Ever been to San Francisco?  Peeled Snacks trucked out here for last week's Winter Fancy Food show wilth all of our New York muchachos enviously braying about how we were so lucky to be heading off to the balmy weather of California. 

You know what?  California is COLD, a special kinf od COLD, a COLD that seeps into your clothes and nose and fingers, and for a moment makes you think that you're not cold, but then gives you a terrible COLD.  Sure, New York's chilly, but at least there people are expected to wear gloves.  Here, cold weather attire is an extra handkerchief and a frienship bracelet.

Furthermore, in the East we have enough cold to realize that cold requires treatment.  We weather proof our windows and install functioning heating devices because we realize that, yes, cold sucks.  But in the Shangri-La that is California, the windows all seem to be terribly drafty and the heating units warm up a good 3 sqare feet each.  But don't worry, if you get chilly here, you can always borrow a mood ring.

So we brought our tasty treats out to San Fran, and (shockingly enough) they seem to have been very warmly accepted by the chilled hands of Californians (sorry, I'll stop with that now).   The Fancy Food show here is about a third the size of New York's July version, though it attracts a different crew.  Fewer Europeans, more "foodies", and almost no charmless New York style sharks (the kind who ask the price before tasting anything).

Naturally, we have the utmost confidence that our snacks will do smashingly out here, since Caifornians are known for their active lifestyles, their appreciation of good ingredients, and spectacularly warm weather (only one of those is a misconception). We were pleasantly surprised, though, when at the show we recieved oodles of orders.  Usually we shake hands, talk a lot, and the orders come later.  It seems that California was desperately in need of a good snack.

We went out there riding a glorious review courtesy of our friends at The Nibble.  It's always encouraging when a journalist really understand what we're trying to do and conveys it.  Such a sentiment we're hoping to find on this Western shore.  Peeled Snacks, as tasty as they are, just will never be a cheap and disposable as Pringles.  Thank heavens....

After the show ended on Tuesday, the Peeled Snacks team was desperately in need of a good meal, so at the invitation of a delightful and lovely new friend from LaLoo's Goat Milk Ice Cream (you know who you are, DANA), we swept down to the Mission disctrict's "Gratitude" Raw Food restaurant for a truly unique Californian gustatory experience.  The vegan menu is all prepared at temperatures at or below 118 degrees, which must make for a wonderful cool kitchen within to work.

It also made for some wonderful tastes (the cocunut soup was de-LISH), though the meal went terribly with the sake someone foolishly ordered (a fruity white would have been much better suited).  Perhaps due to my unfamiliarity with the rawness of the food, the uncooked nature of it meant that the next day my body was, ahem, "cooking" it (with gas heat, not electric).  Still, it was a marvelous experience, and Dana (you know who you are!) totally rocks.

We'll be out in California for a few weeks getting everything going here, so my next few entries will try to convey what it's like for a New Yorker (and former Southern Californian) to put up with the heat waves of San Francisco in January and February (that's the last dig, I PROMISE).  I'll try to be balanced and fair, but it's tough not to miss New York tremendously and take it out on San Fran.  Luckily, where I'm living has a beautiful dog (Sylvie) and its very own orange tree.  Life could be worse.  Life could, after all, be cold.