Excursions are Booked - Alaskan Cruise Countdown Begins!

To say I am excited about our summer cruise to Alaska is an understatement.  Those who knew me when I was a child, heard me chatter incessantly about visiting Alaska and seeing the snow and mountains.  I used to study maps.  MAPS!  If Google Earth would have been around during my obsessive map phase, you would have never gotten me off the computer.  I digress.  Finally, approaching the age of 40, I am making it happen.  The Dunlop family is going on a Disney Cruise! 

Our cruise is 7 nights with a round trip route out of Vancouver, Canada.  Our trip begins in early June right after the kids get out of school for the summer.  We literally fly out the first day of summer break.  We have three stops on our cruise: Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan.

I did some research this week and finally decided on our shore excursions.  I planned what I wanted to do, as no one else in the family had an opinion.  (They usually leave all the planning to me, and it usually ends up a win-win for everybody!)  I pretty much used trip advisor to research the most popular things to do at each stop.  I did not book through the cruise for a couple of different reasons.  One, it is usually cheaper to book directly with the travel company itself and two, this way I can read customer reviews and make sure what I purchase is well recommended. 

First stop:  Skagway, Alaska.  I decided on a train ride/bus tour up to Lake Bennett, British Columbia through Chilkoot Charters & Tours.  They will pick us up at the cruise dock and take us to the train station which is a 28 mile ride up to Fraser, BC.  Once we get to Fraser we then have to go through immigration and customs.  We will board a different train which will take us up to Lake Bennett.  Once in Lake Bennett, we get to have lunch and visit a dog musher camp.  We get to pet the husky puppies.  On the way back to the cruise ship, we take a tour bus and get to stop at several scenic photo op places.  The whole trip is supposed to take about 8 hours.  It's going to be a long day, but so worth it.

Second stop:  Juneau, Alaska.  For Juneau, the big attraction is the Mendenhall Glacier.  Mendenhall Glacier is a part of Tongass National Forest and has a visitors center, as well as many different walking trails.  I booked a city and glacier combo tour with Juneau Tours.  We start out with a bus tour of downtown Juneau and then head up to Mendenhall Glacier.  We can stay for 45 minutes and then return with the bus, or we can stay as long as we like and then take one of the shuttles back to the cruise ship when we are ready.  The shuttles leave every 30 minutes and are included as part of the tour.

Third stop:  Ketchikan, Alaska.  Our third stop is the one I am most excited about.  I decided to splurge and book a Misty Fjords Flightseeing Tour with Taquan Air.  For this excursion we get to go up in a little float plane and fly over the wilderness and view waterfalls, wildlife and even land in the middle of the fjord.  This is going to be amazing!!!

We also have one full day in Vancouver before we get on the cruise.  I haven't planned out what we might do there.  I'll have to figure that out at some point.  104 days and counting!

Travel Adventures: Gaylord Palms Resort, Orlando

Beautiful walkway area in the courtyard
(and Pokémon Stop, LOL)

The nice thing about living in Winter Haven, is that we are a hop, skip and a jump from good ol' Orlando, Florida; one of the most sought after family destinations in the world.  It's always fun to get away for the weekend and since we live so close, it is very convenient.  My good friend Amber, also has a son the same age as mine.  (She is in book club with me) and she suggested we stay at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee for a mommy/son weekend.  I had never stayed at this resort before, and let me tell you, it is absolutely stunning!!!  OMG!! I will definitely be coming back.

Gaylord Palms in Orlando is famous for it's holiday event, ICE!  If you have never heard of ICE!, it is an indoor wonderland where they feature beautiful ice sculptures and ice slides.  It is neat to go see it at least once, if you haven't done so.  Of course, since we were there in August, this event was not happening at this time.  The resort is very unique in that it has a beautiful glassed-in atrium that allows for many beautiful stone walkways that feature native floral and fauna of Florida.  There is even a section that houses small alligators.  We were able to watch them get fed on Saturday night.

Alligator feeding

There are three different sections in the resort, all of which make up a side of the atrium to form a central courtyard area.  The sections are the Everglades, St. Augustine and Key West.  Our room was located in Key West.  Each area has shops and restaurants.  It amazed me how big the hotel was.  It really was like it's own little city.  We walked around quite a bit, and they boys had fun playing Pokémon Go.  There are quite a few stops on the property!

