Food blogging, VIP lists, and essentially being drunk all week

I’ve always wanted to be a food and travel writer, even just a little, even on the side, even if I had no professional culinary training and haven’t traveled abroad (YET). I picture everything from quirky European hostels to huts-in-the-ocean in the South Pacific, everything from olive oil in Italy and sushi in Japan. And I picture my byline.

Even if it’s on my own plot of Internet real estate. I launched (HA!) NomadicFoodie.com back in August of 2009, with just those intentions. Eat, drink, travel, write. I’d spent the summer traveling all across the country and back, and dining was at the front of those priorities. So, I started documenting that, even if only for the sake of looking back and remembering that the name of that little Italian restaurant in Chelsea with the phenomenal pesto was called Bar Baresco.

Fast forward to last week, when almost simultaneously – I decided to put more focus back into the food blog and then got to actually play like a food blogger and socialite! Law of Attraction, thankyouverymuch.

My whole week has been a foodgasm week. It started on Monday with 12 ridiculously awesome oysters and a seafood platter the size of my torso at Jax Boulder. On Wednesday, I continued my love affair with spaghetti squash and cooked dinner for Chelsea and I, including my very own homemade Honey Mustard Champagne salad dressing (recipe here!) for my new favorite salad (spinach, topped with avocado, dried cherries, and almonds).

On Thursday, thanks to a relationship between 20-Something Bloggers and Athenos Hummus, myself along with six of my other favorite Denver/Boulder bloggers* and our dates and plus-ones, were treated beyond royal at an event hosted at a LoDo wine bar. I’m not kidding – we were treated like press, like VIPs, like rockstars. The Athenos brand manager, Marshall Hyzdu joined us for a drink, personally thanked us for coming to their event, and sat and chatted with us for awhile answering questions about the Athenos HQ in Chicago, about the product, and about how awesome it must be to live off the Blue Line in Chicago.  I also desperately want to go play in the Athenos test kitchen now.

The event also included a trivia game (again, more on that coming) and the host was Erica Cobb from Alice 105.9′s morning show. First of all, she was GORGEOUS. I’m talking flawless. I noticed this when she came over to also introduce herself, thank us for coming, and get to know us a little.

So Athenos (and any other food brand or restaurant or product or anything), if you’re going to give me free wine, free food, a free t-shirt (!!!), and talk to me about chickpeas and olive oil all night, we’re totally in business.

That brings us to Friday night. You may or may not have read my little braingasm of a conversation I had with @mateorestaurant on Twitter that got me in their doors for the first time, or the mini I’m-not-a-professional-but-by-GOD-do-I-love-food review I wrote of that experience, but the owner’s wife did. And Megan brings in a group of folks for happy hour every Friday night and invited me to join them this week.

She insisted I try the gratin, which is my new favorite dish in the history of dishes. It’s Brussels sprouts, drenched in a cheese bath, topped with bread crumbs, and baked. I sincerely believe that it’s the bread crumbs that separates the amazing baked cheesy dish from the mediocre.

Throughout the night, I met the most amazing people (like @cindykcruz), got to know @christopherdan (the brainpower behind BarTweet.com and @boulderbars) even better, and was whisked around between three different restaurants**, introduced to everyone as “the food blogger” and “the bar reviewer.”

Thank you very much, Universe. You just granted another one of my wishes in the most amazing way possible. And yes, Boulder, Denver and really anywhere – I’m absolutely interested in checking out your bar, restaurant, cafe, shop, or whatever. Just say when. Buying me a drink doesn’t hurt either. #justsayin

Want the deets?

• Athenos event recap on Twenty | Twenty, the 20sb Blog.
• Here’s my short review of Radda

*Denver/Boulder bloggers in attendance at the Athenos Two Truths and a Lie Trivia Night: @LGriffindor @ChelsTalksSmack @ashalahblogs @gracekboyle @jrmoreau (Ok, so James isn’t a Colorado blogger… yet… ) @

**We started at Mateo Restaurant. Megan then introduced me to Radda Trattoria, Mateo’s Italian sister restaurant just north of downtown Boulder, and then since I hadn’t been there yet, Chris introduced me to The Bitter Bar, where I met the most knowledgeable mixologist I’ve ever talked to.

Blogger’s Disclaimer: No one paid me to rave about any of these places, I just really, really enjoy food and wine. Yes, a couple of my drinks were paid for, but not in exchange for any reviews. But let’s be honest – getting me drunk helps. Thanks again to Megan, Cindy, Chris, Hillary, boy and girl Cameron, and Mark for making this a super fun night.

Tagged as: Boulder, Food, Wine