This post has been brewing for days, almost past its expiration date. All that’s needed to be said about the conference sessions has probably been posted by my fellow IFBC attendees. It doesn’t help that I have a tarnished history of not blogging about conferences past. My excuse is that I usually continue traveling after each event, as is the case right now, thus pushing post statuses to Never. However, let me turn over a new leaf and tell you about that memorable weekend in Seattle, hopefully with a different perspective than what you’ve already read out there.

Having been a part of conferences in different capacities (as an assistant to the hosting organization, booth planner/manager, coordinator, and as an attendee, but thank god never as a sponsor-haggler), I’ve learned that I needed to be clear about what my goals and expectations are for going, or I’d just be wasting my time, energy, and money. Essentially, we invest in ourselves and/or our businesses when we go to these events, so why not make the most of it?

I went to Seattle to see old friends and meet new ones, enjoy a relaxing girls re{treat} at Hotel Dana Treat, and attend the International Food Blogging Conference and learn something new to improve this blog. And I’ve accomplished all of that and more, coming home a happy sappy camper, filled with pocketful of good memories.

What I Gained at IFBC

1. Inspiration

For me, there are two kinds of invaluable speakers in conferences: those who inform and teach, and those who inspire. It’s very rare to find someone who’s really good at what they do, whose zeal for it oozes like fine honey, and who can convey a message that we can easily digest. We were so lucky to be in the midst of such individuals. They have an infectious passion that lingers about. We were transported from Theo’s Chocolate Factory and lived in their shoes even for just a moment. That in itself makes the conference worth it.

I left the conference and bid the weekend goodbye with a renewed zest for life. It wasn’t just about food, writing or photography — it’s about living and breathing whatever you love to do, without reservations.

2. A chance to reinforce old friendships, make new friends, and meet other food blogging ‘crazies’

The other half of my IFBC Seattle weekend has something to do with friendships, which I will be talking about in my next post. I’ll be a complete sap here in a moment, so prepare your barf bag if you want. The thing that really makes a conference (for me) are The People. A conference is nothing without the connections you establish, and I’m not talking about “connections” in the they-will-be-useful-to-me-in-the-future or it’s-who-you-know sense. I’m talking about making a real connection with individuals you value as a person. Of course, I came to the event for personal, rather than professional, reasons. If I’ve met one new friend and kept the old ones close, that’s good enough for me. And I don’t use the term “friend” loosely, either.

From a food blogging point of view, there’s nowhere else you can easily find someone to babble about food and blogging within close proximity other than at food blogging event. For a weekend, we can be ourselves unabashedly and be among “our people”. We come armed with our cameras, photographing food before and after taking a bite, after the last bite, and after we’ve consumed everything on the plate. We hold someone’s plate for them so they can use both hands to take a photo. We gladly hold a candle to light the dish for a better shot. We tweet about how damn good each bite is. We can’t wait to post about what we’ve eaten. To the outside world, we must look comical like a pair of dancing/mating blue-footed boobies. For a weekend, we fit right in.

3. Knowledge

Here’s the agenda. Like I said in the beginning, my beloved peers have probably posted about it already and I’ll add links to their posts as I compile them.

Megan took excellent notes during the Recipe Writing panel with Amy, Dianne, and Kristin, and you should go read that. The semicolon was a point of contention. I personally like using semi-colons;

{Grins}

When they said: Do not give recipes for free! I also heard that as, “Value yourself and your work.”

I kind of glossed over the SEO part, because it’s part of what I do professionally. I’m here to share recipes and photos, and I don’t like intermingling work with pleasure. I try to write meaningful recipe titles and head notes, but cooking or writing a post to follow a trending topic, long tail…short tail, is absolutely against what I am willing to do in the name of SEO for my personal blog. I don’t eat SEO for lunch and I’ll have no tail on my plate, thank you. If you’ve been visiting this blog long enough, you’ll know that I like going for the unusual and never-before’s. I don’t think there will ever be a big buzz about sweet beet pie with yogurt syrup, but that’s what I like to make.

If you’re looking here for info they provided to help you with your food blog’s SEO, here are some important tips you can use:

• Use Google Insights to track rising trends
• Use core words to describe content. Use them in the URL, blog title, and 1st sentence of the 1st paragraph. Also use them in sub titles, photo captions and “alt” attribute.

