Mes voyages françaises...

Bonjour tout le monde!

(Written while in France) I have been in France for the past two days and it has been so magical!  Sure, it has been COLD and definitely COLD, but that just means I get to wear cute pea coats and hats!  I am here in Lyon, which is the second largest city in France.  It is also famous for it's vast array of french cuisine, so there is lots of amazing food here, even better than what you find in Paris!  Lyon is a four-hour drive south from Paris, so we're too far away from seeing the Eiffel Tower.  However, I have already done some amazing sight-seeing!  Other than the brasseries with delicious food, shopping is big, and there is amazing architecture to see as well!

Yesterday, Judy, George, and I walked the streets of Lyon and discovered the Saint Jean Cathedral, and the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere, which looks like a Disney castle at the top of the hill- GORGEOUS!  The Saint Jean Cathedral is beautiful as well and the inside is covered in colorful stained glass!  The basilique at the top of the hill was built in 1870, which is a lot younger than I thought it would be considering the fact that Lyon goes all the way back to the Roman Era.  The marble carvings and never-ending staircases that lead to who-knows-where were so intriguing.  They kept the whole cathedral inside so quite you could hear a pin drop!  After exploring the basilique, we walked back to the metro station to go back down the hill.  On our way out, we ran into a local accordion player, which made my day even more! While in France, you HAVE to listen to an accordion player playing on the streets!  We have eaten at both restaurants at the Sofitel, which have never let me down! Phenomenal food!  Last night, we found a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant and it was so adorable!  It was authentic as you can get when it comes to French cuisine and decor.  Inside looked like a home, where each table setting was different and there were random decorations scattered on each table.  The ceiling was very low and the walls were covered in random paintings that had no relation to each other.  Camille, a Parisian American Pistachio representative, described the restaurant as "shabby-chic".

My video blog is here:


After all the sightseeing, it was time to get to work....

We had a booth set up at the SIRHA Food Summit.  SIRHA happens every two years and it's the biggest food show in the world!  The APG booth was beautiful and professional.  We had pistachios galore!  The boxes of snack packs stacked to no end and we passed out every last one! APG also printed out thousands of autograph cards for me to sign and I signed over 2,000 of them!  The show lasted for five days and we were there every day educating everyone about American Pistachios and their health/beauty benefits.  The best part about it was meeting people from all over the world!  I met people from Norway, Canada, India, Taiwan, China, Georgia, Great Britain, France (of course), etc.  Everyone that came by our booth were so interested in the fact that America now grows Pistachios!  We met with pastry chefs, bakers, restaurant owners, and chocolatiers from all over the world!  They were all very excited about APG!

We had some delicious samples of our product out and people went "NUTS!"  We had some Pistachio Brioche out and it was delicious!  The main hit at our booth were the Pistachio Macarons!  My mouth is watering while I write about this.  The macarons were made by Chef Sebastian, a top baker in Lyon.  He used APG's Pistachio Paste and it is to die for! SO GOOOD!  Those macarons were a HUGE hit at our booth.  I think I had 15 of them. Deeelish!  Judy Hirigoyen, George Smith, Camille Malavoy, and I were a good team!

In addition to the trade show, there were a couple of cooking competitions going on: the Coupe de Monde and the Bocouse  d'Or.  These competitions were phenomenal.  If you watch Iron Chef on Food Network, you would have been blown away!  There were about 24 countries competing for the grand prize.  The Coupe de Monde consisted of 4 competitions: chocolate, ice sculpting, confection, and sugar.  There was a table of 20 judges and each of them were from a different country.  They each wore their white uniforms and tall white chef hats.  The scene was like out of Ratatouille!  APG was a sponsor for Team USA and we were there to cheer them on!  They even used American Pistachios in every dish they made.  APG was very excited about that!  The only sad thing about the competitions was that we could not try any of their dishes, but they sure looked delicious!

After five 10-hour days of standing, smiling, taking pictures, and handing out pistachios we were exhausted, but it was all worth it! The experience was unforgettable!  This was my first time travelling anywhere international, so making Lyon my first stop was phenomenal.  I feel so honored to represent American Pistachio Growers and the product they work so hard to produce.  I am so lucky to be able to go to France and be APG's Ambassador!

My travels have certainly not ended! My next stops are China and New York!  Stay tuned for more of my Pistachio adventures!  I am going to up to Fresno next week for some media training.  I'm almost ready for China!

'Til next time,
Leah Cecil
Miss California 2012

Pistachio Conference

(From American Pistachios Blog)

Hello Pistachio-Lovers!

After I came home from Lyon, France I had a few days of rest, but then it was time for the Annual Pistachio Conference!  I was so honored to attend the conference and meet all of the farmers and customers!  The conference was held at the Hyatt in Downtown San Diego.  I met a lot of APG’s customers in France, but I met even more growers and processors at the conference!

There were key speakers along with annual reports about APG.  The portion I was a part of was Judy Hirigoyen’s marketing presentation.  Here, she talked about where APG is being promoted all over the world and how successful our little nut is!  She also presented the APG Ambassadors and it is so cool to be amongst the other ambassadors!  They had the USA Women’s Waterpolo Team there to show off their awesome gold medals from this past Olympics!  They are perfect ambassadors because they are able to promote the athletic and health value of pistachios.  One of the teammates told a story about when she and the rest of the team were visiting some of our military overseas, and afterwards one soldier contacted her to tell her how much they miss home.  However, to make him feel at home, he asked for only one thing: that little green nut.  It’s nice to know that our military overseas want American Pistachios too!  Another ambassador featured is our newest and his name is Jeremy Jones.  This guy is an extreme boarder, but he’s not your everyday snowboarder.  Jeremy snowboards and cuts through deep fresh snow from the tops of the world’s tallest mountains!  Judy showed a video of him in action and there was a scene of him cutting down those sheer drops, but the camera showed him as a speck compared to the size of the mountain.  He is phenomenal!  The cool thing about Jeremy is that he has always eaten Pistachios because he knows they are full of nutrients and protein, which keeps him going as an athlete.  He seems like a perfect fit, doesn’t he?  I was honored to be introduced as an APG Ambassador as well!  Judy introduced me and then I performed on my harp.  The audience was very excited to see Miss California, but they were especially excited to see the harp too!

After the marketing presentation, we ambassadors went out into the lobby for a photo shoot with the guests and it was wonderful to meet and greet with the farmers again!  After the break, we were all headed to the USS Midway for dinner.  Yes, we all got to dine on the USS Midway!  The appetizers were delicious and the people were so much fun to be with.  Before dinner, we were directed up to the flight deck to watch a firework show just for APG! That was pretty awesome!  The dinner was scrumptious and the best part was the dessert.  Each dessert had something “pistachio” in it, so it was very appropriate for the occasion.

The APG conference was a success and I was so glad to be there!  I am now ready to go to China!  I went to the media training last week in Fresno, so I feel even more prepared for the adventures in China.  I really look forward to promoting American Pistachios in Asia with the rest of the team.  I know it’s going to be lots of hard work, but I’m up for the challenge!  I’ll write to you all when I get back!  For now, scroll through my collage below! 

Love,

Leah Cecil

Miss California 2012