Ok, so after veering off track for a detour to Seattle and IFBC and some back to school preparations, we’re back on the road in the second half of my California Road Trip.  After our few days in Napa, we headed to San Francisco for a couple of days and in a move that will completely surprise you, A-type Mardi is going to blog the second half of the trip out of order.  {Gasp!}

Yes, I had been editing my pictures during the holidays and for some reason wrote this post before the SF ones.  I had grouped all my SF pictures together, planning to write the posts over the long weekend. Alas, I have done something odd to my right hand and am supposed to have it in a brace and completely immobile for a couple of weeks. Yes, because that’s realistic in the first weeks of school and grad school. Buttering toast hurts, so bear with me and read my blog out of order (much as it pains me…).  San Fran posts coming right up, slowly…

After San Fran, we headed south, down Highway 1.  The weather was not so cooperative and it vaguely felt like we were crossing the English moors and that the Famous Five would pop up brandishing “lashings of ginger ale and some scones”.  If you don’t get that reference and have never read Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series, get thee to a library!  In any case, the mists were a-rolling in from the sea…

Our base was Monterey, from where we explored the coast to the south.  One cannot be *this* close and not visit Hearst Castle, right?  It’s a super organized affair with online ticket purchasing and tours of varying lengths (love that they list how many stairs you have to climb on each trip so you can decide for yourself how active you will be!) and it felt a little Disney-esque but the whole thing ran like clockwork.  We had a very knowledgeable and personable guide, “Chuck” (of COURSE!) who made our nearly 2 hour tour pass enjoyably and quickly.

William Randolph Hearst inherited the 250 000 acres of land on which Hearst Castle now stands from his mother in 1919.  According the the website, his simple instructions to famed San Francisco architect Julia Morgan in 1919: “Miss Morgan, we are tired of camping out in the open at the ranch in San Simeon and I would like to build a little something”

Far from being “a little something”, Hearst Castle is possibly the most ostentatious thing I have ever seen. I mean, it’s beautiful and all but just SO lavish.   Below is one of the “guest houses”:

Fancy a little swim during your stay?

And each staircase leads to another even more impressive room/ building…

And if you didn’t like the first pool, how about this underground one?

It’s really lovely but just oh so over the top.  If you are down that way, you definitely need to take one of the tours – you really have to see it to believe it!

Also along the famed Highway 1, is Bug Sur. Home to the acclaimed Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant.

It’s a fairly unassuming type of place  – from the outside, looks more like a cute truck stop…

Inside, however, it’s charmingly rustic.  The Bakery is open daily at 8am with baked goods for sale and consumption, whilst the restaurant  serves:
Lunch: Tues – Fri 11:00am – 2:30pm
Dinner: Tues – Sat 5:30pm
Brunch: Sat and Sun  10:30am to 2:30pm

We were not there at any sort of meal time, so we all had one of their excellent coffees…

And I managed a simple but tasty toasted tomato and cheese sandwich on sour dough with fresh basil.  Sometimes simple really is best.

Unfortunately, since we were staying around an hour away in Monterey, we never made it back for a real meal. But it’s definitely on the list for next time.

Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant
47540 Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
(831) 667-0520

Not at all food related but to be filed in a list of “Must Visit” locations, especially if you have kids (or even if the youngest in your party is 40!) is the Monterey Aquarium.  My parents and Neil and I were absolutely and utterly mesmerized by the exhibits, from the jellyfish…

To the absolutely unreal “Secret Life of Seahorses“…

to the Hot Pink Flamingoes...

We were in there with the best of the kids, pushing to get a better view and waiting for a picture perfect moment!

This one is my favourite…

She kinda fell for Neil

We certainly kept ourselves busy the couple of days we spent in and south of Monterey and we really could have spent a whole lot longer there exploring (the story of this road trip, actually!).  It’s an interesting little corner of the world with breathtaking views, cultural experiences and good food. I mean, what more can you ask for?

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For this month’s RSVP Redux submission, I took advantage of having a bunch of people over for brunch one weekend to make pancakes. I love pancakes and always order them when I am out but at home, when it’s just the two of us, I don’t make them. Cos, you know, we would just eat them

This recipe might become my “go to” pancake recipe.  You could substitute pretty much any berries for the blueberries if they are not in season, and I love the fact that there is hardly any sugar or fat in these.  The cornmeal gives the texture that I find pancakes are often lacking – in short, they were fabulous.