As you’ve probably read in the tweets during our Writing with All 5 Senses session, the compositions quickly dived from lyrical to downright carnal. That’s food writing for you. Here’s my take on it: I like reading winding, complex, and 3-D descriptions when I’m reading for pleasure. However, when I’m at someone’s website and I want to get cooking — show me the friggin’ recipe! I don’t want to wade through lilting or flowery words. I want clear, understandable and executable information at my disposal. My voice is not wishy-washy, Alice-in-Wonderland-overcame-the-evil-sister pitchy. I write like I talk. If I get into crazy food talk with you, I’m either depressed or you need to ask me what I’m smoking! My background is scientific and technical, and it’s gut-wrenching to even try to write otherwise. I write descriptions and instructions as if we’re in a lab minus the, “In conclusion…” And that’s me.

We were unethical enough to skip the Law & Ethics panel, but the tweets about the supposed “hot” lawyer were entertaining. We traded it for Kate McDermott‘s apple pie, drank wine and took photos.

We got our food geek on with the session on truffles, chocolates and fresh organic person vegetables (I swear, last night I typed person!). We learned about assuming a “position of the utmost congeniality“. Oh dear.

James Oseland‘s keynote, as I said in my tweet, was the best aperitif we could ever have. He could very well be a food blogger, plus he loves us.

The next morning’s panel on Blogging for Specialized Diets with Shauna and Alex was an eye opener and made me think of making a change to create food that is inclusive, instead of exclusive. I wanted to do a group hug after that.

Penny de los Santos‘s session on digital photography made such a huge impact on me. It was a journey through her lens. She’s inspirational and motivational. I love that she doesn’t say you need the most expensive and complicated camera you can get your hands on. She stresses the importance of practice. I just wish it was the first session of conference, because that would certainly make me think differently about the way I take photos.

4. Weight

Ahaha! And the great thing is, no one’s calorie-counting. If you did–did the flying Bambu plate frisbee hit you on your way out?

5. Extra doses of food blogging mojo

I have so many ideas in my head, I can’t wait to just get back into aggressive blogging in contrast to aggressive tweeting (a conference joke). I can’t wait to get back posting regularly and hopefully show you how I’ve grown.

Overall, this is a well-balanced food blogging conference and certainly worth registering for next year.

IFBC and Other Major Food Blogger/Blogging Events

Please remember that these are all based on my own experiences and personal biases of past events. There may be significant changes in succeeding years, and I can’t comment on that unless I go. Others who have attended any of these events may not also agree with me, if you are one of them, please add to the discussion. I would love to hear and share your point of view.

I am also not someone who: blogs for the money, is trying to get a book deal or break in print publish, or is trying to switch careers.

I am passionate about food and cooking, and I just choose to blog about it.

It also happens that not a lot of my friends are not into food/cooking or blogging, but my online friends are. I’ve built friendships all over the world through this blog. I’m in it for the food and friends.

As of Sunday, I’ve participated in each of the triumvirate of food blogging events once: BlogHer Food, Foodbuzz Blogger Festival and most recently, the International Food Blogger Festival (IFBC) in Seattle, Washington. I really wanted to experience them all and try to decide in the future which would be the best one to attend for my needs. But the problem is, they’re all different.

Below are my opinions on the three, which may help those who are deciding which one/s to attend. These are my own thoughts, and if you have something to share, please do so in the comments.