Since we went in the off season, it wasn't very crowded at all.  I imagine in peak summer and holiday, it would be very crowded.  When we checked in on Saturday, they had a room ready for us at 11:00 AM and check in is usually not until 4:00 PM.  There are two pools, one that is adults only and the other for families.  The family pool had a water playground area which has four water slides.  We spent pretty much all Saturday at the family pool area.  Amber and I spent time catching up on our reading and chatting while the boys played.  Later that night we had dinner in the Moor restaurant, which was the main restaurant in the Key West area.  It's deck is shaped like a boat, which you could see from our balcony.  Did I mention that the rooms had balconies?  I'm telling you, I felt like a queen all weekend!

View from our balcony of Moor restaurant

Gaylord Palms is a gorgeous property.  Whether you are on a family vacation or a romantic getaway, this resort has it all.  I am definitely going to come back and bring the Hubster, sans kiddos!

Travel Adventures: San Diego APRC

 



Memorial down by the Midway.

I am in San Diego, California for work this week.  This time it is not involving food safety, but recycling!!  Yes, this probably doesn't make sense, but go with it.  I wear two hats at my job; food safety and sustainability.  This time I am focusing on sustainability by learning more about recycling agricultural plastics, which is something which growers are interested.  I am at an Agricultural Plastics Recycling Conference.

I flew in yesterday and had an uneventful fight, which means I was not delayed.  Yay!  I like flying out west because the planes are nicer.  The flight from Dallas to San Diego had TVs on the back of every seat.  I watched the movie Mother's Day with Julia Roberts and Kate Hudson in it.  It was cute, a great way to pass a long flight.  I took Uber from the airport to my hotel.  I accidentally clicked on Uber Pool.  Whoops!  I had to share my ride with someone else.  It actually worked out okay because they were already in the car and were sitting in the front seat.  I was dropped off first.  My ride was only $7.00.  I ordinarily would not have chosen that option, because (I don't know... I don't want to ride with a stranger)!!  In hindsight, it really wasn't that bad.

I am staying at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay because that is where the conference is located.  After exploring around yesterday, I am not a big fan of this location.  I would never choose to stay here if it wasn't for the conference.  It is just located really far from everything.  If you don't have a car, forget it.  It's not like you can walk anywhere.  They only have a couple of restaurants on property, one of which is pretty pricy.  The hotel is also very dated and in need of an update.  Some of the paint is peeling off in my bathroom and the door is so awkwardly placed that it almost hits the toilet when you shut it.  Yes, I can hear my neighbors through the walls. Ugh!  On the positive side, I have a seriously nice view of the bay and ocean.

Today, I had time before the first session of the conference started.  I decided to do the hop-on-hop-off trolley tour.  Luckily it picked up from the hotel and took us to the trolley sight.  I love doing these trolley tours because they give you the highlights of whatever city you are visiting.  We had stops at the Midway, a retired Naval ship, San Diego Zoo, Coronado Island and Little Italy, etc.   I have to say, I am totally in love with San Diego!!!  There is a ton of stuff to do here and the city is so clean.  I wish I had my family with me.  I am definitely going to plan a trip back here.  Also, it is August and the weather is gorgeous!!  Here are a few photos from my tour.

Bar where Tom Cruise sings in Top Gun

Ship in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean

 

El Prado Art Museum and Balboa Park

Travel Adventures: IAFP St. Louis

Every year I attend the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) Conference.  This meeting is the best meeting for food safety professionals.  I always walk away from this conference learning so much about the latest scientific findings concerning all things food safety.  Usually, the FDA attends to give updates on the latest rules and regulations.  My favorite workshops deal with recent outbreaks and the investigation into finding the cause.  This year there was a great workshop on the cucumber/Salmonella outbreak that occurred across the US this year.

My dear husband (DH) usually attends this conference with me.  Usually, it is in a different location throughout the US and DH has a goal to visit all 50 states.  Last year it was in Portland, so he got to knock Oregon off his list.  This year it was in St. Louis, Missouri.

I can tell you that this trip did not start off well, especially with the fact that my last trip involved the dubious "Southwest Debacle".  We flew out of Tampa on American Airlines and had a layover in Dallas.  We get to Dallas, eat lunch and are informed that our connecting flight to St. Louis is delayed - not by too much, only an hour.  Long story short, the plane scheduled for our flight was undergoing some maintenance.  We didn't board the plane until about 6:00, which means we didn't arrive in St. Louis until about 8:30.

