Finally, we’re here in Chicago!
It took only a little over three hours for me to drive around the Big Lake to get to Chicago this afternoon. Along with Ann Marie (Cheeseslave), we finally got to meet fellow Real Food Media bloggers, Kimberly (Hartke is Online) & Kimi (The Nourishing Gourmet)! We met many more fun people, too, which I’ll tell you all about in this post, and the weekend is just beginning. 🙂 (Jenny from Nourished Kitchen just got here, too!)
All about dinner
We went to the Bristol restaurant for duck fat French fries, but thankfully we had the no-GMO expert, Jeffrey Smith & his wife, Andrea, with us. He asked all the right questions and found out that the fries were cooked in duck fat and soybean oil. This turned out to be a good thing, because then we found all the other amazing foods on the menu that we may have missed otherwise. Besides, the owner was so cool and open to learning about why we don’t eat soybean oil. (He didn’t act annoyed with us at all!) The other awesome thing about this restaurant is summed up in this sign on the wall:
My favorites were the shaved pumpkin salad and the ricotta ravioli. I forgot to take pictures of those, though, because I was too busy ooh-ing and ah-ing. But Ann Marie got a picture of the ravioli:
On the inside was the dreamiest cheesy filling ever tasted.
I tried the roasted bone marrow and thought it had a nice flavor, but it wasn’t as yummy as some of the other foods we tried. Here’s a picture.
Alex, pictured below with Ann Marie, said that the fish was his favorite. I thought it was blah, though, and don’t much love heads or tails sitting on my plate.
Above: Ann Marie from LA & Alex Lewin from Boston.
More fun shots from dinner:
Kimberly Hartke, Victoria Bloch, & Kimi Harris.
Dan, Addie & Adam from Corganic. (Aren’t they a cute family?!)
Karen Myers from Michigan and Kevin Brown, author of the Liberation Diet.
Archie, who I met last year at the Deidre Currie Festival, and Morgan Polotan, another blogger from Boston.
Jeffrey & Andrea Smith. I love this picture of them.
Above is a picture of us at this minute, blogging in the hotel lobby!
Tomorrow begins the Weston A. Price 10th Annual Wise Traditions Conference – my first one! I’ll be shooting out as many Tweets as I can, but we don’t have internet at our booth, so I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to get on. If you’re bored and wonder what’s going on here, check the Twitter box on my homepage often and I’ll try to get some good Tweets out.
P.S. We look forward to next year when we’ll also hopefully get to meet the rest of the RFM bloggers: Carrie (Organic & Thrifty), Shannon (Nourishing Days), & Kristen (Food Renegade).
I’ll chat with you more tomorrow, reader friends!
Christine Kennedy says
Hi Kelly, you girls look so wonderful! Thanks for the great updates that I have been reading about all weekend. I am noticing that Jefferey Smith is looking very pale, almost sickly. Has he been ill?
KitchenKop says
Hi Christine, Jeffrey actually looked and acted very healthy in person (a super-friendly, neat guy) – it’s likely my camera!
Steve says
My wife and some friends are at the conference and filming some interviews on her phone. Those of you who can’t go can follow along here like I’m doing: https://merryheartmedicine.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=620&start=0
Sounds pretty incredible. Hope you all are having fun!
leah says
Cool, cool cool! I would so love to attend this someday.
I’m struck by how HEALTHY everyone looks!:)
Pamela @ Seeds of Nutrition says
Great following via everyone’s tweets, blogs, etc….
Will being doing my best to keep up over the weekend…Bible Conference at Church all weekend…so I’ll be reading back on posts when able.
Great to see Morgan Polotan there…he’s a great new blogger to follow!!
Organic and Thrifty says
Thinking of you guys ALL day today and throughout the weekend! SOOOOO wishing I could be there!
Bryan - oz4caster says
So exciting !!!
Thanks for sharing.
Ellen says
It’s so much fun to see pictures; you’ve all inspired me so much! Thanks for taking the time to post, Kelly. Enjoy the rest of the conference!
KitchenKop says
Hi Michelle,
It’s soooooooo fun being around all these “rock-stars”, which I certainly am NOT. 🙂
Michelle says
Cool! What’s it like being around lots of famous people? 🙂 🙂 Do you feel famous yourself? If I were to meet you I’d feel like pinching myself, I’m sure.
KitchenKop says
I just realized I forgot to tell you who everyone was in that last picture. Ann Marie, Kimi, myself, and Augie: https://wholefoodusa.wordpress.com/
Tina, I’m Tweeting a link right now for more pics from Ann Marie, and she’s uploading more all the time! 🙂
Elizabeth from The Nourished Life says
Wow, thanks so much for sharing! What an awesome dinner that must have been. Even if not perfect, here we have absolutely NO great dining options- so I’m officially jealous of anyone who gets to eat out and get half-decent food away from home! 🙂 Looking forward to hearing more from the conference!
Soli says
On a related note, I had hopes for this show and book when I saw the title, but…
interesting show. Thankfully the author is not wholesale coming down against meat eaters.
https://www.onpointradio.org/2009/11/eating-animals
tina says
Send us more pictures!
Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS says
Thanks for sharing these fun pictures, Kelly! It is great to see all those familiar faces together! I’m glad you were so detailed with sharing what the meal was like and what everybody picked. Have fun!