• Lectures and Sessions
  There was a fixed agenda at IFBC and if we weren’t interested in a panel, we could either can endure it or skip it. Both BlogHer Food and Foodbuzz provided options, but the latter required us to sign up for each session of those sessions. At the first one-day BlogHer Food (it’s 2 days this year), we were able to panel-hop between floors because it was in one hotel. However, Foodbuzz sessions were not exactly “educational” (food blogging wise) in the same way as the IFBC and BlogHer Food ones were; they’re more informational.
  There were also official extra/optional sessions at IFBC and Foodbuzz, but the difference is that for IFBC, they were outside of the cost of the conference and were on days before and after the event. Announcements for some of these had been ‘late’ travel planning-wise, and people from out of town and who had already booked flights and made hotel reservations were out of luck.
• Panelists
  IFBC  had a good mix of well-known traditional and new media professionals, and food and culinary artisans.
  BlogHer Food was mostly (not all) headed and curated by food bloggers, some of whom had made it into print publishing.
  Foodbuzz had mostly food and culinary artisans who taught us about their food/products and how to taste them.
• Food quality, variety, abundance
  Foodbuzz and IFBC had rounded up the best chefs and food in their respective cities. The main difference is with the abundance and variety of food. We had a Tasting Pavilion at FB, where we were “unleashed” for an afternoon, and enjoyed a lavish sit-down dinner. I don’t remember a spotlight on specialized diets at FB, compared to IFBC, where gluten-free was the star and almost had vegetarian fares as an afterthought. My friend Dana had to go buy her own food during the Food Truck lunch. BlogHer Food made an unforgettable food faux pas by serving us frozen dinners on big plates. Really.
• Median age of attendees
  I would say that IFBC had a more mature crowd compared to Blogher Food and Foodbuzz Festival, where as a 32-year old I felt older than younger.
• Cost
  Both IFBC and Foodbuzz Festival cost $350 for 2 days, but eligible Foodbuzz publishers’ registration fees are wavied. Blogher Food was previously $101.48 incl fees for one day, and it’s $153.71/day for 2 days this 2010.
• Pressure to promote event sponsors
  Food bloggers inherently know the requisite need to promote sponsors when they go anywhere or receive anything for free. Sponsorships are needed to make events happen. We know that. However, there is fine line between classy and tacky, and unfortunately I think IFBC crossed that during our food cart lunch break. Bloggers will tweet or talk about things if they like them, there’s no need to shove it down our throats.
• Swag
  A lot of people always ask about the the swag and giveaways, and I admit that it made me curious and excited at BlogHer Food. It still does because it’s like being a kid and opening a bag of presents. I think the event swag with items I most use is the one from BlogHer Food, and it wasn’t even from BlogHer, it was from the after-party hosted by by Jaden, Ree and Elise. Foodbuzz had an excellent selection, too, but the ones I really liked were the ones I got at the taste pavilion, which not everyone received (so I didn’t take that into consideration). The IFBC bag had gems in there, too.That said, the swag should never be your main reason to go.

So, where should you go? It’s really entirely up to you.

From my personal observation of past events**, if you want to:

• Be inspired and to learn, go to IFBC;
• Be able to choose panels you would like to attend and meet as many food bloggers and food blogging A-listers in one event, go to Blogher Food;
• Meet food artisans, learn about food and drinks through tastings in a class environment, EAT and mingle with other food bloggers, go to Foodbuzz Festival.

All three are great avenues to build offline relationships with people you know online. Be willing to share, be kind, be generous, and be open. We are a growing community of bloggers who focus on what nourishes each of us on a daily basis — just how wonderful is that?

After several years of skipping out on seeing the Celebration of Light fireworks competition, I revisited this summer spectator crowd sport in Vancouver with my family to watch the pyrotechnic tribute to China, last year’s winner. [Before the Canadian and Chinese national anthems, it was announced that Spain won this year's festival.]

We had an unexpected guest of a massive downpour within 10 minutes of setting up our picnic mats. Not only was I in warm weather running gear, my change of clothes obviously did not anticipate the sudden drop in temperature. Oops. Yeah, I was freezing in my dri-fit clothes.

We were troopers and braved it through the rain, damp grounds, cooler-than-expected ocean breeze, massive crowds and the additional 2 hour trip back because of the slower-than-toirtoise-pace traffic. I didn’t come home empty-handed though. And for all that, I need to show you at least some of the photos I took under the trees, where we ended up staying. Hope you enjoy!!!

Now time for a “nap” before I watch the matinee showing of Inception with a gal pal who’ll watch it for the second time. Yes, I could be the last person who hasn’t seen it!

What are you up to this Sunday? Or what did you do this past weekend (for those of you waking up to Monday already)?

In any case, Happy Sunday and have a fantastic first week of August. Rabbit, Rabbit!

My history with blogging photos of things I’ve done or places I’ve gone to shows that this shouldn’t be happening. That less than 24 hours of being out, I’m already showing you photos I took. But look here, this is real blogging progress. I’m posting Canada Day (July 1) photos for you guys! Hope my fellow Canadians enjoyed this holiday.

I ventured out with family to Granville Island. We were there for the activities, I swear, but we ended up either eating or buying food. We haven’t even been a few hundred meters  past the bridge and we were already holding plates of Canadian lobster from The Lobster Man:

We were happy campers eating $16 lobsters.

