Kanella

Before the earthquake so rudely interrupted us, I was busy recapping my Philly weekend at HLS.

So far we’ve eaten at Farmicia and the Pumpkin Market, and now it’s time for the actual conference day…

From early morning to afternoon we hopped from session to session about writing better {and legal!} recipes, dealing with negativity, monetization, and more. In between, of course, was lots of food.

healthy living summit blog conference

{I miss you Jen!!}

Lunch was the highlight of the meals: greens, vegan sandwiches loaded on rich Great Harvest bread, and the most delicious quinoa chickpea salad.

salad and sandwiches

The food tables were arranged with sandwiches on both ends and salad in the middle- I picked up my sandwiches and turned around and realized the salad line was only going one direction, and it was a loooong line.

I was starving so I took my plate to the table and mentioned I was too hungry to wait, I’d just get my salad later. Then I walked away to grab a drink. When I came back, salad had magically appeared on my plate. One of the servers overheard me and brought me salad- so sweet!

chickpea quinoa salad

vegan lunch at conference

We had a late dinner reservation, so we took some time after the conference to do a little Philly exploring. I finally got to see the Reading Terminal Market in the day time. {It’s where the cocktail party was.}

reading terminal market philadelphiasarah and jen sightseeing

It was full of every vendor you could imagine- ice cream, flowers, fish, bread, etc.

reading terminal market vendors

We played tourists for a little longer, then started off on our walk towards Kanella, a local Greek restaurant.

kanella greek restaurant philly

It was cute and cozy and we were seated immediately.

jen allie and mekanella dining companions

While the food was delicious, it was an interesting dining experience. See, with the exception of hummus and feta, I really don’t like Greek food. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives top my most-hated-foods list. But I wanted to branch out and try something new; plus I loved the company.

When it came time to order, I asked for a delicious veggie and apricot topped flatbread without the tapenade {read olives!}. Not an atypical request by most standards. The answer? No, I could not have the flatbread without the olives.

kanella dinner menu

I forget what I asked for next, but it was a similar response. I was immediately flustered and overwhelmed and had no idea what to order. We finally found a solution- the lamb and arugula topped hummus without the lamb.

So I essentially had bread, hummus, and pita for dinner. But it was above average hummus- rich with lemon and tahini, and I loved arugula added to the mix. The dip for the bread was unique and satisfying as well- a thin tahini-type dip.

bread with tahini dipping saucehummus with arugula and pita

{Photo courtesy of Allie after some battery-camera-lens-swapping; her battery died and I didn’t have the right lens with me.}

Interestingly enough, we were told the chef doesn’t allow photographs of his food. Of course by then we’d already finished with the picture-taking. Winking smile

 

Do you like Greek food? You can add grape leaves to the list of things I don’t like, although I don’t encounter those in my day to day life.Winking smile

 


Find out how my first midwife appointment went on tiny sneakers. Hint: it’s not what you think.

Be sure to subscribe to tiny sneakers to keep up with updates! {It’s a different RSS than this one.}

Repeat Customer

Welcome to Philly!

downtown philly skyline

philadelphia center city

This weekend is the Healthy Living Summit – a gathering of health, food, and fitness lovers {and a lot of people that like to post pictures of those things on the internet}. This is the first time I’ve ever been to the same conference twice. It’s a lot of fun knowing what to expect, and it’s exciting to see what’s going to be different. Here’s how last year went down:

I met a fabulous group of roommates. We were totally meant to room together.

roommates

I learned some things about a giant chip company. Yup, I hung out at a Frito Lay plant at a healthy living conference. Some of it was good. Some of it was bad. Some of it was ugly.

frito lay chip tour

I explored a new favorite city, Chicago. I can’t wait to go back.

downtown chicago

I had my first raw dining experience. It tasted great but my stomach wasn’t too pleased.

raw lasagna

After the conference, I toured a brewery. Add Goose Island to my list of favorite beers.

goose island beergoose island brewery

I also ate at a fabulous restaurant, partied like a rock star, did some yoga and ate some more food.

quartino restaurant chicago

So all in all, it was a great conference and a great trip. Here’s to Philly being just as memorable!

 

If you were at HLS last year, what was your favorite part? If you’re going {or here} this year, what are you looking forward to the most?

The 21 Lessons of Fitbloggin’11

Things you may have, should have, or would have learned at Fitbloggin’11:

1. If you have big {but not super big} feet, you get to rock the black New Balance sneaks.

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2. Share your friends posts- it’s better than self promotion.

3. Updating your title tags after the initial publishing of a post likely won’t do much.

4. Workout pants are larger than they appear.

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5. You’ll never become a good photographer if you don’t take pictures.

6. To be successful blogger, you need to hold yourself accountable- just like any other job.

7. Use language that is unique to you and your brand.

8. Even if you eat 80,000 Popchips, despite all beliefs, you will not turn into a Popchip. And you’ll still want more.

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9. If you don’t ask for what you want, you’re just hoping and wishing.

10. Have genuine, real conversations with people.

11. Jumping on trampolines isn’t just for kids with pent up energy and ambition to flip each other high into the air with the highly sought-after double bounce.

12. It’s not about competition; we can ALL be successful in our own ways.

13. Zumba isn’t so bad after all.

14. Don’t keyword stuff. You will get penalized.

15. Owning a smart phone is essential if you want to succeed in life. You may only pick up on this being mentioned 50,000 times if you don’t own a smart phone.

16. Link to each other with good anchor text, not necessarily the name of the blog.

17. Social media is an SEO factory.

18. stolencamerafinder can help you discover your photos across the web using uber secret ninja codes embedded in your camera.

19. Watch out Facebook, there’s a new “poke” in town. Pokens all the coolest thing since sliced bread. I can already see everyone walking around in 10 years high-fouring each other. So long, business cards, you’re in the past.

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20. Above all else, be true to yourself.

21. Hustle.

 

What did you learn at Fitbloggin, or what have you learned from your own experiences?