Bloggers | Pancakes and Postcards

Off The Wagon/Foodbuzz Finale

November 20, 2011 by Courtney 1 Comment

I’ve fallen off the (blogging) wagon.

When life gets crazy sometimes the blog slips for a few days… and then after it slips for a few days I start getting really overwhelmed because I have that many more days of content I feel the need to post about and then the time just flies by and all of a sudden it’s been a week and a half with no post. Well, I’m getting back on the wagon today and this week will be blog city Smile

A lot has happened in the last week and a half, from the Foodbuzz Festival to some fun times to a race decision, my one-year-out-of-Peace Corps anniversary, and some crazy runs and good eats. I want to finish posting about Foodbuzz so that I can have this one in the books and then get back to everything else. Back on the wagon, as it was.

(Already posted Friday night and Saturday—here’s Sunday, two weeks after the fact!)

The seriously amazing Foodbuzz Festival wound down Sunday with a farewell brunch at Perry’s on the Embarcadero. I hadn’t been to this particular establishment before, and they shut down the restaurant for us.

The restaurant patio was open and while it was a brisk and chilly SF day, the sun was shining and it was beautiful outside.

The menu featured a variety of cold and hot breakfast foods as well as some adult beverages. Who doesn’t love boozy brunch?? (Um, me. After two nights of an open bar. Girl needs her detox.)

I did end up asking for a Café Godiva (coffee with chocolate liquor), and while it looked really good I couldn’t stomach it. I’ve never really dug the “booze in hot drinks” thing. Godiva sponsored the brunch and gave us a lot of awesome goodies—expect a giveaway here soon!

I tried a bit of everything. The quiche squares were delicious! The cauliflower was a big hit, though I am probably the one person who prefers not to eat veggies with breakfast. : )

My favorite was, unsurprisingly, the brioche french toast. I could have eaten four pieces! Oh wait…

Finished off the morning with a stroll down the Embarcadero and through the Ferry Building, always a foodie paradise. One of the best things about the Foodbuzz Festival was to see my city through visitors’ eyes and realize how many delights I’m blessed with having right in front of me.

One of the other “best things” about the Foodbuzz Festival was meeting so many other bloggers! It’s quite late, but one of my post-FbzFest projects was to create a new tab in my google reader for my foodbuzz friends. Here are some really excellent blogs to check out!

· Danielle Abroad

· Healthy Diva Eats

· Jo Boston is a Foodie

· Joy the Baker

· Killer Bunnies, Inc

· Mrs Regueiro’s Plate

· N Her Shoes

· No Recipes

· Pennies on a Platter

· Super Duper Fantastic

· The Healthy Hostess

· Trying to Heal

· Veggie Couture

I’m off to continue my Google Reader Organization Project. Thanks everyone who made my foodbuzz experience awesome (two weeks later). time to be back on the blogging wagon!

Courtney

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Filed Under: Pancakes (Food) Tagged With: bloggers, booze, brunch, Embarcadero, ferry building, food, foodbuzz, foodbuzz festival, french toast, Perrys

Foodbuzz Tasting Pavillion and Gala Dinner

November 8, 2011 by Courtney 11 Comments

So I already posted about #fbzfest (aka Foodbuzz Blogger Festival) night one, which was pretty awesome in and of itself. Then Saturday arrived.

I knew today would be a “marathon, not a sprint” as it involved sessions from 9-12, eating at the tasting pavilion from 1-4, and then yet another multi-course meal at 6:30, so I tried to pace myself. Starting with the continental breakfast buffet. (I love muffins.)

The morning sessions included a panel on “taking your blog to the next level” featuring a lot of well-known bloggers, like Jessica, Joy, and others. Following that, I went to two sessions: one on “the DSLR-free zone” by Greg of Sippity Sup, Angi of Rice and Wheat, and Chuck of Foodgawker, which was cool, especially listening to Chuck talk about iPhoneography. It really is an art form! : )

I also attended an Adobe Lightroom session to learn how to edit photos. Marc from No Recipes did an awesome job with this and I was SO motivated to make my pictures beautiful! However, I got home and realized I have EVERY part of the Adobe suite EXCEPT Lightroom. #FAIL I had had visions of perfectly edited photos in this post, but that dream has to wait a little bit.