After eating lunch, we decided to walk again. We stopped to watch a street performer balancing on a ladder, while juggling knives. I squeezed into La Baguette to grab a loaf of bread and a bag of half baked potato baguettes. Why yes, more food! A few more steps and I was hoarding the last few donuts at Lee’s Donuts after being so patient waiting in line. On our way to the False Creek Community Center, we got so distracted and no sooner, entranced, by the scent of barbecued seafood: squid!

Fresh, tasty squid in a small plate for $4. Not bad, not bad at all, considering that we’ve been talking about having bbq squid for the longest time. To be honest, I think we all miss our Asian street food, too.

They do sell other barbecued food, such as chicken, tofu, and lamb, but there was no question that we only had eyes for the tentacled kind.

Yeah, I didn’t take a lot of photos, mainly because I was busy eating or buying food. No trip to Granville Island would be complete without a good few pounds hauled from the farmer’s market: Rainier cherries, local cherries, raspberries, and blueberries, avocado, figs, and fresh herbs. Can’t wait to make stuff in the kitchen this weekend! Fig galette anyone?

The year flew by and half of it is over. Happy July to you all. Hope the first half has been fun, now time to really bask in the summer fun. :)

I never thought I’d be drinking tasting olive oil for breakfast. Never in a million years.

Let’s face it: when the Foodbuzz session sign-ups began, the most attractive ones were easily the cheese tasting and the sparklers. The seats on the former were taken before I could even finish saying, “Chee…eeh…s” and I signed up for the latter because a girl loves her sparklers, be it in sparkling diamonds or liquid bubblies. ;-) I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the olive oil tasting, but at least I love using olive oil.

Saturday morning I darted from the Ferry Building a few ticks before the hour because I signed up for the 9:00 am session, instead of one two hours later. That’s an insane move, considering that I’m not a morning person — which was proven again when I almost hit Fuji Mama with the door on my way out from our cab (I thought she was going out from the other side…whoops) because I left my brain in the hotel. Sorry, Rachael!

Chef Michael Tuohy (he blogs!), Executive Chef of Grange Restuarant at Citizen Hotel in Sacramento, led us through the olive oil tasting. Here’s Foodbuzz’s own Alexa Malott introducing him:

When I entered the conference room tables, they were already prepared for the flight of tasting (and I was running late!). Each of us attendees had 6 extra virgin olive oil samples in front of us, sealed in plastic containers on top of separately coded circles. For a second, it brought me back to my practical exams in chemistry where we were asked to identify solutions and determine the molality of solutes. Gulp. Sweat.

We were instructed not to open them until told to do so. Yes, Chef!

Aside from water to cleanse the palate, there was a plate of green apple slices (especially used for their acidity) to reduce the oil’s residue after each sample, and bread for those who would like to taste the oil with it. To the right is a handout on olive oil tasting. I was going to scan and share it with you but it’s copyrighted by Nancy Ash, of Strictly Olive Oil. However, I found most of the information on the California Olive Ranch website. Go check it out!

I hadn’t put much thought into choosing olive oils before. I have never seriously considered it in terms of different varieties of olives, region, soil type, extraction temperatures, etc. But wow, what an eye-opener Saturday morning has been!

Olive Oils are tasted using this 4-S-Step Procedure: Swirl, Sniff, Slurp and Sip.

Similar to wine tasting, you SWIRL the oil either in a wine glass or small cups, to release the aromas. Chef Michael is cupping and swirling the container here to warm it up, ideally, to 70°F on a cold day:

Once it’s warmed up, the container is opened and placed it under the nose. SNIFF immediately. Depending on the oil, the scent can be as peppery, buttery, nutty, woody, fruity, minty, grassy, etc.

Next, a small amount is sipped with air: SLURP it like you’re told not to slurp your soup. Slurping combines oil with air. Take note of “retro-nasal” aromas through the back of the nostrils.

You meditate on it to forget about how inappropriate the sound is in other social scenarios.

You can’t see it too well, but Chef Michael is slurping here as he puts a cup down on the table…

The last thing you need to do is SWALLOW. Notice the peppery or stinging sensation down your throat. You might get a cough or two depending on the intensity of the oil. In fact, olive oils are also distinguished by the number of coughs!

Then it was time for the reveal. My mind turn to mush at this point, I don’t know if it’s the olive oil and the lack of breakfast prior to the tasting, but my photos have become either blurry or information retention has become non-existent. Is it possible to get tipsy from extra virgin olive oil?

