Eat Real(ly Good Food) Fest

This weekend I made my first visit to Oakland, and it wasn't scary! Apparently we were in the one "touristy" part of Oakland (Jack London Square), so maybe that explains it.

John and I went with our friends Natalie and Mitch to the Eat Real Fest. It was so up my alley I can't even tell you. Tons of street food vendors, a beautiful farmers market, live music - and everything right on the water. It wasn't street food in the traditional way though. There were lots of food trucks, but it was more like a gourmet twist on street food. Let me explain...

Here is something Mitch got - I couldn't tell you the name of it though, because it was something I had never heard of. A spicy rice-like mixture with Indian flavors out of a cute little newspaper cup.

John and I split an ear of grilled corn that had fresh grated cheese on it, some red pepper, and possibly garlic aioli. The corn was really sweet and fresh and I am a total sucker for cheese on my corn. I need to start doing this at home.

Everything was in smallish portions and I didn't see anything that was more than $5. Those prices definitely encourage you to try all kinds of different things. And try things we did.

One thing Natalie was especially looking forward to were the creme brulees. I told you this was not ordinary street food! She said it was delicious and I witnessed the crunchy sugar topping that is required of any creme brulee.

Here John is eating his favorite item of the day - spicy barbeque chicken sandwich with cole slaw. There was a lot a barbeque there actually. I had an awesome pulled pork sandwich. I definitely love barbeque and know it's something I'm not going to be making at home (unless I get really daring). Natalie is eating a mini steak pie with Gruyere. Yum!

What am I doing, you ask? Sadly, I am pulling everything out of my purse and scooping out handfuls of water. Somehow my Sigg water bottle ended up only partially closed in my purse and spilled all of the remaining water into the bottom of my purse. So currently, I am sans phone and camera. Both are completely broken. Ugh. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do.

I seem to raise my eyebrows whenever people take pictures of me eating nowadays. It looks hideous. And I look about 100 years old with those wrinkles.

This is what I was eating and it was amazing. I'm surprised I was willing to stop chowing down for long enough to allow Mitch to get this picture. It was the best empanda I've ever had and was filled with organic dry-aged beef, beans, and onions. The outside was made with fluffy pastry as opposed to the hard deep-fried crust I'm used to. It came with an amazing chimichurri sauce that complimented it perfectly. It was a bit hard to walk and dip, but I tried my best.

These pictures are courtesy of Natalie's awesome camera, since obviously my photos may never be recovered inside my fried camera. Thanks, Natalie!