American Airlines gave everybody on the flight a $12.00 voucher to use at any of the vendors in the airport - but it was only good for that day.  I spent our vouchers at Garrett Popcorn.  If you haven't ever tried this popcorn, you are missing out.  Get the Garrett mix, which is caramel and cheese popcorn mixed together.  Yum!  I also was given a glass of wine on the plane for free.  I had my credit card out to pay, but the flight attendant told me it was the least she could do because of the delay (Sweet!). We also received an email the next day apologizing for the delay and credited us with 5,000 bonus miles for our frequent flyer program.  I'll give AA props for trying to make up for the delay. 

When we arrived at the airport,  it was completely deserted and all the shops were barred up and closed off.  This arrival really set the tone for the rest of our trip.  We caught a cab out of the airport and headed downtown.  (We tried to use Uber, but only the black car option was available).  We were staying at the Marriott Grand Downtown, right across from the convention center.  It's Saturday night, downtown at about 9:00, and the place is a ghost town.  No people are walking around, hardly any bars or restaurants are open.  Very spooky!  We are exhausted anyway from a day of doing nothing really, but waiting around and decide to go to bed.

Sunday was better.  We got to experience ribs at Pappy's Smokehouse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If I have to describe the only thing worth going to St. Louis for, it would be Pappy's.  Seriously.  The ribs are fall-off-the-bone delicious and meaty as all get out.  This place opened up at 11:00 AM on a Sunday.  We got there at 11:15 and the line was already through the restaurant.  It wasn't quite out the door yet, but close.  They have a really good system, so you go through the line pretty quickly and even though you think you won't get a table, you will.

DH so happy about Pappys BBQ!

We took a trolley ride around St. Louis, which showed us some of the popular sights for tourists.  Much of the trolley ride focused on Forest Park, which is where their zoo, art and history museum are located; all of which have free admission. We didn't have time to do that and I would have loved to go to the history museum because they were having a Little Black Dress exhibit I would have loved to see.  It featured black dresses from several time periods.  Ugh!  So up my alley!

The rest of my trip was spent at the conference.  Monday and Tuesday were full days of food safety workshops.  DH was on his own to explore the city.  I will share with you his opinion of this city in his own words. 

"I just realized it's not an arch.  It's a big fucking frown."

Needless to say, DH was not a big fan of St. Louis.  He rated the city a D+, saying he would have rated it an F if it wasn't for Pappy's and the Busch Stadium tour, which is where the Cardinals play.

I can tell you, I was more indifferent than he was.  But looking back, yes the downtown was devoid of shops and restaurants and there were not many people aside from those of us who came for the conference.  It was strange.  It is definitely not a place I am dying to get back to visit again any time soon.

I just realized as rereading this post, I really hope I don't offend anyone from St. Louis!!

Travel Adventures: Minneapolis & the Southwest Debacle

I had a work meeting in Minneapolis last week.  I wrapped up IFT in Chicago and then flew to Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.  For my job I am part of a working group that approves content for the GAP Harmonization Standards.  Boy that's a mouthful!  GAP stands for Good Agricultural Practices.  Basically, it is the set of standards that when applied correctly reduce contamination of pathogenic bacteria from getting on your fruits and vegetables which you might consume raw.

Recently, new laws were released from FDA regarding farm food safety.  We are meeting to make sure that our GAP Harmonization audit meets with FDA requirements.  The meeting was held at the Target Headquarters in downtown Minneapolis.  It was such a cool building.  You could tell that it was a good working environment.  They had a lot of really cool lounging areas set up in the building with comfortable furniture arranged in small groups so that people could come and relax or have smaller, intimate meetings.

This was a huge mural on one wall at the Target HQ

The meeting ended a little after 3:00 and we were able to accomplish all objectives that day.  It was really cool to work with so many different experts from the industry.  There are times with not everyone agrees, but everybody is very respectful of the different opinions.  Its a great group.

Me and a few fellow colleagues were not flying out until tomorrow.  We decided to all go together to dinner together.  Reggie is a foodie, so he picked the restaurant and took care of the reservation.  We ended up going to Eat Street Social.  Can I just say yum!  The menu was small, but all of the dishes looked very well thought out.  I ended up choosing the duck breast with fig risotto and roasted Brussels sprouts.  OMG!! This was delicious.  Have you ever had duck?  It is a fatty meat, but when cooked right it just melts in your mouth.  This dish also I think had the skin on it, which was very crispy.  The texture and taste reminded me of bacon in a way.  It had a bit of crisp but was so tender to almost melt in your mouth.  Heavenly!