But I wanted to document the names of the oils and do more research on them later, thus the photos. Olive oil pr0n!

My favorite, the one that made me think of ‘bruschetta in olive oil form’, was the 2nd sample, from California Olive Ranch. Luckily, they were our sponsor for the tasting so we went home with the limited and seasonal 2009 Olio Nuovo, which was bottled directly from the press the week before our tasting. I almost squealed when I found out we were getting one.

Our flight of extra virgin olive oil progressed from the mild to the 2-cough level oils. Mmmm…tasty!

I have to say, I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed — and got — from this session. It made me appreciate olive oil more and give it its due credit and attention. It’s slowly turning into an obsession since we left San Francisco. Now I’m searching for places where olive oil tastings are held and scouring the internet for books about the subject. I turn into a total nerd when I learn something new — this time, I’ve developed a thirst for more olive oil knowledge! Ha ha. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Here’s our Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting Flight (in order) if you’re interested. I included links to stores** and prices, because I’m a shopper like that.

(1) Tenuta di Capezzana Extra Virgine Olive Oil Harvest 2008 ($39.99/500ml)

(2) California Olive Ranch Olio Nuovo 2009 ($15.97/500mL)

(3) Pons Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil ($27.50/16oz)

(4) Olio Verde Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2008 ($36.39/500ml)

(5) CastelaS Huile d’Olive A.O.C. de la Vallée des Baux de Provence ($24.99/16.9oz)

(6) Katz Rock Hill Ranch Ranch 2008 ($24.00/375ml)

** We do get a few pennies from the Amazon links above (1,4,5,6) when you purchase.

For my past two trips to San Francisco, my protocol has been to fly there via Virgin America at 6-argh-em. I arrive in the city at 8am and get to the Union Square area before 9am. I used to abhor early flights, but trust me when I say this: functioning on an hour of sleep to catch that flight is worth it when you go to SF. You simply do not want to waste time by arriving in the afternoon!

I took the Bart to Montgomery station and had just enough leftover credit from my ticket last September. I love that SF is a walking city, coming from another one myself. From the train station, I walked to Galleria Park Hotel (great value and service — highly recommended) and left my luggage there. I went straight to the Tully’s a hop away for my much anticipated coffee. It was a balmy weather for me (I say this because it was cold for some) and I enjoyed the soft mist in the air — it wasn’t even a drizzle.

I met up with Arnold (Mr. Inuyaki himself) a little later and we trekked down to the Ferry Building to catch Chrystal and Amir (the awesome DuoDishes who won the Bertolli contest), but they already left when we got there. We still wanted to get some food, but there were too many choices. I eventually settled for some bread from Acme Bread (I didn’t want to eat too much in anticipation of Delfina a few hours later) and Arnold got his beef bowl and roast beef sushi from Delica rf-1. That sushi tasted so good and it’s perfect for those who prefer their sushi without seafood (yes, yes, they do exist). The catch is that you have to put it in your mouth full, unless you have a knife to slice it with.

One thing that’s great about hanging out with someone local is your quick access to knowledge of places to go to. Guidebooks can’t talk to you if you’re not sure where you want to go. Ha ha. I was a mess that morning, running on almost no sleep, so I owe Arnold for navigating me through the streets and eats. Thank you! Not only did he tell me about Chef David Chang’s book signing the next day (more on that in the next installment), he also brought me to that chocolate place across Market Street from the Ferry Building called Fog City News — “San Francisco’s destination for the world’s information & chocolate.” It was a nice little shop full of magazines, newspapers, cards, and a corner full of chocolates from all over the world, including a couple from the Philippines. I was SO delighted! I immediately showed it to Arnold, who is also Filipino.

I found out about Askinosie Chocolate from Kristina’s ice cream post last September and made a huge mental note of it. Growing up in the Philippines and moving to North America over a decade ago, I knew that the Philippines wasn’t a source of artisan chocolates that made a dent in the international market — so it was a surprise and a source of pride to have these. us being food bloggers, we grabbed some to take home and test for ourselves. Yay! I’ve only been there for a few hours but I was already shopping. Heh.

At some point, the rain got ugly so we had to just cut our walk after I got my backup battery from the Apple store. More shopping.

I headed back to the hotel to dry up a bit and meet Gaby (WhatsGabycooking.com), Sonja (Active Foodie) and her boyfriend, for a late lunch of yummy pizza at Pizzeria Delfina. We were already late when we skyrocketed to the Mission area. The cabs in SF are downright scary, but they do get you to your destination in a wink.