Then it was time for the Real Deal – The Tasting Pavilion!

My four favorite bites were chocolate ganache with edible icing stickers from Ticings;

Hottie Biscotti—Winter’s Gift (white chocolate with peppermint);

A red velvet mini cupcake from Mission Minis;

And number one, the Morning Bun from Bovine Bakery.

Sweet goodness, this was an afternoon. I know I talked about cleaning up my diet as part of No-Nonsense November, and while I was VERY awesome and healthy with my eating last week, I definitely indulged in some of these treats because hey, it was the foodbuzz fest! Truly a special occasion.

(Melissa, Alyssa, Me, Beth, Cate, Courtney)

Oh and I forgot one other part. I met Tyler Florence and got a signed copy of his cookbook Smile

Though I did miss getting in on the posed picture like Courtney Granola:

I almost didn’t make it back down to Union Square as it was POURING RAIN and ridiculously windy. I was half an hour late to cocktail hour, but that doesn’t mean I missed the open bar.

(Our new awesome friend Allie, and my dates for the weekend)

The dinner was sponsored by Alexia Foods and part of the deal was a blogger competition to create the next flavor of their frozen oven fries. So basically for the appetizers during cocktail hour, we had fries. Lots of them. Four varieties with different spices. The sweet potato ones with thai spices were winners in my book, but hey, they were all pretty good.

The lighting at the beginning of dinner was truly horrible for photos for inexperienced food photogs like me, but by this point I was getting over the camera thing.

I found myself at a fun table with Cate, Courtney, Allie, Jillian, Anna, Kath, and Laura and we got to talking and noshing on appetizers while Tyler Florence rocked his magic on stage with a cooking demo. Unfortunately a lot of us were really hungry so there was a bit of talking and some #tylerflorencedrinkinggame going on at the other tables!

Finally, food was served. This picture came out thanks to the tip I learned this morning: use an iPhone as an external light source! Genius.

And dessert:

Cowgirl Creamery cheesecake, cold bread pudding, chocolate mousse.

What a great day of eating, talking, and getting to know other bloggers. This really was an awesome event to remember. As evidenced by this ridiculously long post.

(above picture courtesy of Bobbi from N Her Shoes—loved these ladies above!)

I ran three miles the next day and burned every single calorie off. Clearly. Smile WORTH IT.

until next post,

Courtney

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Filed Under: Pancakes (Food) Tagged With: bloggers, food, foodbuzz, foodbuzz festival, unhealthy goodness

A Permanent State of Food Coma: Foodbuzz Festival Part One

November 6, 2011 by Courtney 17 Comments

I seriously feel like I never need to eat again.

Okay, that’s a lie. I’m pretty sure my stomach expanded from doing nothing but eat for three days and now I’m scrounging for food at 10PM… but that’s a whole different story.

This weekend was the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival, which I’d been looking forward to for months! I was so excited to get accepted as a Featured Publisher, and much of my excitement was related to being able to spend three days in my own city surrounded by bloggers and food.

Friday came around and involved me running to Union Square from work to pick up Cate’s and my swag bag… which I then toted (all twenty pounds, it seemed) back to work to hang out and get some more stuff done before the reception and welcome dinner in SOMA that night.

Our swag bag contained goodies from Godiva, Sabra, Duncan Hines, OXO, California Walnuts, and a few others. Pretty awesome. I am now swimming in pounds of coffee that I don’t drink. I smell a giveaway!

I got to kick the evening off right with Cate and Courtney Granola (unofficial name for the weekend, as we had Courtney Granola and Courtney Pancakes – it happens).

Sabra sponsored the appetizer hour which means we had a bajillion types of hummus pastries (above) to choose from, as well as a variety of vegetables with hummus to dip them in, roasted chickpeas, and more. I like hummus, but I am not always in the mood for it. I have tried a dozen times to bring baby carrots and hummus for a snack to work but I NEVER end up eating it… I need to work on this. We munched on a few while enjoying more than one glass of wine before the gala dinner.