Eat Street Social, Duck Breast w/ Fig Risotto

 

 

 

So now I get to the sucky part of my trip.  My flight out tomorrow was through Southwest Airlines.  If you have ever flown Southwest you know that you board the plane in the order you check in online.  I always set an alarm to go off so that I can check in at exactly 24hrs (this is the earliest you can do it).  When I went to go check in there was something wrong with the Southwest website.  Fast forward two hours later, the website was finally back up and I had my line assignment.  I was in the B boarding group, so not too bad.  However, in the back of my mind I was worried about my flight being delayed because I was hearing of flights being cancelled.

The following day, I had a teleconference meeting in the morning and was scheduled to fly out at 4:00 in the afternoon.  I had some time to kill so my trip to Minneapolis would not be complete if I didn't go to the Mall of America, the largest mall in the US!  I had lunch in the mall and walked around.  It's three stories high and is adjacent to hotels.  In the middle of the mall there is a Nickelodeon amusement park.  It's kind of crazy to see roller coasters in the middle of a shopping mall.

Mall of America

I headed to the airport to find out that my flight had indeed been delayed.  But only by 30 minutes.  Not too bad.  However, once the plane arrived, they made an announcement that while our plane was there, no crew had been assigned to it.  What???  How do you have a plane but no pilot?  So they told us to sit tight and they would work on getting a crew assigned to our flight.  Long story short, our flight was cancelled as were several other Southwest flights at the airport.  Each gate counter had a line of at least 20 people standing in it.  The other bad part, is that if you were looking to reschedule through Southwest you would not be able to get another flight out of the city until at least Saturday, possibly Sunday (this was Thursday).  I think not!

I got on my phone and quickly booked the next flight out through American Airlines.  I wouldn't be leaving until the next morning, but hey I would be getting home before the weekend!  It also cost me double for flying out of AA rather than on SW, and I now had to get a hotel room, which were booking up fast.  I actually ended back at the Mall of America at the Marriott there.  The Mall is pretty close to the airport.

To get refunded, I was instructed to call their 1-800 number and give them my confirmation code.  When I did this the attendant on the phone could not find a record of my confirmation number.  It took about an hour for him to get help only to tell me that I was going to have to send an email through the website in order to get things straightened out. *Sigh*

I sent my email explaining my situation.  I received a very prescribed email back telling me that I would receive a full refund plus a $200 voucher to use on my next Southwest flight.  I have to say, I am not really sure I want to go on another SW flight.  Right now, their customer service is in the crapper!   I was just travelling by myself.  Had I been with my family, I doubt I could have afforded to book a ticket on another airline.  Have any of you been effected by flight cancellations?  If so, how did you muddle through it?

Travel Adventures: IFT16 Chicago Part 2

And the adventure continues of my trip to Chicago for IFT16.

Day 3

Today started out with a 5K Fun Run & Walk in Burnham Park.  The Fun Run raises money for Feeding Tomorrow, an organization that provides scholarships to students so that they can attend IFT.  Last year they were able to give out $120,000 in scholarships. 

I had to be at the bus by 5:15 AM, which would take me to the park.  The race started at 6:00.  I am not really a runner.  I try to be.  I want to be.  So impulsively, I signed up for the race yesterday.  Therefore, I found myself up at the crack of dawn, running in a park with about 300 other people.

I feel like I did pretty good.  I mean, I finished the race.  I didn't die of a heart attack and I didn't puke.  Score one for me!  My time was 36:14 and I placed 229 out of 327.

Me, pre-race

I made it back to the hotel, cleaned myself up and headed back to McCormick Place for another day of IFT'16.  In the morning, I sat in two keynote sessions.  The first one was a consumer panel.  This is where they had a group of Chicagoland consumers share their opinions about their food philosophies and what they want or don't want in terms of food.  This was a very entertaining session.  The consumers where a diverse mix of shoppers ranging from the baby boomer who reads every food label, won't buy anything with high fructose corn syrup, and tries to buy organic when available; to the young mom of four, who doesn't have time to read labels and wants the cheapest, fastest product available; to the foodie who likes pretty shiny packaging with inventive, new tasty products.  It is so interesting to see the different perspectives on what a person is looking for when they go grocery shopping.  I, myself, was closely related to the mom of four who wants convenience, but I also like shiny packaging!  What kind of shopper are you?