We were greeted by fellow travelers Rachael (La Fuji Mama) and friend, Jessica (A Fete for Food), and locals Chef John (award-winning Food Wishes) and the dynamic duo Denise and Lenny (ChezUs). We were starved, but thanks to Chef John for plopping down an extra pizza on the table for us to eat while we decided what to get, before he sauntered off back to his place. After much chatter and deliberation (everything sounded good), we decided on some some funghi and four cheese pizza. I did say we were starving, right? In fact, no one took photos of the food. It was that bad! We remembered to take a photo of the frontage on the way back, though. Ha ha.

And what’s a Mission run without a visit to Bi-Rite Creamery?

Damn right, I got the Salted Caramel again and tried the Toasted Coconut with it. Heaven, my dears.

We walked to the train station at Mission and met up again at Hotel Vitale, after I picked up Dan from the train station. Whoa, hectic! We registered for the conference, met a few of the Foodbuzz staff, got our schedules and goodie bags, and headed up to the 8th floor patio for the Welcome Reception. We zoned in to the bar right away and things started to get blurry after drinking that fruity (apple?) drink from Skyy. Haha.

We made it to the other end of the patio where we enjoyed some stunning views of the street from the top:

The Ferry Building at night

The Bay Bridge

Fuji Mama, Active Foodie, What's Gaby Cookin' and Gourmeted

And here we are kicking off the evening with drinks, appies, laughter and good conversation.

We had no clue what we were in for at the next building at this point.

After having too much fun talking, we eventually made our way out to the Ferry Building for Taste of SF Street Food Fare.

Oh, my word.

This was a life-changing burger for some:

Rotisserie pork burger with rosemary fingerling potatoes

I LOVED this pie from the The Pie Truck

A raw/vegan fare with tomatoes and olives. It was pretty damn good.

One can never have too much pizza. never.

Yum.

There were also melt-in-your mouth chicharonnes, tacos, cupcakes (they ran out!), ice cream from Straus Family Creamery (my FAVORITE milk), fresh oysters, yummy beets, and many more I can’t even remember!

It was quite a feast and I was too stuffed to try everything, really. I need to re-learn how to pace myself, as I used to do for Philippine Fiestas. One thing’s for sure: Foodbuzz sure know how to organize a feast for the senses! It was amazing. Thank you Foodbuzz!!!

To be continued…

Today is “reveal day” for the Daring Bakers Challenge, but before I give you the goods, I’m bringing you the Macawrongs!!! [Addendum: The good macarons for the Daring Bakers Challenge is  posted here.]

Ahh…in the spirit of our #GreatHallowTweet — go check out the pumpkin sidebar!

I’ve found such great pleasure over the fact that the botched macarons have lives of their own. If you’re making macarons and you have a bad batch, try dressing them up for halloween. We can all make fun of ourselves and play with our food sometimes. :-)

Check out my featured criminal for the day:

He was caught taunting the others:

I used: nutella eyes and red food color painted with a toothpick. That’s all there is to it — the macarons were responsible for their own ugliness. Woohoo.

I’ll give you a glimmer of hope that Yes, I’m still alive! September has been such a chaos of travel that, well, I haven’t seen my own kitchen in a month. One of the things I’ve been up to is traveling out to San Francisco for Blogher Food 2009 last September 26. I went there a few days earlier to check out the city, and let me tell you — it was one of the best decisions I made this year.

It was sunny and breezy last Wednesday while I was waiting for my roommate, Kristina, of Tennessee Locavore:

I loved San Francisco…the buildings, the food, ah…!

I’ll have more to post later, photos and audio from the Blogher Food sessions I attended. Stay tuned!

I rarely make lists as posts, so consider this a treat.I didn’t even make one for Canada Day! Shame shame. Anyway, if you’re still looking for ideas for the weekend, here are some easy peasy suggestions, ye American neighbors.

• Summer Strawberry Fro-Yo or Honey Peach Fro-Yo will beat the heat, the ice cream craving and that stupid weight-loss diet. Eat with little guilt. Savor it.
• Baked Garlic Rhubarb Wings features the season’s rhubarb. Plus it’s baked! I have no doubt this will be a surprise hit at your party.
• If you do not care about having greasy, fatty wings (didn’t I just make it the most appetizing thing in the world?!), say hello to our Homestyle Buffalo Wild Wings. Yes, that B-W-W. I guarantee it’s that good.
• For something that looks a little fancier — and still healthy — try the Tuna-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms.
• What about some Baked Potato Beet Salad?
• For a good dip for your chips or crispy breads, make this Spinach and Artichoke Dip. I can still remember how good it was. Mmm.