I really enjoyed these pancakes -they were light and fluffy and not stodgy at all.  The cornmeal somehow makes them substantial so a couple of small ones with syrup and berries is enough for a light breakfast, with a serve of bacon for good measure, of course!  It’s lucky I don’t always have buttermilk on hand as they are dangerously easy to make….

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Man cannot live by chocolate alone…

A lot has been written about IFBC, my last post included.  There have been varying opinions on the success of the conference – I think all attendees will agree that it was wonderful to connect with old and new friends and, of course, being amongst a bunch of like minded people is always great – the sense of camaraderie at IFBC was truly something.  However, I think that something the majority of people attending will also agree on is the fact that it was not the most well-planned conference they have attended and there is definitely some room for improvement.  This great post from a volunteer confirms the fact that it was just as chaotic behind the scenes as out front.

I think for me, the most obvious errors were with regards to the food.  Quite simply, a lot of the time (especially during the first two days of the conference), a lot of us were hungry.  Those who didn’t drink wine had the choice of POM drinks or water with meals (or coffee, if it hadn’t run out) and those who didn’t drink beer on the last day of the conference were stuck with the same choices.  Some fairly basic oversights for a food bloggers’ conference, and did I mention we were often hungry?

More on that later, because the start of my trip was full of great food and wine.  Staying at the Hotel Chez Salty Seattle meant that you don’t have a bar fridge in your room but you have this outside of your room. You know, in case you get peckish during the night…

And if you decided to get creative during your stay, there were not one but TWO sous-vide machines closeby!

Linda hosted a little soirée for both out of town and Seattle-based bloggers and  foodies the night before IFBC began and I don’t think anyone went hungry…  Look at this array of goodies:

Yeah, ok, so see those quail eggs?  I cooked them. In the sous vide machine.  I also assembled the potatoes filled with quail eggs and topped with some bacon crumbs.  Oh and the grissini?  Linda had me working on those pretty much as soon as I stepped off the plane! The gorgeous candied tomatoes were all Linda – aren’t they magical?  And the fondue you see there is actually goat cheese infused with lavender and honey.  Definitely a high-end soirée!  Wine was consumed, new friendships were established and old ones renewed.  A great time was had by all. Cheers Linda!  The next morning, the gourmet treats continued to be available as Linda served me this Japanese pannetone (brought by the lovely Shirley the night before) and peaches and cream. Pouring cream.  Need I say more?

The opening reception of IFBC was held in the basement of the Hotel Monaco.  Not sure who chose that venue but it was labyrinthine and dark. Confusing to navigate (especially with a gigantic bag of swag, a glass of wine and nibbles), and generally made for a rather bumpy start to the conference.  Also, can I point out that we are food bloggers? We take photos of the gorgeous food you will serve us. Do not put us in rooms with no natural light and psychedelic carpet that reflects weirdly on the food.  I have only seen a handful of good shots of the food from that night and they are from people with cameras that cost more than my mortgage payment every month.

In any case, there were cupcakes. From Cupcake Royale. They were mini ones so I had a couple.

Breakfasts at IFBC tended to be a carb-loaded affair. With lots of sugar.

Oh yes, there were giant strawberries as well, but no yoghurt, no protein.  There were a LOT of sugar crashes around the time of the first break. Where no snack was served and the coffee had run out. Those of you following the #IFBC hashtag on Twitter might have noticed a spike in snark mid-morning on that first day. Well we were hungry and grumpy.  And looking forward to lunch.  Which sounded so promising…

Alas, another letdown.  Gorgeous food, beautifully prepared, but I think someone forgot to give the chefs the memo telling them that it was lunch, not a snack, not a small bite of deliciousness making you yearn for more.

The wines were provided by Walla Walla Wine Alliance and the food included a steak tartare by Chef Daisley Gordon of Campagne, braised octopus over chick peas with chorizo by Chef Shannon Galusha of Bastille Cafe and Bar, marinated zucchini carpaccio prepared by Chef Jason Stratton of Spinasse, and a salmon carpaccio by Chef John Howie of Seastar Restaurant, John Howie Steak, and Sport Restaurant and Bar.  Of these, I only tried the chick peas and the zucchini (both amazing) because it don’t *do* raw food. Sorry. Call me a bad foodie.  On the far right in the middle row up there is a gluten-free offering, Chef Kaili McIntyre’s beet paella and a pastry filled with mashed cauliflower and peas.  This was surprisingly delicious though I don’t think I would call that rice and beets a paellla.

