Food | Pancakes and Postcards

December

December 2, 2011 by Courtney 11 Comments

Just over a month ago I wrote one of my favorite posts ever on the blog, No-Nonsense November.

There was little to no forethought behind the post, just a straightforward declaration that I would Cut the Crap from my life in a variety of areas.

November has come and gone with several highlights, from the Foodbuzz Festival to Thanksgiving. But there were lows, too. And in some ways I made my vague goals and in other ways I did not.

The biggest accomplishment: I did not eat one bite of junk food from the office the entire month. Not one bite. We always have chocolate, candy, cookies, chips, crackers. I’ve been complaining that they are the bane of my existence and responsible for my weight gain of the last six months. I couldn’t go past 3PM without snacking on something salty and sugary. But I did it. I went an ENTIRE MONTH. And now I want to keep the streak alive.

I also gained two pounds. In a month.

Yes, one of my goals for November was to drop a few that the office job has brought on and I thought that cutting hundreds of calories from my weekly diet in the form of simple sugars at work would be the key to kick that off. Apparently it wasn’t. At all. This disheartens me because it means that getting my body back to where I want it to be will require much more serious work and semi-obsessive attention. But it has to happen. I am sick of looking at myself in the mirror and feeling like a “before” picture. Then again, what are you supposed to do when confronted with these?

The great part of this is I have a plan of sorts. And I declare here that by December 31^st I will see a positive change. I WILL see it because frankly I don’t think I can handle writing one more blog post like this.

Aside from the junk food detox I had some other successes. I swore off workout excuses, and I’m happy to say I did go running in the dark a couple of times. Baby steps.

I’ve also been working on prioritizing relationships. It’s hard, because everything goes two ways. But I recognize that a lot of the stress I feel regarding work/running/body image/state in life comes from feeling unbalanced. I know that’s all of our quest and it comes from within, but surrounding yourself with positive people really helps. I’m working on that.

I tried to think of a name for December, but after No-Nonsense November proved otherwise in a significant way, I figured calling it “Damn You Fine December” I should just focus on tangible goals for the month:

Run the California International Marathon
Transition to a lower-carb, higher-protein diet
Incorporate shorter, more intense workouts into my schedule instead of steady state cardio that is not doing much for me
Enjoy myself at the dozen holiday parties and strive for balance
Look inside for inspiration and motivation instead of to everything else but myself
Focus more on showing love to everyone in my life instead of receiving it
Meditate and pray over what I want my life to look like in 2012 and what I can do to make sure that happens

I can’t believe 2011 is almost over. I have a good feeling about this month. Let’s go out with a bang.

Courtney

What are your December goals?

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Filed Under: Musings Tagged With: body image, food, goals, happiness, life, monthly goals, no nonsense november, weight

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

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!

Then we went outside for some awesome Fleet Week and Blue Angels action!

I swear I have fifty varieties of this SAME EXACT PHOTO.

Me, Teresa, Suki, Audrey, Naomi, Courtney, (front) Cate, Alyssa, Jana. Annelies left early so is sadly not pictured.

I love meeting new bloggers and spending time with ones who I am already lucky enough to call my friends. Thanks for a fun day!

Courtney

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Filed Under: Musings Tagged With: blogger meetup, bloggers, fleet week, food, marina, runners, SF, snacks, sports basement

SoMa Lunch Spots: Farmer Brown’s Little Skillet

September 23, 2011 by Courtney 7 Comments

I spend an amazing amount of time and money exploring lunch spots in the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood and since my blog is in part about food and San Francisco, I figure I should start actually posting some of them. And luckily I have awesome coworkers who are often down for new lunch spots.

This week: Farmer Brown’s Little Skillet (website)

Description in five words or less: Chicken and waffles. Greasy. Delicious.

Location: 360 Ritch Street, SF, CA

We headed down there at lunchtime to this cute, brick alley to grab a team lunch. Chicken and waffles for almost everyone, veggie grits for the two veg-heads!