…do you really have to ask?

Continue reading about the Tastingbuds’ Parkside adventure

FoodingBlog is now TastingBuds

We thought we were original using the name Foodingblog, but about a week ago we found out about a certain popular French company that also uses the word Fooding in their name.

Because we wish to respect the intellectual property of others, Foodingblog has now changed its name to TastingBuds, because that is what we are – a bunch of friends who love food and tasting all the world has to offer.

While we are sad to see the old name go, we love the new name because it better describes who we are and what we are all about (several of our Twitter followers have already commented that they like the new name too). Speaking of which, our Twitter address has changed too – we are now http://www.twitter.com/tastingbuds

If you liked our old blog, don’t worry – you will still have access to all of the great posts that were here before thanks to our techies Jon and Peter. We also have tons of new content planned for the next few months, so be on the lookout for more.

Thanks, we look forward to sharing more posts and making more friends in the food community!

Happy Tasting,
Peter

10 Rosés with the Chrontourage

wine score card

One of my friends recently posted the following on his Facebook status: Prosecco is the new Rosé.  While I love this sparkling Italian wine, and drink it quite often, I can’t imagine it will ever fully replace the rosé.  Rosés are among the Fooding bloggers’ favorite summer wines, and we have featured several in Jon’s Random Wine Wednesday posts.  Incidentally, Jon took a short hiatus from writing while he prepared for final exams, but Random Wine Wednesdays will return next week.

So what happens when our resident wine geek is swamped with grad school finals?  Well, he sends a couple of stand-ins to the Chrontourage** Rosé tasting event and hopes for the best. Peter and I were absolutely happy to comply, and just one look at our score card (pictured above) will show you how much fun we had with this assignment.  I had two things in mind as we tasted each wine: whether I would purchase it and what type of meal it would accompany. Since we shared a score card, the writing is tiny and pretty undecipherable, so see some of our tasting notes below.

  1. Segura Viudas Brut Rosé – Spanish Cava; we both loved it and would definitely purchase
  2. Chateau de Campuget Rosé – Neither of us were impressed; nothing distinctive about this wine
  3. Cruz de Piedra Rosé – This one was ok, but neither would purchase
  4. Gran Fuedo Rosé – Strong alcohol aroma; would not purchase
  5. Marques de Caceres Rosé – Another one with an alcohol aroma; would not purchase
  6. Mulderbosch Rosé – a Fooding blog favorite; would definitely purchase
  7. Goats Do Roam Rosé – light and fresh; would purchase
  8. Becker Provencal Rosé – Crisp and refreshing, with pear and strawberry notes; would purchase
  9. Columbia Crest Two Vines Rosé – I thought it was a little on the sweet side, but Peter said it was well balanced; would purchase
  10. Menage A Trois Rosé – another sweet one; would purchase; distinctive berry flavors

The wine tasting occurred just in time to get us through the final stretch of this never ending 100 degree summer.  The very knowledgeable staff at Twin Liquors in the Hancock Center walked us through the tastings, answering questions and providing bits of information we would not have known otherwise.

One final note: Prosecco, I love you, but Rosé will always be my summer fling.

Cheers!
Kristina

** Chrontourage = the Austin Chronicle’s promotions team + fearless leader Logan Youree

Click here to see the rest of the post

Flavor tripping party in Austin with the Berry Fairy

Flavor Tripping with the Berry Fairy in Austin - The buffet

Recently, we were invited to a flavor tripping party hosted by the Berry Fairy, Jenny Wang. We’ve already written about flavor tripping tablets here, so this article will cover flavor tripping with the actual Miracle Berry fruit and combine tasting notes from TastingBuds Peter and Kristina.

Click here to read about the Berry Fairy’s Flavor Tripping Party

Pictures from Behind the Scenes of the Austin Cupcake Smackdown and Pre Smackdown TV interview at Walton’s Fancy and Staple

Austin Cupcake Smackdown Pre Party - Baby Cupcake

This weekend was a crazy one in the world of Austin Cupcakes. Jennie Chen organized the Austin Cupcake Smackdown 1.0 which brought together dozens of local bakers in a blind taste testing competition to see who’s cupcakes would reign supreme (similar to Foodingblog’s very own cupcake tasting challenge located here).

Foodingblog played a part in this incredible event as Peter was selected to be a judge in the Amateur baking competition and he was also interviewed during the coverage of the Austin Cupcake Smackdown by FOX 7 Austin here (fast forward to 2:50 it see his interview on Giovanni’s vegan Dulce sin Leche cupcakes).

If you missed either the Pre Party or the Smackdown event itself, don’t worry. Foodingblog has you covered. Peter brought his camera along to both events to get a behind the scenes look at the events of the weekend.

Click here to view selected photos from the weekend and continue down to see the full gallery below