Got to spend some time with the lovely Annelies which is always a treat!

Then it was time for the welcome dinner! There were two buffets, one of appetizers and another of comfort food created by actual bloggers at the event. It was a bit overwhelming – so many people to meet, so much food to eat, so many glasses of wine and cocktails at the free open bar…

The beet ravioli was a highlight of the night… for everyone else but me. I appreciated that it was quite good, but I’ll be honest. I HATE beets. I know that 1) every food blogger loooooves beets and 2) I eat almost everything but something about beets makes me want to gag a little bit. But the fact that I liked the ravioli is saying something about how good it must have been.

Chefs were preparing some small plates that I was way too impatient to get in on…

I took a bite of Jessica’s brown sugar butter chicken (!). As I approach my one year mark of being a vegetarian I am experimenting with adding a little meat back into my diet to see how I feel… but that’s another post for another time.

I felt a little unsatisfied after the first course so as we listened to the blog awards, I was kind of, maybe, okay REALLY looking forward to the dessert buffet…

(Joy the Baker, an award winner herself, announcing Ashley from the Edible Perspective as a winner—both amazing bloggers! And Courtney Granola was super psyched to meet Joy!)

Then the awards were given and it was time for the dessert, thank you.

Pumpkin tarts…

chocolate ganache bites with almond…

Mini cheesecakes, coffee cream with flowerless chocolate cake, gingersnap macaroon.,..

Sabra also passed around some sort of chocolate caramel coconut dessert hummus pastry thing, but in a room full of food bloggers, if you’re going to pass around something unconventional you’ve gotta make it look just a BIT more appealing to eat.

I’ll leave you with that. Hope you all had a great weekend!

courtney

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Filed Under: Pancakes (Food) Tagged With: bloggers, dessert, food, foodbuzz, foodbuzz festival, hummus, sabra, San Francisco, unhealthy goodness

Rediscovering My Runner’s High

October 30, 2011 by Courtney 19 Comments

It’s been a while since I felt a true runner’s high. And not for lack of running… I’ve been logging my miles since the SF Marathon, with these three months seeing a few hundred miles run as well as three half marathons raced and one spectated while running farther than the course distance. But something has just been missing. That feeling where everything clicks.

I fell in love with running during my first marathon training cycle somewhere after 11 miles. I realized that no matter what I tend to hate the first 5 miles of a run. Sad but true. Hence my twitter headline saying I need 10K to warm up. I really do! There was something about coming back from a 16, 18, or 20+ mile run totally wasted but also kind of floating on endorphins. I finally found that again today!

I did NOT want to wake up at 7 this morning but after hitting snooze til 7:30, seeing everyone’s tweets about the Marine Corps Marathon dragged me out of bed. There was a 4-mile race happening on the Great Highway that Cate and Alyssa would be at, so I had to make it down. I got dressed and then got on my way. The only problem was that there was a 4-mile run for me to just GET to the race! Luckily it was running DOWN MLK which is SO. MUCH. EASIER. I was trying to take it really slow and somewhat succeeded.

4 mi run to race: 35:43

I got down there and connected with Cate and family. I love DSE races. So chill and such a fun environment. I need to commit to getting to know a lot of these people!

When the race started we started in the back since they had the baby stroller. Unfortunately for everyone in front of us, Cate and Mike are faster than the majority of the crowd even when pushing baby! I hung with them for the first 1.5 mile or so and then they hightailed it out of there, picking off people one by one. Alyssa managed to sprint her fast feet up to catch up with us and I stayed with her til right around the turnaround and then I dropped back. I was not feeling great and just out to have fun and try to survive 12-13 mi for the day. I took a 30 second walking break to take off my long sleeve shirt (oops) which meant readjusting iPod and Garmin. Then I finished out by counting the alphabet backwards as I passed the Sunset streets (Santiago… Rivera… Pacheco…)

I kept in minimal effort mode because I knew I still had miles in front of me, but it was fun to participate!

