We arrived in NYC and BlogHer. It was a long day of travel and getting around the hotel with everyone arriving at the same time. Believe me there are not nearly enough elevators here to accommodate the number of people at BlogHer. After we got settled in, we ventured out for diner near Lincoln Center. It was just what the doctor ordered.
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Tomorrow I head out with my friend to BlogHer in New York City. I have to admit I’m both nervous and excited because I have no idea what to expect. I have been to many trade shows and conferences in my lifetime, but this one feels a little different. I’m ready to soak it all in and meet a lot of great bloggers. Road trip!
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Today has been one of those days where things just don’t go as planned. I was feeling pretty defeated until I came up the stairs and looked at Little J’s bedroom door. She loves to create art of all kinds and a lot of it makes it to her door. One look at her door and I couldn’t help but smile, so I thought I would share it.
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Thanks to my friend Jessica, I am taking part in August Break. Of course August Break was developed to take a break from regular blogging, but since I haven’t posted here since May I’m using it as an opportunity to get back to blogging. I’ve decided to use my iPhone as my camera of choice for the month.
We just returned from vacation yesterday, and in the mail we had a letter from the school telling us who Little J’s teacher will be this year along with when back-to-school night is. We decided to get the supply shopping done and went to Target today. Below is the required school supplies for First Grade. Yep, school is right around the corner.
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Mother’s Day this year also landed on our 12th Wedding Anniversary, so we decided to celebrate all weekend. Instead of going out to eat, this usually means we eat at home and cook something as a treat. And by treat, I usually mean beef, namely filet mignon. We aren’t huge red meat eaters, so when we want to celebrate, we like to do it right.
We have been to Hedgeapple Farm previously during Family Fun on the Farm weekends that take place in October, but had never purchased any beef there. It was always something we talked about doing, but never made the trip when it was time to buy. This time was different, I was on a mission to eat local so we headed out to the farm.
Hedgeapple Farm raises grass-fed black angus cows and then sells directly to the public from their retail outlet on the farm. If you want to learn more about grass-fed beef, you can read about it here. We knew we wanted to make filet mignon on Saturday night and hubby decided he wanted to attempt brisket on Sunday. Worked for me.
I expected the prices to be more and of course they were. I can’t remember exactly how much more they were than shopping at a warehouse or grocery store, but I remember thinking it wasn’t all that bad. It was definitely less expensive than eating out, plus it was a whole lot better. The woman working there could not have been more delightful and helpful, answering our questions and offering recipes.
I have to admit I didn’t know what to expect as to the taste of the beef. Honestly, before I watched Food, Inc., I didn’t even pay attention to what the cow I was eating had to eat. Never crossed my mind. When I took the first bite, I knew it was going to be very hard to go back to corn-fed beef. Oh my goodness, it had a flavor that I can’t accurately describe and it almost melted in my mouth like butter. Of course, it was a filet and it is suppose to be like that, but the brisket was just as good.
It really did have a different flavor than any beef I had eaten before and we will definitely be going back for more. As I said the cost was more, but I would gladly eat out less to make up for the expense.
You can find Hedgeapple Farm on the Interwebs here. If beef is your thing do yourself a favor and make a trip out there soon. Just make sure you leave some for me.
Have you been to Hedgeapple? Let me know what you tried and your thoughts.
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Photo by me
When Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution was on awhile back, I watched it and became very happy that my daughter takes a packed lunch to school every day. I then watched Food, Inc. and realized that even with Little J taking her lunch to school, we still needed to make some serious changes as a family. The movie did not make me want to stop eating meat, but it did make me realize we need to be more responsible about what we decide to eat as individuals and a society.
It was really driven home for me when we visited a dairy farmer as part of Agriculture Day at Leadership Frederick County. You can read the recap post here. What it all comes down to is knowing the source of your food and eating as local as possible. We need to keep our food purchases local to not only be healthier, but also to protect the food chain. If you want to know what I mean by protecting the food chain, read this.
I’m not trying to scare anyone or be a downer and become some activist, but I do think we need to not take what we purchase at grocery stores at face value. I have started to read food labels much more and am totally shocked by what I see. High fructose corn syrup in hot dog rolls?? Really? Yikes.
Of course, we can’t make everything at home, grow it ourselves, or buy everything local due to expense and accessibility, but it is something that I am committing my family to as much as possible. I have joined a CSA which quite frankly scares me more than just a little bit. There are a lot of vegetables that I have no idea what to do with, but am ready for the challenge. I plan on learning how to make more things on my own and preserve things for the winter months.
Also we will be exploring all the great resources we have locally for getting food from the farm to the plate as much as possible. So while I will still be blogging about all the goodies I like to cook and bake, I hope to provide information on local food as I explore all of our options. I hope that you will share with me hints and recipes to make this all a little easier ;-)
Tell me your favorite source for local meats, veggies, fruit, dairy, etc.?