There was no dessert except for the ubiquitous Theo Chocolate which, whilst delicious, isn’t a substantial dessert (especially when you have been snacking on it all morning because you are starving).  So in the bottom row, you will see the – ahem! – cake that a few of us went off to Simply Desserts in search of and the spring rolls we brought back to snack on throughout the afternoon.  Shocking really – no conference should leave you hungry, let alone a food-bloggers conference.

The Saturday apéritif was sponsored by the Secret Sherry Society (no there wasn’t a secret handshake!) and included a number of delicious (but tiny!) bites of goodness, paired with different types of sherry.

I could have eaten the mini croque-monsieur, the tortilla espanola and these meatballs all night long.  The meatballs, especially, were fabulous.

Saturday night dinner, served after James Oseland’s inspiring keynote speech, was fabulous food, unfortunately marred by the rugby scrum-type setup to gain access to it.  Tip for next year: DON’T allow 250 people to simultaneously flood out of the room into a tent about 1/4 the size it needs to be where they will then have to line up for way too long to get a small plate of food, then repeat for the other dishes, by which time the first plate is cold etc…

Thanks to Rodney Strong Vineyards and Columbia Winery for the wines and to the following chefs for putting out amazing food in difficult circumstances:

Ethan Stowell (one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs, multi-James Beard Award nominee)
Tamara Murphy (one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs, James Beard Award winner)
Holly Smith (Winner of the 2008 James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in the Northwest)
Dana Tough and Brian McCracken (whose restaurant, Spur, was featured in Food & Wine magazine’s coveted Go List of “the most outstanding, must-visit restaurants in the world”)
Jeff Mall and Josh Silvers (both widely acclaimed chefs at Zin Restaurant and Syrah Bistro in California)

Again, the lighting was too poor for me to be able to take any decent photos of the wonderful food (there were beef cheeks!). Also, by the time we sat down, we were all too hungry to really focus on anything other than the food.

Sunday’s lunch boded better already since there was beer available for the first time since Friday.

Lunch was billed as: “Gourmet Food Trucks of the Pacific Northwest, including Skillet, El Camion, Rolling Fire, Anita’s Crepes, Dante’s Inferno Dogs, Hallava Falafel, and Molly Moon’s Ice Cream and local beer selections from Pike Brewing Co.”

Embarrassingly, I admit to eating at least a bite of most of the foods pictured (great lighting, finally!): Molly Moon’s salted caramel ice cream, pizza from Rolling Fire, hot dog from Dane’s Inferno, gluten free nachos (which I didn’t have but which were gorgeous), Tom Kha Gai and Thai chicken larp taco from Kaosamai Thai. The bottom row is all Jen’s food that she kindly let me photograph: Tacos from the taco truck and falafel from Hallava.

Simply put, this was an awesome end to the conference (and thank goodness we ended the day with full bellies).  Next year? Bring on the food trucks!  Give us some decent light so we can showcase the gorgeous food. Don’t let the coffee run out and make sure there is enough food.  Again, tips that can also be applied to real life.

Thanks to California Walnuts, The National Watermelon Promotion Board, The Ontario Tender Fruit Producers, The Ontario Apple Growers, The USA Rice Federation and Rosewood Winery for making it possible for me to attend IFBC this year through their generous sponsorship.

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I’ve been reflecting on my time at the International Food Bloggers Conference in Seattle this past weekend. Flying home on the redeye on Sunday evening, my mind was buzzing and full of ideas gleaned from both the sessions I attended as well as from simply chatting with other bloggers.  But where to begin?

Why with a coffee, of course! From Dr. Nathan Myhrvold’s presentation on “Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking”

Those of you following the #IFBC hashtag on Twitter might have had the impression that it was one giant eating and drinking fest. There was most certainly a party atmosphere…

I can’t think of a better place to hold a food blogging conference than at Theo Chocolate

Food bloggers get possessive over their beers!

What’s a party without cake?

Salty Seattle was dressed to kill for the party!

So yes, a very good time was had by all but it wasn’t all food and drink…  But how to encapsulate it all?

Already across the blogosphere, I see posts popping up. Beautifully written pieces like this one from Merry Jennifer, a bloggger I was thrilled to connect with in real life after becoming friends online.  This one from Jen who I applaud for her honesty.  And this one by Dianne Jacob, a writer I have long admired, who I also had the thrill of meeting, eloquently and succinctly outlining a much-discussed topic at the conference, that of giving one’s work away for free. And countless others. And I wonder what can I possibly add to the discussion?

Yes it was a weekend of partying but we worked hard too!

During the weekend, I tweeted a lot of the gems of knowledge being shared by professionals like Dianne, Kathleen Flinn, Penny de Los Santos and Molly Wizenberg but when I look back over my notes there are a couple of things that really stand out that were reiterated across many different sessions.

