IFBC 2013
I arrived at the W Hotel in Seattle the night before the event and instead of attending the local foodie event, I chose to come in a little later after rush hour. My roommate for the night was Emily from Clever Housewife. The two of us met up with my son and his girlfriend in the hotel’s lounge where we enjoyed appetizer including frites with cheese and garlic aioli (amazing) and drinks.

Leanne from Rave and Review tries out the Cupcake Royale Ice Cream

Leanne from Rave and Review tries out the Cupcake Royale Ice Cream

We arrived back at our room to do a little work and a lot of talking. At about 1am we shut down for the night, set the alarm for 11am, and marveled at the amount of sleeping time we’d have.  Unfortunately, Emily and I are chatters…and we did so until 4am. Needless to I was having a hard time staying awake so I scooped up a Diet Coke from the minibar (goodness knows how much that little treat is going to cost me). It helped, but it I definitely needed more caffeine to keep up with these enthusiastic food bloggers.

We headed down for lunch which was provided by Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. A wonderful blend of sofritos (made with tofu), vegetarian pinto beans, guacamole, and cheese (yes, there was meat for everyone else). It was my first taste of Chipotle and I’m in love. Drinks were provided by Cascade Ice. I love their drinks but wish they’d get rid of the artificial coloring. Ice cream was available for dessert from Cupcake Royale, a local bakery with some amazing goodies.

Next up was the keynote with Dorie Greenspan. She’s lives in France and writes cookbooks and blogs. This tiny little woman was full of spark and I adored  her. Her recommendation was to say “YES” to everything, even the stuff that scares the heck out of you.

Live Food Blogging with Amazon.com Grocery at IFBC 13Amazon.com Live Food Blogging at IFBC

Next we did live taste test tasting. If you follow my Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook account you likely saw the 16 drinks and snacks we tasted. The common theme was natural, gluten free, and GMO free and that makes me happy. What was my favorite? Easy choice. Anything made by YummyEarth aka YumEarth and Annie’s Homegrown plus local standout Sahale Snacks who makes amazing treats full of nuts and other delicious goodies which my hubby uses as salad toppings and I eat from the bag.

Buy the Products we Sampled on Amazon.com

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I love the exposure I’m getting to the food blogger world and hope it give me the  the incentive  to start doing more recipes. I’m not a foodie by any means, but I love sharing real, good food, and this may help me do that more.

I hope you’ll join me for the rest of the event by following the hashtag  #IFBC on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.