After a week long whirlwind adventure in Seattle and Vancouver I am back in my closet sized kitchen!
It all started with the International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC) in Seattle which was filled with amazing people and tasty food. I was absolutely thrilled to have the chance to meet some food bloggers in person that I had previously only known online. I also had the opportunity to meet many new friends and the conversations were never dull. The weekend was filled with seminars, some of which I felt did not really apply to me, but I learned a bit and I look forward to trying to improve Closet Cooking with what I have learned. In between all of the seminars was of course a ton of food and drink. Out of all of the great food, I have to say that the food truck lunch was my favorite. There are no food trucks here in Toronto and I had really been looking forward to trying out some taco truck tacos and Seattle’s taco trucks did not disappointed! You can see some of my photos from the IFBC here:
International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC) Gallery
After the IFBC was over, I stayed in Seattle for a few days to explore everything foodie in Seattle and thanks to your amazing suggestions, I had a very delicious time! I got to try some classics like dungeness crab cakes, Pike Place chowder, Beecher’s mac and cheese, the Crumpet Shop and the Salumi mozzarella mole sandwich. For those that are interested you can see more of my adventures in Seattle here:
Next up was a trip back to Canada to visit Vancouver BC and was it ever an adventure! Day one included a visit to Canada Place followed by the Lonsdale Market where I got to try a Canadian treat, the beaver tail, and I finished the day off with a stop in Chinatown. Up next was a quick walk through Stanley park followed by an afternoon in the Granville Market. Although my trip was full of great food, I have to say that the meal that night at Vij’s was by far the best even though there was a two hour wait to get a seat! The next day it was back to Chinatown to walk through the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden followed by a quick walk through Yale Town and Gas Town and then it was off to the Richmond night market. The night market was amazing and just packed with tasty food. I got the chance to try both takoyaki and taiyaki which I have been wanting to try for a while. On my final day in BC it was up to Whistler to experience some of BC’s natural beauty and to scale to the top of the mountain.
For those that are interested you can see more of my adventures in Vancouver here:
Time to get cooking!
So glad you had a chance to experience Vij's. I absolutely love it. When I went, I was there about 4:30 for 5:30 opening. After that, it is a free-for-all. I loved his coconut grilled chard.
What a great trip, it does sounds like you had a delicious time!! Great photos too =)
Looks like an awesome trip!! But I'm glad you're back in your closet kitchen because the blog world is just not the same without your posts!
Sues
Welcome back to the kitchen. IFBC sound like a blast from all of the posts and photos people have shared lately. Maybe we can go next year.
Welcome back! I'm glad that your trip was great. Now it's time to cook some dish from Seattle or something Canadian for us.:)
Have a nice day,
Ildy
Welcome back! Great shots.
Bises,
Rosa
This had to be a fantastic time for you Kevin! I`m looking forward to your next great recipe! 🙂
Welcome back! 🙂
Sounds like an awesome trip! I really wanted to go to IFBC…maybe next year!
Sounds like you had a great time you lucky thing!
Kevin it was a pleasure to meet you – I can't believe we had to go all the way to Seattle to meet each other when we live in the same city. Maybe we should start organising some blogger get togethers here sometime? Welcome home to your kitchen!
Wow… I would love to go to Seattle! And I would love to try all that food! Looks like you had a tasty time. 🙂
Seething with jealousy.
Looks like you had a great time! All that wonderful, glorious food!
Can't wait to see how this trip influences your new posts. So glad you're back – we all missed you!
HI Kev…. someday you have to try some indonesian food, they are have a lot of taste, I think its because our culture always use a lot of spices for seasoning our food
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Yay! Welcome back! You were missed! I didn't realize how many times I check on your blog through the week until you went on vacation 🙂
Hope you had a great time and again…Welcome Back!
Welcome home! So glad you had such a great time in my part of the world. Isn't it beautiful?! 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it! I suspect the seafood you had was the stuff on which dreams are made!
Becca
Sounds like a fantastic trip…Welcome back 🙂
What an amazing trip for you to experience! So glad to have you back, though! You were very much missed 🙂
Welcome back, now get cooking!
Great blog! Glad you enjoyed Seattle. Am a new follower now.
http://thegirlieblog.blogspot.com
Hi Kevin.. I am a big fan of yours.. both with your recipes and with your photography.. I've been thinking of changing camera's.. currently I use a Pentax but thinking of going to a Canon.. what lenses do you use to shoot your food shots?
Glad you're back–we were all getting a little hungry! Your vacay looks delish.
Your pictures are so perfect Kevin! I keep reading about this fabulous conference. I think I may need to budget it in next year.
Sounds like a wonderful, tasty trip!
If you liked takoyaki (I do!), they make great takoyaki at Guu. However, there could be a wait depending when you arrive. Sigh, one of those things that I just don't make at home!
Great Picture. How cool that you got to go to the IFBC..I live in seattle and could not go because it was totally booked up. Glad you got to hang at the Public market…my favorite place in Seattle.
Wellcome back Kevin, I miss your yummy and nice recipes, Im glad you had a lovely trip, nice pictures, gloria
is there something wrong with me?! i am drooling just looking at you food pics in vancouver. need to get to there again.
Great photos from your trip – isn't Seattle a cool city? Glad to see you back to blogging.
I just received an e-mail where I can enter a contest to win a chance to purchase a ticket for an event Vij is highlighted, one of the best, if not the best East Indian food in Canada.Glad you enjoyed crumpets and Clam Chowder in Pike Place Market and beavertails in Vancouver, tow of my favourite cities.
Welcome back!
Photogirl: I mostly use the Photogirl f2.8 and the 60mm macro lense. The 17-55 gives great flexibility for framing your shot and the macro lense allows you to get in really close when you need to. You could easily get by with just the 17-55 though. If you have good lighting and don't need the f2.8, the 18-55mm 'kit' lens would also be great though you would not be able to blur out the background as much. If you are looking at full frame, I would go with the 24-105 f4 and possibly the 100mm macro.
You took some great pictures of Seattle! Nice to look at place i don't go to everyday. Love living here and love my farmers markets and all the fresh produce.
you took some amazing photos. so clear and crisp. your photo skills are getting really good. how was that salmon tartare? i've never had it before and am curious. what is it seasoned with?
good to have you back buddy.