1. Do what you love to do.

2. Practice and work hard at your craft – whether it’s writing or photography or both.

3. Be yourself.

Number 3 resonated particularly with me with regards to my writing.  I remember when I first started my blog, I tried so hard to be un-opinionated and not offend anyone that my dad (former journalist and best editor ever) emailed me to say he thought I was doing a good job but where was Mardi, the sometimes-prone-to-massive-exaggeration and highly opinionated daughter he raised?  Slowly, over the past 15 months, I have started to find my voice.  We’re definitely not there yet, but on the right track.  So when Kathleen Flinn asked us to describe a lemon with all five senses in her session, I panicked.  Flowery, descriptive prose is simply not my style (in case you hadn’t noticed).

Kathleen Flinn and the infamous lemon

Bloggers are a competitive bunch (to say the least) and hearing people try to out-write each other made me wonder whether this was right for me.  All the fancy, poetic prose flowing freely from their pens was just not me, nor the way I write.  And I had to step back and remind myself that Flinn was simply asking us to consider different ways of looking at food and ingredients so that we’re not always using the same words and adjectives. A useful exercise to go back to every now and then to keep your mind fresh.  But above all, be yourself. Find your writing voice, practice.  In her session, Molly Wizenberg advised us to  write a little every day, even when we didn’t feel like it.  Because the more you write, the more second nature it will become and your true voice will emerge. Flowery and poetic … or not!

Awe-inspiring photography in Dr. Nathan Myhrvold’s book:”Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking”

The session on photography with Penny de Los Santos was one I had been especially looking forward to and it did not disappoint. Unless you have ever been in a room full of 250 food bloggers equipped with access to Twitter when they are in a session where they can poke fun at each other, like the writing one, or a session that is more an infomercial than a learning experience (uh, hello SEO “sell” session), you might find it hard to understand the power Penny wields.

During her session, there were no snarky tweets (no, not even Seattle Food Geek or Chef Reinvented could come up with anything) and the room was so silent you could literally hear a pin drop. The only sound other than Penny’s voice was quiet typing, bloggers tweeting her pearls of wisdom to those of you not able to attend. It was truly magical.  Her photos are stunning, breathtaking, mesmerizing. But Penny is no high and mighty “I’m so much better than you” photographer. She is so natural and approachable. So real. Like her pictures. She’s not into food styling involving a ton of shellacking and fake stuff.

Her tips included:

1. Make pictures, don’t take them. I loved this. In French, on fait une photo. So I got that. There’s a difference between making and taking.
2. Be inspired.
3. Know what makes a good photo: Consider light, tell a story with your food, compose your shot well.
4. Learn how to use your manual settings on your camera.
5. Give your food some space. Move away from the plate, shoot the full frame to give context.
6. Remember, not all food looks good from the same angle. Vary your angles.
7. Practice, practice, practice. Take photographs every day. Self-assign projects.
8. It’s ok to edit restaurant food. Take elements off a large plate and re-plate them on smaller ones.
9. Go prop shopping (love this one!)
10. Take the photographs for yourself, not the project. Shoot what you love.

See – it’s not easy. Taking good photos is hard work. That involves practice. But also, being true to yourself.

Another outstanding session was James Oseland (he of Saveur and Top Chef Masters fame) giving Saturday night’s keynote speech.  

He spoke about the impact food bloggers are having on the traditional print media.  Oseland claims to “love” food bloggers and apparently reads a ton of food blogs (not mine. yet.).  When he travels, he turns to food blogs for inspiration and help finding the best places to eat in a new city.  Oseland seems to “get it” re: blogging changing the face and future of food writing.  Saveur, indeed, does embrace bloggers (e.g. with its “Sites we Love” section).  Oseland showed his “travel photos” which reminded me strangely of mine (only much better!) – food.  He travels, he eats, he photographs it. I wonder if he needs an assistant for his next trip. I could, you know, carry his suitcase…

All jokes aside, I think the single most important statement that Oseland uttered on Saturday night was this:

“Food blogging should not be a popularity contest”

I think 250 bloggers simultaneously tweeted that statement!

Because you know what? Food blogging does sometimes feel like a popularity contest (actually it feels sometimes a little like high school, but that’s another post).  How many readers, how many comments, how many followers, what are my stats, did my picture make Tastespotting or FoodGawker (though those are questionable measures of popularity) – what does my blog look like to the outside world?

