international food blogger conference

One of my favorite parts of IFBC – The International Food Blogger Conference this year was the Urbanspoon dine out we got to attend at Cafe Flora. Surprisingly (to myself!) I had never been to Cafe Flora or heard about it before, despite visiting Seattle many times for delicious vegan food. I was very happy to find out that Cafe Flora specializes in homemade vegetarian cuisine (more my style) and din’t use any processed faux meats or cheeses in their cuisine. Although it is a vegetarian restaurant most items can be made vegan or gluten free as well so they are very good at catering to specific dietary needs. In a world where that isn’t always the case, I know anyone with allergies or dietary restrictions will find Cafe Flora to be a lifesaver! When we first arrived I took a look at the menu on the table, and thought that we each got to choose one dish from each course… but I was mistaken! In fact we all were served every course to share (and in my case some veganized versions especially for me). So there was an amazing amount of food prepared just for our little group of vegetarians and vegans. I’m going to apologize in advance.. I only brought my iPhone 4 to take pictures with and so they are really horrible quality in the dim restaurant light. My nice camera was too heavy to bring this time as I knew there would be a lot of samples i’d have to have room for in my bags coming back on the plane! But I’ll show you most of the things we were served (that I remembered to photograph!)

Cafe Flora Urbanspoon Dine Out Menu:

Appetizer #1: Yam fries

Appetizer #2: Pate platter with lentil pecan pate, olives, fruit and pickles

Appetizer #3 Pierogies and soy sour cream

Salad #1: Caesar salad

Nectarine and Zucchini Basil Pizza

Pizza: Heirloom Tomato and Sweet Corn Pizza

Main Course: Baked Beans, Grilled Veggies and a Potato Battered Fried Green Tomato

My Dessert: Peach Blackberry Crisp

So now that you’ve seen the crazy amount of food we gorged on you’re probably wondering did we eat it all? And the answer is a heck no. There was way more food than most of us could handle and only some of each dish was sampled. We had 4 people not show up to our dine out as well so I think that’s another reason there was so much food. I really enjoyed the variety of fresh ingredients and next time I’m back in Seattle I’m definitely heading to Cafe Flora. Thank you IFBC and Urbanspoon!

The first day of #IFBC or International Food Blogger Conference is over and I have a few little gems I’d like to share. First my day started off with a nice little breakfast at Wayward Vegan Cafe – my go to place in Seattle for vegan breakfast and then IFBC started this afternoon.

Photo From PoorMansFeast.com

Next, was a keynote from Dorie Greenspan who had a lot of little gems of information to share that really resonated with me. I was impressed to hear that she has authored 11 cookbooks, worked with Julia Child and has successfully transitioned from old media to “new media” with the web and social media among many many other things. Also she is not formally trained nor did she attend culinary school. A true hero to me, as you may know I have no formal training either but working from home and cooking from scratch has taught me almost everything I know. Julia child was self taught too, so it may be important to know that you don’t HAVE to go to culinary school to be able to create recipes or write a recipe book these days. There’s much more that than just that. You just have to be able to learn, cook, test and test some more. Of course being able to write and take your own photographs doesn’t hurt either. Oh and I forgot to mention putting a lot of love and caring into your work matters a lot too! This is probably the most important part.

Some little quotes from Dorie from her keynote today:

“Community doesn’t happen because you pay. Communities happen because of passion and love”

“Concentrate on the work, it’s the only thing you have control over”

“Do the work you are most proud of”

“Always, always say yes”

She has a wonderful way of speaking that is very personable and authentic and I cannot even begin to repeat all of her culinary and literary work history it was probably the most impressive I’ve heard from anyone… and that says a lot.

So I will remember to “always say yes”, concentrate on my projects and building a community, and keep building what I am proud of. Being real and sharing who you are is so important these days on the internet. People can only connect with you from afar through your words, pictures, or videos so it’s important to take that into consideration and offer up something good – something to be proud of.

Even if you didn’t hear Dorie speak, I think the select quotes I’ve shared above can give you insight into what kind of person she has and the amazing work ethic she continues to show day after day. One day I hope to have created an amazing community and line of cookbooks that I can look back on and be proud of – just like Dorie.

IFBC Urbanspoon Dine Out at Cafe Flora

Cafe Flora Urbanspoon Dine Out Menu:

Things I Learned from Dorie Greenspan at IFBC International Food Blogger Conference 2013