WDS: Food porn

Thank you, everyone, for all the kind feedback about An unhurried life. It was a tough post to write in that I wasn't sure I'd quite be able to translate the experience into words, but I'm so glad it was able to touch some of you.

Now, how about a lighter topic for today? : D

I tried to come up with a different title for this post, I really did. But then I Googled it and found this Web site (ahhhh! yum) named after it and didn't feel bad.

I love reading cooking blogs, but not because I like to actually make the food they feature — I just like to drool over the gorgeous photos, also known as "food porn" in the blogosphere.

Here's my first attempt at taking those types of photos of the food and beverages I enjoyed at the World Domination Summit. I hope the search engine gods will overlook the fact that I've used the P-word twice so far, and weird creepers will stay off this innocent little blog. Move along, guys — nothing to see here! : D

At the opening-night cocktail party, I enjoyed a few pork tacos from the Koi Fusion food cart —"an innovative and funky fusion of Mexican and Korean cuisine served up with a twist." Delish!

On Saturday morning, I took advantage of my first solo hotel stay and ordered room service — an unnecessary indulgence, yes, but one that was completely worth it.

I've eaten plain Quaker Oats from Costco every morning for the last year or so, which amounts to about $0.07 a serving — no joke — and fluffy room-service pancakes were a wonderful treat!

With an extra side of fruit for good measure.

I killed everything except 1/3 of a pancake. Yum.

I usually stay away from coffee, but Starbucks was a necessity each morning...

...because Portland has plenty of fun places to hang out and enjoy some beers each night!

Our first stop on the Saturday-night brewery tour was the BridgePort BrewPub.

I enjoyed a delicious Summer Squeeze — so refreshing after trekking around in the (rare) Portland sun.

This random, friendly Portlander had some incredible-looking BridgePort mac 'n' cheese, and he let me try a bite. Don't worry, I used a clean fork supplied by the bartender and sampled from the untouched side!

It was as delicious as it looks. Breadcrumbs for the win!

We skipped Deschutes Brewery and headed straight to the Rogue Distillery and Public House, where I enjoyed a chocolate stout (front middle). I don't usually go for stouts, but something drew me to this one. Hmm, what was it again? Oh, yeah — CHOCOLATE!

It was one of my top four favorite beers of all time.

Mr. Nerd Fitness ordered pizza for a few of us, but the sausage was way too spicy for me. It sure looked good, though!

I made TartBerry my home-away-from-home with two visits in two days. : D This self-serve frozen yogurt haven was just a few blocks away from the conference, and I wanted nothing more than something delicious to cool me down each afternoon!

There was an amazing selection of toppings, including cereal, fruit and candy.

I went with original tart, raspberry, chocolate and red velvet cake frozen yogurt with various fruit toppings. So, so good.

And last but not least, I ordered room service one last time on Monday morning. I was exhausted from the weekend and busy packing up to leave, so I decided to indulge. Once again, it was so worth it!

I had smoked salmon hash with a poached egg and avocado creme, plus a grapefruit half topped with caramelized sugar.

I love anything with salmon, so that was a no-brainer, but the caramelized-sugar grapefruit was a standout — definitely a winning combination.

Sorry that I've made you all hungry now. I've gone and made myself hungry!

Happy Friday!

###

New here?

• Here's the lowdown on My Story
• You can add Answering Oliver to your feed reader
• Feel free to subscribe to Answering Oliver by email
  
• Liking Answering Oliver on Facebook is also a valid option
• Perhaps you'd like to follow my stream of randomness on Twitter
• Or just hang out. That's cool, too.

###