The second panel was A Sneak Peak at the Food Evolution Documentary.  IFT has funded a documentary to be directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy.  The documentary is called Food Evolution.  The idea is to discuss the misconceptions of science surrounding our food.  It covers topics such as GMOs and how social media and advocacy groups can influence consumers.  It also addresses the challenges our industry faces as the planet's population grows and our resources become less available.  They showed a few clips of the documentary.  It looks really good.  They are almost done editing it and it should come out later this year.

I made a few more stops on the show floor.  The hubster loves Tabasco, so I put in an appearance and got him a tiny little bottle of Tabasco.

In the afternoon, I attended the session The Impact of the International Food Regulations on Global Supply Chain: An Update.  Whew!  Fun times for me, huh?  The first lady who spoke was from Costco and her talk was very interesting.  I had no idea all the hoops they have to jump through to sell food in other countries, let alone ours.  Each country has different regulations and they have to be aware of how the rules are different for different places.  I could hardly understand the second speaker, so I didn't get much out of his talk.

I attended the last key note session and again it focused on how the science community struggles with mass communication, especially in the age of social media.  It discussed how many consumers are mistrusting of experts and instead rely on information from friends and like minded individuals on social media.  If you haven't noticed, this was a popular theme at this year's IFT.  How can scientists do a better job at communicating to the public?  Nobody has a really good answer.  But in this panel, there were a few good suggestions on how to start the conversation.  I wish my colleague Lisa had been at this conference.  She handles communication for our organization and so many of these topics discussed pertained to her.  I am going to have to talk her into coming next year!

That night, I went out to dinner at Emilio's Tapas.  It was not too far from my hotel and had a decent rating on Yelp.  It was a quaint little restaurant.  I ordered the Gabriela salad which had apples, grapes, pecans, and goat cheese in a vinaigrette.  The salad was visually appealing and very tasty with the apples, cheese and nuts; but you couldn't really taste the dressing. 

I also ordered a warm tapas, Cazuela de Pollo Salteado.  This was chicken, mushrooms, and chorizo in a tomato based sauce.  The tapa tasted delicious.  However, several times I bit into a piece of chicken and had to spit it out because of a bone or piece of grizzle.  That really grossed me out and dampened my enjoyment of the meal.  The service was great.  I don't' know what it is about Chicago, but the wait staff really takes care of their customers.

I am not really sure what happened to the coloring in these pictures.  I don't know if it was the lighting in the restaurant or my phone. 

That wraps up day 3.

Day 4

I don't really have anything exciting to report on day 4.  I only was able to attend one session in the morning.  I attended Corporate Spending on Food Protection: Without Knowing the Cost, How Can You know the ROI (Return on Investment)?  This session covered a survey that was done on food companies in Canada to see if they were tracking the costs associated with food safety training for their employees.  Unfortunately, not many companies separate out general training from training that focuses specifically on food safety.  I am not really surprised by the survey's findings because I encounter similar situations in my line of work.  The third speaker focused on training strategies for different types of situations and she gave me a lot of good ideas.  I was really glad I got to attend her talk.  I hope to take some of the suggestions she gave and put them to practice in my trainings.  Score!

After that I had to head back to the hotel to check out.  Instead of flying back home, I have another meeting to attend in Minneapolis, MN tomorrow.  Yep, this is a long week for me. 

I headed off to the airport and had a very uneventful flight to Minnesota.  I am staying at the Sheraton Minneapolis Midtown.  It is not in downtown, so not much is within walking distance.  I am more in a suburb like area, although there is a little shopping complex that I can walk to for dinner.

My evening consisted of FaceTiming with my family, dinner at the food court area, and writing up this blog post. 

Travel Adventures: IFT16 Chicago Part 1

I work in the Fruit and Vegetable industry and, because of my job, I get to attend meetings when they pertain to my profession. I am a member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).  They hold an annual meeting where industry professionals can come attend sessions, hear keynote speakers and walk around an expansive trade show. Topics revolve around all things food.  From food chemistry, nutrition, development, engineering, laws, food safety and defense - you name it, it's covered.  I thought I would share my IFT16 adventure with you.

Day 1, Saturday

I flew from Orlando to Chicago on Saturday.  I think I flew on the oldest plane I have ever flown on.  The airplane looked like something out of the 1980's. Seriously, why hasn't this plane been retired?!  It was so old that the vents above the seats had that dingy, yellowish coloring and wouldn't even turn so that you could direct the air flow.  The overhead bins were laughable.  Good thing I checked my bag! 

So..crazy side note:  I am pretty sure I spotted Susan Elizabeth Phillips in the airport getting her bag at baggage claim.

