Travel

BlogHer Food 2011

Ok, so this “recap” post is a few days late, but I was tired. Tired from being awesome; it’s exhausting sometimes you know.

Ah, but I digress. This past weekend I traveled up to Atlanta, Georgia to attend the BlogHer Food conference! Yahoo! I was definitely a bit on edge, because it was the very first conference I was attending for ME. That, and I was going to be brushing elbows with Internet friends in real life! Crap…I was going to have to act like a normal person in real life, as opposed to the shut-in hermit that I usually am at home. I…am…so…awkward!

Anyway, my mom had to do some business up in the ATL as well, so we roadtripped together! Winning! For me, roadtrips always involve at least one stop for ice cream. I couldn’t resist a DQ cone dipped in chocolate on Thursday afternoon as we approached the city.

The first evening, my mom and I attended a party at the Hard Rock. I won a Keurig coffee maker. Shame on me for entering every giveaway just to enter…because I don’t drink coffee. Or tea. Or cider. I rarely drink hot chocolate (we live in FL…too hot!). So um, if anyone can think of something I can do with this appliance I acquired, let me know.

Anyway, after the Hard Rock, we picked up a hitch hiker on the side of the road on our way to Richard Blais’ Flip Burger…you might recognize her! It’s Mrs. Puma from Puma Life!

We were really excited to have some martinis made with liquid nitrogen. Mrs. P had a mango martini and I opted for a cosmo. Seriously…how freaking cool is the N2 smoke?!?!

After eating a lot at the previous party, my mom and I decided to split a side of tempura okra and a milkshake. Blais – if you’re reading this (which, of course you aren’t, but who knows): you need to put more okra in the tempura okra. It was sliced so thin that my order was 75% batter and 25% okra. However, it is a good thing that fried dough is tasty, because I ate them anyway…

And then…the milkshake. Ohhhh the milkshake! We ordered a nutella and burnt marshmallow milkshake, and it was the dreamiest, most delicious milkshake in existence. The marshmallows were actually burnt…which is how we like them! If only I could get my hands on one of these in Clearwater…

Ok, so as for the rest of the weekend: it was a blur! I honestly was surprised that I didn’t take more photos, but I was busy being social and didn’t always remember to snap them! I totally hung out with Jess from Jessica Lynn Writes, and I never demanded a photo (she got one though! Score!). But, here is a random smattering of photos from the weekend.

On Friday, we attended an opening night reception at the conference hotel. Mrs. P and I managed to sweet talk the bartender into giving us an extra (large) glass of wine…because we are awesome.

This reception was followed by another party across the street. It was hosted by Tasty Kitchen…annnnd are you aware of whose site that is? Wink wink? Although Ree wasn’t there herself, her adorable sister Betsy was, and she could not have been nicer! My mom is stealing her hair style as inspiration.

Are you geeking out yet?!?! We totally were. Bakerella was also in attendance at this party, but I never got the chance to get a photo!

We visited the Sweet Auburn Curb Market on Saturday. Side note: why do we not have something like this in my area? Fresh produce…I want it.

Sweet potato cheesecake. Drool. For real.

I might or might not have returned to Flip Burger for lunch on Saturday for a falafel burger and french fries.

Finally, on Saturday night my mom and I ventured to Agave, which had received rave reviews and piqued the interest of us both. Oh boy…it was spicy freaking amazingess. Best meal of the weekend, hands down! What a great way to end the trip. ***Apologies for the photos: it was extremely low lighting and I was forced to use my iPhone***

All in all, I had a fabulous weekend at BlogHer Food. I returned home laden with swag and with an energized blogging spirit. I am so excited about my blogging future, and I hope that I was able to meet some new friends in the process! Now…if only I had all the money in the world to attend each and every blog conference out there!

Have you attended a blogging-related conference before? Which one should be next on my list? 😉

22 Comments

Click here to post a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Oh gosh, everything looks amazing. I never knew there was a BlogHer food. Are you going to BlogHer in August? The first time I heard about it all was when someone asked me to go and I’m GOING!!!! California!! Ahh!

  • All the food is making me hungry!!

    As for the Keurig, maybe do a giveaway? Only because I would totally enter since I’ve been wanting one, but am too cheap to purchase. LOL!

  • Uh, duh…GIVEAWAY!

    Glad you had a great time! I wish I could have met up, boo. 🙁 Can’t believe I’ve never been to the Sweet Auburn market. I keep forgetting about it!

  • I had such a great time at BlogHer too, and I really enjoyed meeting you! Sorry we didn’t find you to say bye, I was so out of it by that point Saturday. I love the photos, I may have to snag a few for my recaps since I didn’t take very many. I love, love your Sweet Auburn photos – they are beautiful. That Mexican restaurant looks like it was delicious, next time I’m in Atlanta I’ll have to go there.

  • Enjoyed your recap and the photos. Consider a giveaway for the coffee maker. Smiling that you went to FLIP 2x!! Thrilled that you enjoyed ATL and the conference.

  • That looks fun! I wish I would have known about it in advance.. always next year.

    I live in Dunedin and I’m sure the Sweet Auburn Curb Market is much cooler, but I buy all my produce from the NE Coachman Farmer’s Market. It’s not really a farmer’s market more just a produce stand. It’s on the corner of Old Coachman and NE Coachman. Also I just discovered every Saturday in the summer downtown Dunedin has a farmer’s market we went this weekend and there were two produce tents.

  • Holy cow, that looks like it was a BLAST! I’m so jealous – and all that food looks fantastic!

  • OMG SISTER PW!! That’s awesome. Your mom is endlessly adorable. And I am hungry again after seeing this post Katie! BAD GIRL!

  • Give the coffee maker away here on the blog! Or re-gift it to a friend getting married. Even if they read the blog and know the difference, who wouldn’t want it?! Haha

  • Hey Katie, it was so great to meet you even though we didn’t get to talk for long. I hope I get to see you at the Central Florida Blogger Conference or another event this year, you’re not too far from me!

Interested in Sponsoring?

Click here for sponsorship information and booking! Or send me an email at helpfulhomemade@gmail.com to discuss opportunities!

Browse Categories

my foodgawker gallery
my craftgawker gallery

Browse the Archives