Mile 1: 9:2X (weaving with stroller)
Mile 2: 8:26
Mile 3: 8:53 (walk break)
Mile 4 kind of: 7:45 (it was only 0.95 mile)

So I’ve got a new 3.95M PR of 34:32 despite the walking and slowness. Woot!

After that, I hung out and dawdled and filled my water bottle and fueled up with 3 mini chocolate chip cookies. I REALLY needed the calories after running 8 miles on only one graham cracker. I’m a big breakfast before long run person, but I got out of bed only 30 minutes before I had to run so it didn’t happen.

After that, I just wanted to get a ride HOME! I was tired and over the running thing. However, I knew that Kristine and Alyssa were doing laps at Stow Lake and I hadn’t seen Kristine since the Giant Race so I decided I’d make the trudge over to Stow Lake to see them. Two slow miles UP MLK (ugh) and I was there. One break for this:

I was feeling okay and figured I’d do one lap with them and then head home for 13 for the day, keeping with my goal of running at least 13.1 miles per weekend even though I’m not training for anything.

Imagine my surprise when I saw Layla and Karin there as well! This is when my day totally turned around. We headed out together around Stow Lake. And then I had so much fun catching up with Kristine and chatting with the others that I ended up running 3. At that point I decided I should probably run another half lap so then with my 2 miles home it would make 16 miles for the day.

Total: 16 miles/2:26, 9:07 pace

From miles 10 to 16, I felt better every mile. My legs got looser and wanted to run faster than they were. While I had wanted to walk so much between miles 4-8 (in a “race”!), I didn’t even want to stop. I almost headed back into the park for another 2 to make it 18 for the day, but then I realized I haven’t hit 15+ in three months, so why risk it when my knee was bothering me a bit anyway. My last mile I was just so happy, because I remembered why I love to run. It’s that feeling, ten miles in, with no clock ticking to stress me out, with friends nearby to support, with nowhere to be or go, the only goal just to move and enjoy running for running’s sake.

Today was awesome. I loved this run and it reminded me that I CAN run despite my confidence issues as of late and that I can rock a distance run even if I’ll never be speedy. That doesn’t mean I can’t love it.

When I got home, I was famished. I had only had those three cookies which seemed like a lot at the time (maybe 200 calories?) but after 16+ miles on just those calories and the graham cracker I was dying. I knew exactly how to get delicious and replenishing fuel into me FAST:

One cup chocolate milk + one frozen banana + one spoon PB. Everything you need. And amazing.

After a good bit of dawdling and lounging around in my bathrobe (TMI?), I jumped on my bike to meet Alyssa at Quickly for some really (not) nutritious and very much needed post-run fuel. (She did 20 and kicked ASS.) I had a lovely bike ride over to the Richmond—really getting the hang out riding in traffic. Still scary but I MUST attempt a ride to work this week—I’m thinking Tuesday.

We got Oreo Snows with large tapioca and fries (curly for her, sweet potato for me). It was absolutely just what the doctor ordered.

After some time lounging around the wave of post run tiredness hit me HARD. I had wanted to hike up Twin Peaks, but a 16 mile run + bike ride +strenuous hike seemed a little bit much for the one day. But all told, this was the absolute perfect Sunday.

I’ve got a busy week in front of me which will culminate in the FOODBUZZ FESTIVAL next weekend! I am seriously excited for that. I’ve got a few goals for the week:

Two good weight training sessions
Four runs
No junk food at the office. Fo realz this time.
GO TO BED BEFORE 11. I was up til 1-2am every night last week (college flashback!) and I piad for it. Sleep matters!
BUY A DIGITAL CAMERA!!! I need recommendations stat. Anyone?? Something that is purse-able if not pocket-able, that I can carry around easily, not super complicated, Please advise if you have any recommendations!

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL weekend!

Courtney

What do you use to take pictures? Do you have any camera recs for me?

Filed Under: fitness Tagged With: bloggers, DSE, fries, Golden Gate Park, great highway, long runs, ocean beach, quickly, race recap, running, smoothie, stow lake, unhealthy goodness

Nike Women’s (Half…) Marathon Race Recap!

October 17, 2011 by Courtney 33 Comments

Half Marathon #4 in the books and tiffany bling to boot!