Clue #1: I know that RWA was in San Diego, the flight on the baggage carousel was from San Diego.
Clue #2:  I know that SEP lives in Chicago (Hello, Chicago Stars series!)
Clue #3:  I follow SEP on twitter and Facebook, I know what she looks like.  (I'm not stalking her, I swear.)

I tried to get a picture of her, but I was trying to be inconspicuous, so I know this is a terrible picture!!  What do you think?  Could it have been her?  I mean what are the chances????

I took Uber from the airport to my hotel.  Yes, I use Uber and I love it.  I can do a whole post on this later.  I am staying at the Sheraton Grand in downtown Chicago.  If you have ever been to Chicago, it is within walking distance of the Navy Pier.  I have stayed here once before and it is a nice hotel and in a great location.

I was hungry so I dropped off my bags and looked up a nearby restaurant.  I was going to try and eat down at the Pier, but none of the restaurants at the Pier had a good rating on Yelp.  I decided on D4 Irish Pub just down the road.  It had a 4 star rating on Yelp and I tend to frequent pubs. 

By the time I got to the restaurant, it was a little after 7:00.  I was able to get a table right away.  I have to say that the ambiance at this little pub was very nice.  It was slightly upscale for a pub and everything looked new, but also old world.  It was dark and cozy.  The menu selection was mainly sandwiches and comfort food dishes.  I settled on the burger, but it was a tough decision.  I do enjoy chicken pot pie and they had that on the menu too. 

My server was super attentive and Johnny-on-the-spot the whole night.  I had ordered my burger medium, but it was more like medium well.  Other than that, everything was great.  The fries were crispy and salty.  I would probably eat there again, but will probably try the chicken pot pie.  After dinner, I headed back to my room and called it a night.

Day 2, Sunday

I had to be at the McCormick Center for the first session at 8:30 AM.  They run shuttle buses from the hotels to McCormick.  It's really cool because they can avoid the traffic and have their own special route.  On this morning, however, Chicago was having a half marathon and told us there would be delays.  Yep, lets just say I didn't make it to the first session on time, more like 9:00!

View from my room

My specialty in the food industry is food safety.  I teach fruit and vegetable growers about food safety regulations as it pertains to them.  The first session I attended was entitled Improving Microbial Safety of Locally Grown Fresh Produce in Several US States Through Research and Extension Approaches.  Basically, it was talking about the challenges faced at farmers markets and implementing good food safety practices.

The next event was featured speaker Jacques Rousseau addressing Science Versus Sensationalism and Soundbites: How Can Consumers Make More Informed Choices?  A big issue in our industry is that most people get swept up in media hype and scare tactics and really don't know how to navigate what's true and what's not.  He talked about the issue and what we can do to make changes to address the issue.

At noon, the trade show opened up.  I didn't have to buy lunch because, after all, this is a FOOD expo.  There are plenty of samples to eat on the floor.  I wondered around for an hour or so snacking at various booths.  The Morton Salt booth had pork sliders on a pretzel bun.  Yum! 

Entrance to the trade show

In the afternoon, on the trade show floor, they feature Cooking up Science demonstrations.  Usually, a company has a product they want to feature and then they have a celebrity chef cook up a recipe using that company's product and then the audience can have a taste.  These are really fun to attend.  I went to two today: PureCircle and Qualisoy.  PureCircle featured macaroons and iced coffee that uses Stevia.  Qualisoy featured donuts with a caramel sauce that uses soybean oil.  Emily Ellyn, Retro Rad Chef, who won Cupcake Wars on the Food Network did the Qualisoy demonstration.  She is a hoot!  She gave everyone in the audience cat eye glasses and made us all get up so she could take a picture.  She took her picture with me and gave me an autographed recipe card.  So nice!!

Me and Emily Ellyn

I topped off the day with dinner at Volare Ristorante Italiano.  In my last trip to Chicago, my colleague took me here on a recommendation from the hotel concierge.  It did not disappoint and, needless to say' I enjoyed it. So, I decided to come back.  This is a small little Italian restaurant that features fresh Italian fare.  It is so yummy!!!  It's a little on the nicer side, so don't go in wearing shorts and a t-shirt.  Although, a lady tonight had on just that. *Sigh*.  I ordered the special, which was white fish (I can't remember if it was sea bass or halibut) in a lemon butter sauce with asparagus and risotto.  Can I just say yum?  The fish is so tender it just melts in your mouth. 

And that, my friends, concludes day 2. Stay tuned for days 3 & 4....