Wine, Food, Beer & Cheese.....uh?

Photo: Andrea Cannistraci

For the 4th year out of five years, I headed down to the Annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, now in it's 8th year. (I missed 2010 when I was in Morocco--well worth it!) This international showcase of the world’s premier wines, spirits, chefs, culinary personalities, and gourmet foods did not disappoint! And I invited my man, John Puopolo, along this year to indulge with me.

Since we are both huge Kimpton Hotel fans, we called Hotel Solamar home for the weekend. It's an amazing property located in the heart of the vibrant Gaslamp Quarter.

Our weekend of gluttony included a Belgian Beer Tasting & Cheese Pairing with Chef Daniel Joly (Mirabelle at Beaver Creek). This was all for the boy as I dislike "white" beers and we all know how I feel about cheese. I guess this is what being in love is all about :) And at the Reserve and Limited Tasting Event, it was more than just wine... There was scotch!  SipSmokeSavor was pairing scotches with chocolates...and I was in my glory.

It was a sunny San Diego Saturday for The Grand Tasting Event down at the Embarcadero where we ran into a number of unique luxury brands such as Chuao Chocolate, DelGrosso Sauce (yes the sauce from back home!) Wild Hibiscus, and Ca’momi Wines.

Back in my element in Fes

I feel like a real experienced Moroccan traveller now. We navigated the Fes medina flawlessly, negotiating parking with ease, and found Riad Fes without paying  a little kid one. single. dirham.

The medina of Fes is mostly souks....and the are narrow and steep. Many more tourists here. It's interesting to notice the subtle and not so subtle differences between the three cities of RAK, RBA, and FES. FES is def less orthodox--more Western clothes, more tourists, but still have an authentic feel to it. Olives and nougat seem to be the prized gems here.

And because I am such a hotel junkie, I have to comment on Riad Fes: it's wonderful. I'm definitely back in my element at this amazing 26 room Relais & Chateaux property. The Junior Suite on the second floor (I have my own private stairway up to the suite) is huge. The all white marble bathroom alone is bigger than the room at the riad in RAK! Dinner at the restaurant--complete with Moroccan wine (finally some alcohol!) was amazing. The house speciality is a lamb dish tossed in smoked onion jam with roasted potatoes--called L'hame M'hamer. Yummy. And the wine made it even better.