Yesterday I woke up at 4:30AM to run the Nike Women’s Marathon. I had a fun sleepover at Alyssa’s house with RadRunner and a bunch of cute cats and when the alarm went off a bit too early we were out of bed and rarin’ to go.

Our outfit for the day was inspired by Audrey—makeshift LBDs (lulu running skirts for the win!), pearls, sparkly headband, sunglasses… and we totally rocked it.

We hopped on the 38 bus at 5:45ish to head down to Union Square (who knew it ran around the clock? Not me!) The bus was chock full of runners and we arrived downtown around 6:20…

To UTTER CHAOS. Words cannot describe the ridiculousness that was Union Square at 6AM on a Sunday morning. How many people were there? 25,000? 30,000? Lord knows but think mosh pit at a concert. Ohhhhh my gosh. I chose not to let my friends know that I am an extremely claustrophobic person and occasionally panic.

Somehow I survived but we could not even get CLOSE to the start of the race! I can say unequivocally that if I ever run this race again I will start right behind the elites. The bag check was in horrible spots so people were trying to get to those while others were trying to get to their corrals (which are self-selected and no one seems to know where they should be). We gave up and hung out in the 10 or 11 minute corral and occupied ourselves with “helping” our Garmins find signal.

And then we were off!

And by off I mean, it took us ELEVEN MINUTES to cross the start line. And THAT is how you know it might be a rough run! It was simply madness. The first few miles we were mostly running on sidewalks because there was simply no room to go. I clocked .13 over on the first mile or something like that from all the ridiculous weaving.

We had this goal of around 2 hours for the race. Alyssa was down for whatever (the speedster would have no prob!), Erica wanted to go for it and I was pretty ambivalent about the pace. I think we realized pretty quickly though that it wasn’t going to happen OR, more likely, a goal time would only happen at the expense of having fun. Trying to run this course fast would be a really frustrating and angering experience. Luckily, we were having a great time.

The course headed out of union square, along the Embarcadero, up to Ghiradelli Square, back down and over Fort Mason, and then through the Marina a la SFM. The Fort Mason hill didn’t even seem hard because we couldn’t even run it! I felt like I was in a permanent state of hot-stepping around people or wanting to play Red Rover (or maybe human bowling…) with all the walkers in front of us. Oops.

Finally we got to the real thing: the hill up to the base of the Golden Gate. I don’t think we walked at all on this hill, or if we did I forgot. But again, we were going super slow due to the crowds. It was still a HARD hill though!

Around this time (about mile 6) I started getting a little dizzy. I never seem to drink enough in the first 5 miles of races (oh there’s an aid station, it’s crowded, don’t wanna stop, peace!) and then I spend the rest of the race trying to get out of dehydration. Happened here but then I started stopping at the aid stations for water or Gatorade.

After we got up to the top of the first big hill we got to bomb down Lincoln with a great downhill. And by bomb I mean, “run way slower than we could have because there are too many people in the way.”

Somewhere in there around mile 8 I got to see Katie (with poster AND cowbell!), Dennis, Page and Jess which was rad! It was something to look forward to for a few miles before that.

Following that we had another big uphill in Seacliff, then downhill to the avenues. And then we took a right up Clement Street.

Oh my lord. I was so angry on this hill. Well, angry isn’t the right word. I just had no idea it was there and it was SO HARD! I couldn’t even tell when it was going to end. I vaguely remember turning to Alyssa or just nodding and whimpering, “is it almost over?” Apparently hills are not my strongest suit.

Soon it was and we got to run down past the Cliff House and down to the Great Highway. So close!

We took a left onto JFK for our last hill. I was sick of the hills at this point and my knees were tired from running downhill (haven’t done a lot of that lately). I felt pretty winded running up that one but so glad that we were almost done.

I felt better hydration wise considering the last few stops I was taking 2 cups of Gatorade and 2 cups of water and downing all 4 in the 30 seconds ish we were in the water stop areas. Seriously. I was SO HAPPY they served Gatorade on the course and also gave out a few chews (like fruit snacks) that were great! I had two of those gummies (30 calories each) and a bunch of Gatorade and I was fine. I got in more than enough calories with the Gatorade and didn’t need to Gu which I was happy about. I always get a side stitch when I take gels.

