Day two in Portland. Conference day!! The morning started BIGHT and VERY early at 5:30 am. What? Who does that? Well, me, my girl Holly, and our 5th roomie Dani had decided the night before we were going to get a workout in. With all of the food I had already eaten and that was to come, I had the motivation to get my butt out of bed and hop on the treadmill. I may have only burned off one of the three crab cake hors d’oeuvres that I had eaten at the welcome reception, but that’s not the point. I got up and got ‘er done.
Breakfast was from 8:00-9:00, then we were welcomed by Lauren & Christie the conference hosts. We then learned all about Portland from Heather Jones and Chris Angelus. It really got good when Kristen of Dine & Dish (who is just as sweet in person as I knew she’d be) talked to us about ‘Blogging Beyond The Stats’. I can guarantee that something in her session spoke to each and every one of the attendees. ‘What kind of blog will you have if you don’t have a life to blog about?’ Struck a chord with a lot of bloggers and resonated especially with me. We then had a break sponsored by OXO where I finally got to meet Alli of Gimme Some Oven. I have been dying to meet her for several years now it was such a pleasure. I may or may not have gone totally fan girl on her. Embarrassing. Then Lauren spoke to us about working with a Virtual Assistant {I LOVE mine!}.
Pad Thai
Ingredients
- 4 oz. brown rice noodles
- ¼ c. peanut oil
- ¼ c. fish sauce
- ⅓ c. honey
- 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
- ¼ c. chopped scallions
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 eggs lightly scrambled
- 1 c. mung bean sprouts
- ½ lb. peeled shrimp
- 6 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast cubed
- ½ c. roasted peanuts chopped
- ¼ c. chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 limes quartered
Instructions
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Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain, drizzle with one tablespoon peanut oil to keep from sticking and set aside.
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Meanwhile, put fish sauce, honey and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and bring just to a simmer.
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Put remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when oil shimmers, add scallions and garlic and cook for about a minute. Add eggs to pan; once they begin to set, scramble them until just done. Remove from pan.
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Add shrimp and chicken cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add bean sprouts and continue to cook for one to two minutes. Add drained noodles to pan along with sauce. Toss everything together.
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When noodles are warmed through, serve, sprinkling each dish with peanuts and garnishing with cilantro and lime wedges.
Recipe Notes
Adapted from Cooking
For lunch I was more than excited to head back to the food cart pod. I had The Whole Bowl on my brain and couldn’t shake it. So Alli (Cupcake Diaries) and I walked over for our bite to eat. To my surprise, The Whole Bowl was closed. Sad day. We walked the block and decided to have Anna ThaiBasil. I ordered the Thai Pad (of course, it’s what I always order whenever I have Thai food). It was delicious! I got the chicken and Alli got the shrimp. After a taste of her shrimp, I wish I would have gone with that. The shrimp was SO good! So for my feature recipe of this post I decided to combine the best of both worlds! We only had about an hour and fifteen minutes for our break and I knew I wanted to be sure to hit up some doughnuts before heading back.
We found some friends wandering around deciding what they were having for lunch too so we snapped a quick picture. {From left to right} Jenn, Alli, Andi, me, & Sarah. It almost looks like we coordinated out outfits! And can I just tell you how much I LOVE my Better Life Bag? Love it. Perfect for toting around my camera!
If you don’t follow Gimme Some Oven I highly recommend you do – bookmark her page, add her to your bloglovin’, follow her on Insta, whatever you gotta do – I just love this gal!
Finally. The moment I had been waiting for. Blue Star Doughnuts 3549 SE Hawthorne Portland, OR. Now, I had no idea what to expect. All I had heard was these doughnuts were better than Voodoo… which I didn’t think really could take much. So we rushed over after our Thai food to find the most delicious doughnuts available: Blackberry Compote w/Peanut Butter Powder, Meyer Lemon & Key Lime Curd, Valrhona Chocolate Crunch, Mexican Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Almond Ganache, Real Maple & Bacon, Blueberry Bourbon Basil, and ?? (which is just an original glazed doughnut).
