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Spain in Iowa Meets Fresh, Local and Best

Do you remember about my recent experience in New York City to participate in Kelly Ripa’s Cake Off For A Cause? As much fun as I had with that experience, one of the highlights of my trip to New York City was meeting the lovely Christine from Fresh Local and Best.

I was tweeting as Christine and I literally passed by
Mario Batali and a friend on the streets of NYC!

I would like to start this post by saying that Christine is one of the most hospitable, genuine people I have met. After my time with the Cake Off event, I met up with Christine and my hubby at the hotel of the lobby I was staying at. Right away I knew who she was. I was so excited to meet her that I ran up to her and we gave each other a big hug! I had been in communication with Christine before so honestly, when I first saw her it felt as though I were reuniting with an old friend. Isn’t the blogging world great! We hit it off right away.

What’s great about Christine and I is that we are both local foodie advocates. She hails from San Francisco and is in touch with where her food comes from. She uses real food and let me tell you, she is not afraid of using and eating REAL FAT!! My kind of woman! In SF she was a gardener and she taught me the coolest thing while in NYC… she has a FIG TREE in her apartment!! A fig tree that she started in SF, brought with her to NYC and it produced 8 figs last year. She inspires me!

We had a blast! She started our evening by taking us to Chelsea Market. A market filled with vendors selling real local food.

This was one of my favorite places that she took me to. The Lobster Place!

Fresh shellfish and seafood! I ended up ordering fresh sardines, fish and shrimp. I’ll have a future post showing just how my mami and I cooked these babies up! It was the BEST seafood we have had in the states. My mami even stated that if she closed her eyes she would have thought she were in Spain while eating the sardines!! You can order online and we will definitely be doing this in the future!

The best prawns and sardines I have ever had in the States!!

After the Chelsea Market and my hubby goofing off…

Christine took us to Bar Jamón, a tapas bar in the line of Mario Batali’s restaurants. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from the tapas bar as it was so dark inside and flash photography was not allowed. Check out Christine’s recap for some photos! As much as I enjoyed the dishes served I had hoped for something a little more authentic and true to Spain. I have had the opportunity to visit many tapas bars in the States. From Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, California, and NYC I still haven’t sat at a tapas bar that captures the essence of what it is in Spain. Tapas are usually way overdone and expensive. Tapas bars in Spain are meant to be a place to relax over simple small dishes. Nothing elegant about them and that is what makes them so special. I can not wait to share with you in detail what a real Spanish tapas bar is when I get to Spain 😀 2 more weeks!!!

After Bar Jamon, Christine took us to a ramen house, Ippudo’s in the East Village for dinner. I had no idea we were in the East Village until I read Christine’s post. Gabe and I were pretty excited to read that we were there, lol! This place was HEAVEN!!! Gabe and I are still talking about it and I am definitely going to recreate this…

This was DELICIOUS! A pork bun. Steamed bread filled with tender pieces of Berkshire pork belly! Oh my gosh… Gabe couldn’t stop talking about it, so I’m going to have to make this as soon as I get some local pork belly!!

We rounded out the meal with a fresh bowl of ramen. Home cooked noodles and so delicious! What an amazing day of food!! Poor Christine, by this time she was exhausted as she had just arrived from a trip to France. A culinary getaway which focused on spending time in the countryside in the South of France to harvest and learn how to prepare black truffles. A must see!

It was after this dinner that we hugged and parted ways. Thank you Christine for taking the time to have made this such a special trip for my husband and I. As happy as I was to have met Christine, I’m only happier to call her my friend! Un besote amiga!!

If you haven’t had the chance, stop by Christine’s blog Fresh, Local and Best. She is just as kind and genuine in person as she is in the blogosphere.

About Diana Bauman

Diana is a mother of three, proud wife, and humbled daughter of God. She finds the most joy meeting with Jesus in her organic gardens. She is completely blessed to be able to call herself a stay at home mom where she home educates her children, joyfully serves her husband, and cooks nourishing, real food, for her family. She loves connecting with people on facebook, google+, pinterest, and instagram.

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Comments

Mardi @eatlivetravelwrite says
April 21, 2010 at 8:33 am
How fun! I am meeting Christine next month and cannot wait!
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Kristen says
April 21, 2010 at 8:56 am
What a brilliant blog meetup! I am impressed with Christine's blog and it's no surprise to hear that she's great company!!
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5 Star Foodie says
April 21, 2010 at 9:07 am
What fun time with Christine! Thanks for sharing your experience and great pictures!
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Fresh Local and Best says
April 21, 2010 at 9:12 am
Thank you so much for the kind words! It was awesome to meet you guys and that Momofuku pork bun recipe is totally doable at home!
I can't wait to hear about your experiences in Spain. One of these days I'll have to make a trip there too. Sevilla will definitely be on the itinerary! Besus mi amiga!
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Belinda @zomppa says
April 21, 2010 at 9:15 am
Oh fun!!! I love the two of you! =) If y'all ever find yourselves in NC…lemme know!
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Gabe says
April 21, 2010 at 9:15 am
PORK BUNS RULE!
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Andrea@WellnessNotes says
April 21, 2010 at 11:02 am
Sounds like you guys had a lovely time! The pork buns look amazing!
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Sustainable Eats says
April 21, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I can't wait until you make those! My kids would love them so I'll snag your recipe. 🙂
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Tiny Urban Kitchen says
April 22, 2010 at 11:52 am
Sounds like you had a fabulous time! And yes, I totally agree, Christine is such an amazing host. She took me to Chelsea Market too the first time I met her. 🙂 I just recently took my husband there and he thought it was a cool place too.
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Raine Saunders says
April 22, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Diana – all the food looks great, and I am so excited for you that you got to meet a blogging friend (or many, as it was)! I so long to be able to travel again…but it may be some years before we can go on trips again as our business is just getting going and we live day by day…
But I so hope someday to be able to meet people like you that I've met on the Internet through blogging and social networking. It's so great to be able to come together like this and provide neat recipes, stories, advice, and inspiration to each other!
Blessings to you and your family, and I hope all is going well for you! x0x00x0x
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Cristie says
April 23, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Being with fellow food bloggers is the best! I've had some experiences with that and it is just a natural high.
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Chen(picnicideas) says
April 23, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Hi Diana 🙂
You have wonderful blog.
Happy to be here.
I sent you a little mail ,hope it is ok .
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pity says
April 24, 2010 at 10:18 am
ww! what a delicious aray of yummy foods, i bet you had a lovely time, i am soooo jealous, una fotos excelentes tambien, besitos desde londres
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mara says
April 26, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Thanks for the post! I found it looking for Spanish recipes… I'm brushing up on my Spanish cooking, studying Spanish too on Babbel.com (http://www.babbel.com). I find it rewarding to learn the cuisine and language in tandem…
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Lori Lynn says
April 27, 2010 at 10:49 am
Looks like you had a wonderful time. Great photos too!
LL
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Divina Pe says
April 29, 2010 at 1:03 am
It's really nice to meet other food bloggers and you really took great pictures of wonderful foods. I hope to meet some food bloggers/friends one day.
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Fuji Mama says
April 29, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Oh my goodness, I am so jealous! We lived 10 minutes away from an Ippudo in Tokyo and it was one of my favorite places for ramen! YUM! What a fun outing!
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