Finally we turned right to make the half turnaround. I WAS SO HAPPY. I never would want to run this full marathon, I don’t think. Ow!

Then we had a nice downhill on MLK and soon we were back on the Great Highway and crossing the finish line in 2:10. NECKLACE TIME!

At which point it was time for posing for pictures and changing out of sopping wet sports bras.

This was an interesting race! I will say the following things about it:

1) First and most importantly, I had a GREAT TIME. I didn’t listen to my iPod at all the whole day, the pace was slow enough that I could talk easily (except for up a few of those hills!), and the energy was awesome! Way better than any of the other races I have done. And the race went by SO FAST!!! I was hardly ever looking at my Garmin and every time I did I was surprised we were almost done.

2) This course is no joke! Holy moly. Those hills in the Presidio and the Richmond are NOT messing around. We ran a 2:10 as a “fun” pace—not killing ourselves trying to cut people off, not being able to run at all at some points because of crowds, walking through water stops to rehydrate… but honestly, I don’t think I could sub-2 on this course!!! I have to work for my sub-2s and this course means business.

3) This is not a race for people who don’t like crowds. The whole start, finish, and a lot of the actual race in the middle is a big cluster.

4) This is not a runner’s race. If you show up here looking for a manageable group of fellow runners who understand course etiquette and how to behave in a race, from walking on the side to starting in correct corrals, you will HATE this race.

5) With that being said… this race is an amazing experience in terms of just soaking in the joy of being part of something with a bajillion other people. Seeing so many people’s excitement over finishing their first half or full marathon, and especially the thousands of people who raised money for an amazing cause (Team in Training), was really inspiring to me.

Afterwards, I got to meet up with some fellow runners and enjoy swapping Nike war stories over a $16 veggie burger at the Beach Chalet. Good thing it was freaking delicious but damn!

It was great to see so many amazing runners who were also out there, especially Jana who did the full (and Karin who was very much missed). Full marathon! Amazing.

And I got to “meet” Ellie!

Sure, the crowds were stressful, sure, the organization was bad, sure, people stop walking right in front of you, etc. But I think it’s also clear to me that this is a pretty special event and despite the ridiculousness I had a great time. Thanks to A and E for being my running buddies and putting up with me, and for everyone else who I am so blessed to call a running friend Smile

Time for bed! Happy Monday all!

Courtney

What was the highlight of your weekend?

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Filed Under: fitness Tagged With: bay area, beach chalet, bloggers, friends, Golden Gate Park, half marathon, nike, NWM, presidio, race recap, runners, running, running bloggers, tiffany, union square

Bay Area Blogger Meetup

October 13, 2011 by Courtney 7 Comments

So a handful of weeks ago I contacted some bloggers to try to plan a meetup in October. There seemed to be about 50 of us floating around the blogosphere, why not get together? So I tried to plan a meetup for October. Logistics were a challenge with Fleet Week and general busy-ness, but Sports Basement in the Presidio so AWESOMELY volunteered a space for us!

BAD ASS BLOGGERS WHAT!!! (Okay, bay area. But that’s definitely not the first thing I think of when I see “BA.”)

We got to take over their community area which had a fun collection of couches (though somehow I ended up sitting on the floor…)

We had quite the spread! Teresa made amazing pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling, SB donated cookies, brownies, peanut butter pretzels, and chips and guac…

Note the amazing scary cookies from Audrey, the peanut butter pretzels that I demolished almost single-handedly, the Hi-Chews from Alyssa (I stole a package of strawberries and forgot and when I found them it was the best thing ever), and the candy corn that Cate and I put a good dent in. I may have also eaten those for dinner. And the mini PB&Js in the back corner for two or three meals. Score.

It was great to meet new friends and spend time with old ones! And I finally got to hang out with @granolacourtney… she rocks! thanks for making the long drive up! And for everyone else who came out despite the horrible traffic and other stuff going on!