I will start my recap off coherently and then it will all become a fuzzy blur to adequately represent how the festival actually went down.

Once I arrived in SF, I took BART to the Powell stop and hoofed it to the Sir Francis Drake hotel. It was an unseasonable 77 degrees, and you would have thought it was August both by the weather and the amount of visitors dragging their luggage through the crowded sidewalks.

I can’t say enough about how fantastic the service was at “The Drake.” My room was ready early, I got all settled in, and quickly made a decision to eat in their restaurant, Scala’s Bistro where chef Jen Biesty focuses on fresh ingredients to create offerings that are a little Italian, a little French.

I had a little salad and a little brussels sprouts:That’s the Star Pear & Wild Arugula Salad with Pt. Reyes Blue, White Balsamic Vinaigrette, and Toasted Almonds, accompanied by the Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta, Shallots, and Lemon Zest.

I figured it was best to start the trip off healthy as I knew I’d soon be facing a barrage of cupcakes.

Of course, a Food Blogger conference is going to flow from one meal to the next fairly quickly and soon it was time for a vegetarian dinner at Millenium orchestrated by a fantastic group of bloggers. We were sent a huge array of appetizers, including the most amazing Crusted Oyster Mushrooms in a chickpea flour and thyme dredge. So delicious! For my entree, I had the Tamale:We set the bar pretty high that first night. The best part of a pre-festival dinner is you get to do some early bonding with complete strangers. Immense gratitude goes to Elena, Jon, and Lindsey for setting a welcoming mood. I was happy to both start and end the festival by dining with them.

Lindsey and I shared Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate back in Bar Drake after dinner.

More to follow and perhaps my DSLR card will even behave and give up its bounty of photos. Fingers crossed.

With our nephew Trevor, our leaf boy.

Sunday was our 7th wedding anniversary which makes almost 12 years together. Go us!

To celebrate, we finally visited Salish Lodge, considered one of the most romantic getaway spots in the area (we have at least one friend who got engaged there). The highlight of the lodge is the view over Snoqualmie Falls.

That was pretty much the view from our table.

Source

But, if you ask me, the highlight was the coffee service.Those are white chocolate and dark chocolate flakes and whipped cream for your coffee. Shut. up. (The rocks were holding my napkin down. Nice.)

I had waffles. They were good, but they couldn’t beat the view or a dish of chocolate flakes. Or spending time with my honey.

Okay, I promise to get a recipe or some more food photos out soon. School and looking for a job have eaten up my life. A million sorries to my five loyal readers!

The plan last night was to have Date Night at the Queen Anne Farmers’ Market. I’d really been craving pizza and was looking forward to a slice from Veraci like-a theez:

Ah, mushrooms. How I love thee!

However, by the time we’d made the rounds, the line for pizza was insane. I’m not a big line-stander-inner so I voted for bailing. We were at the top of Seattle’s Queen Anne hill for goodness sake! We’d find somewhere else to eat.

Which brought us to Ototo Sushi. I feel like I just had sushi, but I can pretty much be talked into it anytime, anywhere.

What followed was a sushi/food carnage of epic proportions. First of all, we totally over-ordered, and then we overate. It didn’t help that almost everything arrived out of order (except for my miso). Don’t get me wrong – everything was delicious. We just failed Eating 101.

I ordered miso, the special robata skewers, and the Black Cod appetizer. Chris was supposed to share the robata with me. Seems harmless, right?

Domo Arigato, Mr. Robata

Except by the time this came, I had finished my bowl of miso, and Chris was more than halfway through his three rolls of sushi that he ordered (which I also helped consume).

You can pretty much fill in the blanks.

Chris ordered (from left to right) the California Roll, spicy scallop roll, and the shrimp tempera roll. Plus he was solely in charge of the bacon-wrapped scallops on the robata platter (I don’t like scallops, even wrapped in bacon).

So we were pretty much stuffed to the gills when my Black Cod arrived.It was an appetizer portion, pretty small, but still. Oy. That’s edamame puree on top. So delish!

We left nothing. Ok, maybe some spinach and a smear of edamame. We could barely walk out of there. I can’t even say that any of the portions were huge. It was just a lot all together. Classic over-ordering faux pas.

We came home and walked the dog. That helped a little.

This morning I was not feeling so great due to a) soy sauce, b) teriyaki sauce, and c) whatever sauce was on the cod. I took a migraine pill and will make it through the day, but I have to remember that all that salt (and possible MSG) is not good for me. Do I have amnesia? Geez.

We have zero Labor Day plans. It totally snuck up on us. We were supposed to be leaving for Kauai tomorrow but canceled that trip when I lost my job. *Sadness*

Instead, I will be painting the fireplace, as modeled by our spokescat, Mia. I know some people think it’s a sacrilege to paint over original brick, but I think that the fireplace is too country for the rest of the house and our real estate agent agrees. It was actually her idea, and she’s pretty spot on. More projects for if and when we put the house on the market to move to Portland. I’ll be sure to show you the after photos, well, after.

Have a FABULOUS holiday weekend everyone. Can’t wait to see pics!!!!

PS. Yes, that trunk/coffee table needs to go too. This is what happens when you move from a Colonial to a 50′s house. Eclectic nightmare.

7/26/10

8/2/10

Happy August! Look how much our corn has grown! If I’m lucky, I’ll be celebrating my birthday at month’s end with fresh ears from the garden.

I’m finally coming out of my unemployment slump (thought the fight for unemployment benefits is not *quite* over) and getting back on the exercise bandwagon. I’ve decided August is for Abs © so I’ve been pressing PLAY on Crunchless Abs every morning.

crunchlessabs.com

This is a great series in that it seems easy but you still feel it the next day. If you want to join me for August is for Abs ©, you can also check out Angela’s Whittle My Middle 30 day challenge. The Precor has made my lower back (near my sciatic nerve) a little pinchy so I’m totally convinced that strengthening my core will make all the difference. Plus my core has always been my weak spot. No one in my family has ever had flat abs so I have to do everything I can to fight the flab!

We had a great weekend in the House of Carbs: Productive with a side of lazy. We cooked, we cleaned, we harvested. Saturday we had a shopping day to find light fixtures (these are tough) after I broke the shade that goes on our bedroom ceiling fixture (hey, guess what? You’ll never ever be able to find the same glass shade again. Thanks Home Depot). That’ll teach me to try to change a lightbulb by myself!

We had lunch at the newest Boom Noodle, which is owned by a friend of mine, and I had amazing green beans and sizzling toban beef. I even brought my camera but quickly realized my card was in the reader back home. Can you tell it’s been one of those weeks, months?

For dinner we had Whole Wheat Boboli pizza:Which I realized I’d made on the wrong side of the Boboli. Seriously, what is wrong with me? I’m more spazzier than normal lately!

My friend Becky called while we were out and about to say “Come on over if you want to see honey get extracted from the comb.” Boy did we!It’s a labor intensive project for sure but basically the honey gets extruded through centrifugal force and then gets strained through a number of sieves. Do you need to know more than that? How about that it’s delicious!

One of my favorite little buddies getting a sample

The ever-generous Becky sent us home with a sample along with fresh zucchini! Nice haul! Thanks friends!I’ll try to catch up on all my recaps this week. Tonight is a great food event that I’m attending for the first time: Foodportunity. Should be fun to network with other food folks though I was just about to post about how I wasn’t a “foodie.” Let’s see if that’s still true after tonight!