Here are recipes for dessert (or snack) that require a little more work, but you will get a lot of love from the people who will enjoy it:

• Bailey’s Cafe Mocha Cheesecake
• Caramel Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze

Or if you want to bake something that’s easy and still be good, try these Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes or Honey-Cheese Corn Muffins.

Yes, it’s true, when you come to my party you won’t see the usual fares. :p

Happy Independence Day weekend, friends!

Meet Scott of BRB…Eating, he’s my “adoptee” for the 3rd round of the Adopt A Blogger program organized by the fabulous, soon-to-be-mom-of-4th-baby Kristen of Dine and Dish. [Thanks, Kristen!]

I discovered Adopt A Blogger last year when they announced the matches, and it was too late for me to join to be adopted. A year later, here I am as an experienced blogger and eager to help out Scott, my “blogging baby”. As a blogger since ’01 and a food blogger for over a year, I’ve learned a few things here and there. Working with another blogger would be beneficial for me as well –the 3-month mentoring process will definitely be a learning experience for both of us.

My mentee is quite funny. He sent me an email in which he noted in the first paragraph that he came “fully potty trained”. And indeed he is, if you check out his blog, he is quite the writer and photographer already. When I clicked to see his site from the announcement page, I had to go back the previous page to make sure I didn’t click another “veteran” link. His writing style is definitely something I can connect with, and the photos…man, he could definitely teach me about a thing or two!

Scott loves food and has been cooking since he was eight. His passion for food makes him look at cooking as therapy, and I couldn’t agree more.

Please join me as I welcome Scott! Hop over to BRB…Eating and say Hi! Add him in your RSS and hang on as I whip him into shape (I kid, I kid!) to post more often. He said he needs an extra push to make him accountable to posting, so please come back often and we will be reading together as he posts more. Right Scott? More, more, more!

Ok, stay tuned. Off to bed now. BRB…sleeping. :)

Dan and I would like to wish our dear readers, friends, and family a Happy Easter! Hope the Easter Bunny is nice to you. Hop, hop.

Regular posting would resume soon, I promise. I have been busy being on the road and up in the air (flying) and just settling down again on the ground…welcoming Spring in Vancouver. I need two weeks to get settled even though I’ve lived here for a long time. Traveling like I have gypsy in my blood gets to me. I do love to travel, but I would easily skip the packing and unpacking portion if I could help it! :) Who loves to (un)pack? Come on over!

In other exciting news, I will be joining the lovely and amazing mommies Ria and Suzanne at My Mommy Manual on Tuesday night for a virtual Pajama Party to help raise money for Mom It Forward and The 12 for 12K Challenge’s joint mission for April/May to help empower women in Kenya:

Practical Mommy (Ria) and Zen Mommy (Suzanne) will be on Ustream.tv for their first ever

Pajama Party LIVE on Tuesday, April 14 from 6-9pm CST

to raise money for the cause. Join the party in your PJ’s from home for giggles, live music, and of course, Practical and Inspired Tips… and more.

We’ll be:

• whipping up some goodies in the kitchen with the help of Joy (@gourmeted),
• listening to live music from Ann Hirschfeld of String Buzz,
• connecting with entrepreneurial experts like @GuyKawasaki and @pajamaspr on starting and running your own business and leveraging social media to do it!

ON TUESDAY, APRIL 14 at 6pm CST, Click here to VIEW THE BROADCAST AND CHATROOM. Everything you need is on that page:

• Instructions on HOW TO ENTER THE RAFFLE

• PRIZE LIST

• ChipIn widget for donations (you can donate anytime!)

Please come along in your PJ’s! Donate for a good cause and have a chance to win some fabulous prizes. :) If you would like to donate a prize for the raffle, get in touch with Ria here or Tweet her (@riasharon).

Ok, I’m heading back to my cave as I try to get over this bad cold and sore throat, and get rid of that frog that’s trying to replace my voicebox! See you all on Tuesday! Mark your calendars and save the popcorn!

P.S. Yes, I’m on Twitter: @gourmeted I don’t think I’ve really announced that. :)