I ended up with the Blackberry Compote (seedless!!) w/Peanut Butter Powder & Glazed. I could hardly wait to sink my teeth in to all.the.doughnuts. Let me just tell you something. I love doughnuts, and I didn’t realize just how much I loved them until this trip. Of all of the many different places I’ve had doughnuts from I will tell you this: nothing – I repeat nothing compares to the taste of these Blue Star Doughnuts. Really. Hands down best doughnuts I’ve ever eaten. Ever. Anywhere. Period. If they shipped I would be in a world of trouble.
Looking on their website I read the following: “Our donuts are made from a classic brioche recipe that originated in the south of France. The dough takes 18 hours to make and is made from scratch every day; we start with a certified sustainable bread flour from Shepherds Grain, add Cage Free eggs from Stiebrs Farms, mix in whole milk from Sunshine Dairy, and then fold in a European-style butter from Larsen’s Creamery. Our donuts are made fresh throughout the day, and we only cook our donuts in rice oil.” Pretty much I’m in love with Portland and their views on food. The end. #mustmovetoPortland
When we got back to the conference there were four more sessions. Squished in between them was this super fun Guacamole Cooking Contest sponsored by California Avocados. We were divided in to teams of five and had to make a five ingredient guacamole in five minutes. It was a little chaotic and oh so much fun. While our guacamole didn’t win, I did think it was pretty tasty. Our ingredients were honey, black beans, corn, onions, and jalapeno.
In the sessions we heard about monetizing your blog, working with brands, playing the social media game, and how to have bigger and better photography. Each of the speakers were great and each session was informative and helpful. During our afternoon break I worked for my smoothie, blending it on a bicycle. Definitely a fun way to make your breakfast or snack. Catch the video on Insta of me in action: here. After the sessions wrapped up we went back to our rooms to get ready for our sponsor dinner.
Me, Holly, Alli, Jessica & Deseree had the pleasure of attending the Tillamook sponsored dinner at Clyde Common 1014 SW Stark St. Portland, OR. It was incredible. I had the pleasure of sitting by Mary, Cindy, Megan & Gerry. Such wonderful company! I also sat next to Katie from Tillamook and loved getting to know her as well. If you can’t tell, I’m a bit of a social butterfly and LOVE meeting new friends! Especially friends who share a love of food! The ambiance of the restaurant was so sophisticated and elegant. It was fun to see how the Tillamook products were incorporated into each course. Not to mention tasty. I’m telling you, the farm to table appreciation stole my heart this weekend and I’m not even joking you. “We’re so glad you could join us in this celebration of food made the right way.” Really? Again. Be still my heart. Delicious food. Exceptional company. An evening to remember for many years to come. Stay tuned for part 3 of my trip!
Yay Blue Star, our favorite is the passionfruit. The glazed was ?? because they had to rename it, apparently Krispy Kreme has trademarked “original glazed”. They took votes and now it’s “The OG” for oxata (horchata) glazed. Crazy donut politics, haha! I was totally eyeing your bag at Indulge and meant to ask if it was Better Life, I love it! Your meal at Clyde Common looks amazing, I’ve yet to try that place but it gets rave reviews. And yes, you should #movetoPortlandASAP :)
Yvonne
I wish I would have tried the passion fruit. Donut politics – hahaha! I LOVE my Better Life Bag! In fact.. I want another one!!
Rachael Yerkes @ Eazy Peazy Mealz
makes me want to go back. So good!
Yvonne
Right?!?!! You and me both sister! Can’t wait for our Chicago adventure!
My face during the guacamole competition!! haha! That about explains my fear of making the stuff. Which actually turned out pretty fun! This pad thai. Yum!!!! I’m so excited to make it! So much goodness going on in this post, I could go on and on!
Yvonne
Ha! You are too funny! This Pad Thai is SO freaking good – I’m not even kidding! Thanks for reading!!