At the end of the day, Oseland says, it doesn’t matter. Write about what you love, be passionate and inspired. The rest will come. If it’s meant to be.

And that for me, was huge.  Those of you who know me personally know that I am competitive.  Which can be a good and a bad thing. I have drive and ambition and I like to do well.  In the blogging world, depending on your definition of “doing well”, it can take years to get there. And a lot of hard work and patience (I can do hard work, patience, not so much. But working on it!).  So it was incredibly reassuring to hear people I look up to tell me it’s ok to take things slowly. Baby steps…  Do what you love, work hard at it and be yourself.  Not just a food blogger’s mantra – one that many of us would do well to adopt for our “real lives” also.

(and in case you are wondering, yes, I did go up and speak to Mr Oseland. With, oh, you know, approximately 249 others. I told him I loved his speech, was an avid Saveur reader and would one day love to write travel and food-related stories for them. I gave him my card.  And then I went away and died from the embarrassment of it all).

Thanks to California Walnuts, The National Watermelon Promotion Board, The Ontario Tender Fruit Producers, The Ontario Apple Growers, The USA Rice Federation and Rosewood Winery for making it possible for me to attend IFBC this year through their generous sponsorship.

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As you’re reading this I am back at school for professional development week sitting through the first of many meetings after flying in from Seattle and IFBC on the redeye (ouch!).  Never fear, there will be posts about my weekend coming up soon but for now, since it’s back to reality after a long summer that has seemed short (thanks to trips to Philadelphia, California – more road trip coming up too! – and Seattle), I thought I would share a couple of my “how to make sure we eat decent, homecooked meals despite our busy work schedules” secrets…

First up, another couple of contributions to this month’s Kitchen Bootcamp where the theme we have going on is vegetables.

One of my favourite recipes to make in advance when in a big batch is ratatouille.  I was pleased to see Professional Chef has a recipe that gives you the exact order in which to add the veggies which means they stayed “al dente” rather than being mushy like they get when you add everything all at the same time. Ahem.

Ratatouille from The Professional Chef, Chapter 25, p 763 uses the following vegetables (and in this order): onions, garlic, tomato paste, eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, basil, parsley and oregano.
I followed the recipe exactly and it made a really flavourful, unmushy ratatouille. Loved this.

Next up, I made a roasted salsa with some of the gorgeous tomatillos I received in our organic delivery box the other week and our one lone red pepper from the garden.

I simply roasted both the tomatillos and the pepper in the oven at 400F until the skins were blistering (about 15 minutes) and then combined the flesh of the tomatillos and the chopped pepper with some lime juice, cilantro, grape tomatoes (also from our garden) with a couple of cloves of garlic in the food processor.

I then reduced it in a small saucepan over medium heat for about 30 minutes to produce a gorgeous salsa.

I served it with a simple chicken quesadilla, sour cream and avocado.

For a tasty, light summer dinner.

Now whilst made from scratch dishes ARE the best, I sometimes go to high-quality jarred sauces and marinades when I am really pressed for time.  Hall’s Kitchen (who I have written about before) recently contacted me asking if I would like some samples of their new sauce range and, as I know I am heading into a busy time where jarred sauces might be my friend in the kitchen, I was happy to try them out.

I chose the Lemon White Wine Cream Sauce – A decadent sauce for fish, seafood, chicken, asparagus, green or yellow beans but also great on any kind of pasta, especially seafood This sauce is literally so good, you’ll just want to eat it cold with a spoon! Locally made with fresh 100% cream from Hewitt’s Dairy in Hagersville, Ontario and white wine from Niagara.  With only a handful of ingredients (100% pure cream, pure lemon juice, onions, white wine, corn starch, sunflower oil, sea salt and pepper), it tastes like something you would make yourself.  I had it on a simple pasta with sautéed shrimp dish and it was a lovely light dinner that was also start to finish in about 30 minutes!.

The second sauce I tried out was the Maple Soy Ginger Sauce and Marinade – an extremely versatile sauce and marinade for chicken, tofu, pork, ribs, salmon and tuna that combines sweet Ontario maple syrup with tamari and fresh ginger.  Again, with only a few ingredients, (vegetable stock (water, carrots, onions, celery, leeks), pure maple syrup, tamari (water, soybeans, alcohol, wheat), cornstarch, ginger, sunflower oil), it tastes homemade.

I marinaded some skirt steak for a few hours and grilled it on kebabs with red peppers and more zucchini.

I imagine in the next few weeks, make-ahead dishes will be my standard and there will be a little help from some jarred friends too. Wish me luck – here we go!

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