Are you ready for some photo recap action of my Friday and Saturday nights?? Let me explain a bit before I get to the photos. To be honest, there are so many pictures, I’m just doing a gallery with captions at the end of this post, so feel free to skip ahead.
FRIDAY:
I started working for my day camp in the summer of 2000, and had no idea what I was getting myself into. My friend Amy had worked there and said she thought I’d like it, and it would be fun to work together. So I applied and got the job. It was a decent amount of money for any 19-year-old, and adorable kids. In the summer of 2003, my fourth summer, one of the directors was taken out to celebrate his working there for 10 years, and I had the privilege of going along. It was one of the most fun nights of my life… until Friday night. Friday, it was my 10-year anniversary party, and it was an absolute blast. We took one of our school busses (so no one had to drive) and we were treated to buckets of Mai Tais from Bob Chinns (a great seafood restaurant). Then, we ended up at Trader Vic’s, another tropical themed restaurant in downtown Chicago. There were large vats of alcohol, amazing food (and horrible lighting!) and the best company. The best part? I was taking photos of my food, and next thing I know, all the other people I was with (drunken guys mostly) were taking photos of food too! My friend Bobby did a great job taking pictures of the food I missed whie I was in the bathroom. We ended the night at a very, um, interesting bar with waiters in kilts and barely dressed girls… needless to say, I didn’t choose that one. Adam picked me up back at camp at about 1 a.m. and I passed out with exhaustion. I needed my rest because I had a big day on…
SATURDAY:
Ever since I found out that the BlogHer conference was in Chicago, and that some of my favorite bloggers were going to be there, I’d been planning this evening…at least in my head. I was also sort of figuring out how to sneak into the conference, but thats another story. I was seriously so anxious to meet these bloggers whose sites I’d been reading, in some cases, for years, but as soon as I got to the hotel, I was put at ease. I saw one familiar face immediately, Jenn, who was standing next to Kath, Carla, Sahar, and Mary. We were soon joined by Roni, and we headed to Kamehachi for sushi. I kept saying how cool it was that all these people “really existed” outside of their blogs! Kath filled me in on the FTC information she got, and you can read more about them on her recap, Jenn’s recap, and here. I was truly amazed with how wonderful all these women are. They talk like they write, they’re real, and are just as fantastic as all their blogs. I really wish they all lived closer, because seriously? I want to cook with Roni and work out with Carla!
Now, onto the photo-fest!
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- FRIDAY! Sarah and I before we left (she’s 21, believe it or not)
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- A red pepper, stolen from a veggie display at a bar
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- fresh bread with spicy peanut butter spread
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- Grapefruit mojito that I did NOT drink
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- Gorgeous sauce plate
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- spareribs
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- fried shrimp
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- crab rangoon
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- my first helping
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- Tataki plate ordered just for me, the “sushi queen”
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- Rum keg… there were 4 of these for 10 of us
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- calamari with wasabi dipping sauce
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- crab cakes
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- tuna poke with avocado and taro chips
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- one of the dozens of glasses of water I drank
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- Chicken Skewers
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- Scorpion bowl, chock full of rum… again, 4 for 10 people
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- My congratulations/Anniversary dessert plate. Cheesecake, creme brulee, rum gelato, and a dark chocolate cigar thing
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- SATURDAY: Cool tree things at Kamehachi
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- Kamehachi, from the main entrance (photo courtesy of Jenn)
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- One side of the table, from left: Mary, Roni, Miz Carla
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- The other side, from left: Kath, Jenn, Me
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- Goma-Ae, spinach with sesame peanut sauce (shoutout to Gliding Calm!)
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- Beautiful mixed seaweed salad
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- The sushi plate (photo from Jenn as well, mine sucked!) Clockwise from top: crazy chicago roll, new york roll, special salmon roll, tuna roll, and sunset roll in the center
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- The ends of my “crazy Chicago” roll
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- I had one of each roll, plus the crazy ends
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- Amazing flourless chocolate cake we shared
Thanks for checking out all the pictures… sorry some of them were SO bad, but the lighting was awful, and honestly? I was quite intoxicated. There are other “food blogger in action” photos out there somewhere… I’ll post them as soon as I get them! I’ll be back in a few hours with a fun dinner!
Also, thanks to Roni, I now know about this amazing WW Points tracking program she developed using Twitter! I started a new Twitter account, and if you want, you can follow what I eat! Just follow me @WhatMaraEats. Then, I input my info on Roni’s cool tool here. Check it out!
