This weekend was a jaunt to NYC with Nick, all in the name of my business, to visit the Fancy Food Show at the Javitz center. Can I mention that it's the best idea EVER to want to work with food companies? Made at least half a dozen really good contacts, and about 25-30 people to keep in touch with, spent about half an hour talking with a regional sales manager for Eden Foods (WHO was kind enough to give me the contact name for their Marketing Manager - score!) and was able to try some of the best food I've had in ages.

Highlights:
• Coconut Curry chocolate from Theo Chocolate: happiest thing I ate all day, and it turns out that the folks who make it used to live in Watertown/Cambridge!

• amazing brownies from Greyston bakery - apparently, they make the brownies that go into Ben and Jerry's. (on a biz-related note, I'm disheartened to find that they did their brownie packaging via a contest site for $300).

• Amazing Welsh cheddar, more tea than I could possibly imagine owning, and cute men with accents handing me food and wine.

• vegan cream cheese from Follow your Heart that was surprisingly good - as was the vegan cheddar.

• a lovely conversation with the owners of JT's barbeque, along with a sample of some of the best barbeque I've ever tasted.

• Finally getting to meet Melissa Kushi, founder of Sustainable Sourcing, who I've been talking to online for some time. What a sweetie - and her company is exploding, which is so good to hear.

• actually meeting the marketing guy from Food Should Taste Good, which is right in Needham Heights.

• meeting my direct competition (if I become the force-to-reckon-with I plan to become) and talking for a while about the needs of the industry, and the name of someone on the East Coast I might be able to get some work from :-)

• meeting at least three people who immediately said, "that's great! we were just thinking that we need to update our site" when I mentioned that I'm a designer.

In non-show-related news, I also got to meet Ilise Benun for coffee in Hoboken, get very positive feedback on my promo idea (which is good, because I already ordered the folders) and try some AMAZING Cuban food later that evening at La Isla. Yay for tostones, beans and rice, and Tres Leches cake!

AND, I came home to discover that I am officially Rife with Tomatoes, which shall be red within a couple of weeks, and that the tomato plants grew about a foot over the weekend. The rain may be annoying, but it's apparently really good for tomatoes.