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I did it! I FINALLY got back to exercising. It was a small, a simple 30 minute walk in the neighborhood, but I did it. I am notorious for having 1 million excuses as to why I can’t exercise on a daily basis. I always thought it was strange to me that I didn’t like to workout given I was a 3 sport athlete in high school and then it recently dawned on me: I hated practice. I loved the competition part of every sport I have ever played, but practice was absolute torture to me. It was merely a means to an end that I had to tolerate.
Guess what? That’s the attitude I have adopted to get back into shape. I love the idea of being in shape and there are many things I want to do that require me to be in better shape namely family bike trips and hiking. So here it is, my decree to end the excuses and get back into shape. No marathon or triathlon for me, but the goal is to be about 30 lbs lighter, stronger and able to enjoy more family time outside being active.
In addition to the increase in exercise, I hope to change our family eating habits to be more fresh, local and overall healthier. Don’t worry, there will still be lots of goodies to be made, enjoyed and shared here. I can’t give the goodies up. I won’t stop baking or candymaking, so I will need some test tasters. Any volunteers?
So why post this? I believe in accountability and I KNOW you will hold me to my goal and hopefully provide me with support and ideas.
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Last month I took a truffle making class at The Kitchen Studio. First off, if you have never taken a class there you should. What’s better than learning to make chocolate truffles? Making them with friends. I was fortunate enough to share the evening with April and Cathy. I was late, of course, so I missed the discussion and tasting of the different kinds of chocolates, but Cathy was kind enough to get me caught up.
Class was on a Friday night and the week had been pretty tough on me, but ending the week by playing with chocolate
was just what the doctor ordered. Chefs Christine and Caroline did a lot of prep work for us during the day and had prepared the flavored ganaches for us. There was hazelnut, aztec (with a kick of cayenne), cappuccino, and chai tea. Chef Christine demonstrated how to make a salted caramel center. Yes, chocolate, caramel and salt. I was in Heaven.
I have read many truffle recipes and watched them made, but this was the first time I actually got to get my hands dirty. Believe me you will get dirty, but having chocolate everywhere doesn’t suck. To keep the chocolate from melting too much it is advisable to wear latex gloves when rolling the truffle centers. Cathy and I worked with the aztec filling. It was a little harder than I expected, but Cathy tackled it like a pro by scooping it out. My job was to roll them into balls, but some of mine resembled the truffles that the pigs forage, rather than pretty balls of chocolaty goodness. The good news is no matter what they looked like, they all tasted great!
Now it was time for coating the truffles and Chef Christine pulled out the chocolate temperer. This allowed us to put the perfect chocolate coating on the salted caramel truffles. This also marked the beginning of my next culinary adventure with chocolate. Because of this class, I have ordered a chocolate tempering machine that should be here in a week or so. Stay tuned for that.
The class was great and I now have enough confidence to move forward and try truffles on my own as well as many other chocolate concoctions.
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I’m not going to sugar-coat it. I suck at real-life networking. I do OK online, but still panic a little when reaching out to someone I don’t know whether via Twitter or leaving a comment on a blog post. I have no idea why I am this way, I don’t remember some horrible experience that scarred me for life. Of course, maybe that memory is just totally repressed. I am comfortable in a sales meeting or phone call that has been scheduled. I really do love speaking in front of a group, but put me in the middle of a room with people and I’m going to do one of 2 things: 1) Look for someone I know and hang out with them or 2) play on my iPhone. I told you, I suck.
I have become increasingly frustrated by my behavior because I am really missing some great opportunities to meet people. Last Saturday I attended a great event for Women Bloggers hosted by the wonderful Jen and Lara called Momz Share. It was a great opportunity to meet some wonderful women bloggers and I blew it. Totally blew it. I walked into the kitchen, got a drink, found someone I knew and proceeded to have the most wonderful time talking to her, but we never moved out of the kitchen. I did meet a few people on my way out that I had conversed with on Twitter, but did not muster up the nerve to approach anyone totally new.
I spent most of Sunday, beating myself up for this behavior. My biggest fear is that people won’t realize I am painfully shy and they will think I am a snob that doesn’t want to meet anyone. So after I was done beating myself up, I realized I have some more opportunities over the next 6 to 8 months to network at conferences. After the initial panic wore off, I realized I need to change my ways or not even bother attending any of these events.
Now I am on a mission to get over my fear of introducing myself to new people so that I can actually enjoy myself and make the investment in these conference worthwhile. So, I ask you, my friend, how do you get over your fear of networking. Any tips or strategies to help me? Please share.
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