Any thoughts on the Scottsdale Culinary Fest?

So did you hit up any of the culinary fest events over the weekend?

I stopped by the Great Arizona Picnic and Cooks & Corks for awhile yesterday, and if my photos look half decent, I'll post a few later on. (Haven't seen them except on my digital camera's tiny screen, so it's hard to tell how they'll show up at 400 pixels.)

I'm bummed that I missed the wine seminar with Food + Wine's Anthony Giglio. I certainly attempted to go, but the parking situation was just awful. I drove around and around for almost an hour, and was seriously thinking about heading back home when I finally found a spot. That put me in a grumpy mood, but at least I got there in time to see some of the chef demonstrations.

Anyway, the best part of the day was chatting with the wine distributors. I love how you can pick out any interesting-looking bottle and they'll give you a whole story on it -- who makes it, why it's special, yadda yadda. And the abstract descriptions they use are just fascinating. It's fun to hear their take on a wine and then see if your impressions match up with theirs.

The weather was also perfect -- the breeze felt so nice that it almost made waiting in line for a piece of pizza seem enjoyable. (I said almost.) But alas, I was there by myself, and after awhile it started to get kind of boring. Food is always better shared with friends. I bailed out mid-afternoon to go shop for nibbles for my weekly Sopranos get-together.