The 2nd San Francisco Adventure: Part III

The morning of the second day of the second trip to San Francisco in the second week in a row for the second chocolate trade show in SF, I was ready for most anything. What I was not prepared for, however, was the lack of familiar faces at the conference. I was expecting many of the same artisans to be there, like

*getting references from previous blog posts*

*finds a decent example*

Siamaya Chocolates, Socola Chocolates, and Codinha Chocolatiers. I saw a few from last time, such as the very large POP Toffee and the very crowded and popular Amano Chocolatiers. But aside from that, I saw virtually no one that was reminiscent of last time. Also, there was no longer a lecture corner, like there was last time, and keep in mind that this is still the same building we're in from last time we were here two years ago. The lectures were instead held in a separate building no more than 50 paces away.

Additionally, there seemed to be many more vendors who were not selling chocolate or candy; rather, they hawked jewelry, watches, and I even recall one booth selling both jams and a real estate adult-type thing, which I will never understand until I'm older; that may sound childish, but I'm just too lazy to get a thesaurus. As a direct result, the ratio of chocolate to other products went down quite a bit, and this meant I got through all of the chocolatiers much faster than last time. This therefore resulted in us having maybe three hours on our hands, with which to do... we had no idea, actually.

However, I did find a few new chocolatiers that I do sincerely hope stay around, for their very aesthetic bonbons and very imaginative bars, like rose and pistachio and a cherry bonbon shaped exactly like a cherry, with a "pit" (or "stone", if you're from the land of the Brits) made of peanut brittle. I stopped by the ever-present Goufrais to get some for my brother and father, who both love them. This is a common theme in my selections: the palettes of my family and friends; I rarely taste bonbons and the like, which leaves them to my peers and relatives, which means I must consider what would appeal to them. I would rather taste bars, where the chocolate is what's important, rather than bonbons, where the filling is what's important.

After the show, we went to see a panel discussion 50 paces away with three influencers who focus their content around food. It was very informative, and I;m glad we went, even if our original purpose was to kill time before the flight back.

After that, we still had maybe two hours to go, so we went and got lunch at an Italian restaurant (I'm proud to say this is the first time I've eaten an entire pizza), and went to a bookstore. There, I found two books: one about food science, which has been invaluable, and a book with the title, xkcd's what if?, with the concerning subtitle, Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, and contains chapters answering questions such as "What would happen if 1 by 1 by 1 cubes of each of the 118 elements was gathered at the exact same time in the exact same building?" and "What if every person in the world jumped at the exact same time?".

If you know me at all, you would know this is exactly the type of book you would find me reading at two in the morning, trying to distract myself from the great philosophical questions in my mind, like "Does a 'spirit' in the spiritual sense exist within us?" and "What happens when an unstoppable force meets an unmovable object?".

All in all, I would consider this particular trip to be more informative and, I daresay, a great deal more fun than almost every other chocolate-based trip I've been on, with the possible exception of the first UnConference, for the reason that I met Snooky and Anne there, and therefore opened up quite a few new opportunities. As an aside, while we were on the plane, there was some delay to takeoff, and I struck up a conversation with the person sitting next to me. He was very interesting: he was a bronze-caster (someone who casts bronze, in case you didn't know); reading a book about how snakes influenced our evolutionary instincts of fear and fight-or-flight responses; and he was intrigued by the book I was reading, The Flavor Equation, which was a gift from Anne and is a book about food science, a cookbook, and how multiple elements of our eating experience (emotion, sound, taste, etc) come together to form flavor.

I would like to thank Marc, for kickstarting my chocolate journey, Snooky, fr all the laughs and an excellent tour of Dandelion, and most importantly, my grandfather Perry (whom I call Zayda), for being with me everywhere I go in chocolate, and for assisting me with nearly everything I do. Many, Many thanks to all of you.

This is me outside the County Fair building, the same one it was held in two years prior. I've made many memories inside that slab of concrete and fluorescent lighting, and I was happy that this one met the same standards as last time.

This is me at Bon Fiction, a classic. I had seen them last time I was there, and they were equally as good as when they were there before. I have always admired their flavors, such as rose and pistachio, or mango and chili.

This is me with one of the chocolatiers from Micheal's Chocolates. They had some excellent and creative bonbons, and coincidentally, he looks exactly like my friends' dad.