Yay! I'm in Portland for VVC (Vida Vegan Con) - the vegan lifestyle blogging conference of my dreams!! I feel like I died and went to vegan heaven - except like the heaven for vegans who like 50 degree weather with a side of rain. I guess the weather is not usually like this, though I really don't care. The food and the experience more than make up for the weather. I'm so excited that I didn't mind only sleeping 3 hours, waking up at 4am, taking a 4 hour flight to Seattle, switching to a small plane for the flight from Seattle to Portland and coming to a cold and rainy place. These things are all part of this fantabulous journey for VVC and really this journey that is my life.

So, what's a girl to do when it's cold and wet outside? Get something hot to eat, of course! So I braved the rain with my trusty raincoat and made my way over to Blossoming Lotus. Yum! Oh. my. goodness!

That soup really hit the spot. It had just the right amount of spice - enough to give it a great flavor and kick while also allowing the flavor of the corn and other veggies to really shine through. And I think I detected a hint of coconut in there. There or not, me thinking it's there spells love. The cornbread was by far the best cornbread I've ever had and I think I've had some great cornbread before. Really though, the best thing about this food was the way I felt after eating it. Picture a sleep-deprived, slightly jet lagged, tired from walking in the rain, wishing I had brought a real coat instead of just a raincoat girl. After eating this I was ready to take on more. This food gave me energy and made my body feel good. Thank you Blossoming Lotus! I think I'll come back again, but it will be hard to not want to eat the same thing again!!



Post Blossoming Lotus, I headed into Starbucks for a hot tea - okay really I just wanted some free internet, but the hot tea was good too. This woman sat down next to me. I didn't really notice because I was just enjoying the view through the window . . . until she started choking. At first I thought it was no big deal, just a cough, but it didn't stop and she was starting to look like she couldn't breathe? So, I asked if she needed help (dumb question, but I'm not going to go over and just randomly give the Heimlich maneuver to a stranger who really didn't need or want the help. So she motions for help and just as I'm about to lay my hands on her, the thing caught in her throat magically comes up! Hooray! I was so glad she was okay! Even though I didn't do anything, she was really grateful for my concern and attempt to help her. She even invited me to some kind of a performance she was doing or something like that, but I was kind of confused and disoriented by the whole thing.

I was forced to come back to the hotel by a phone battery that wanted to die and a lot of random people talking to me and making me feel like I just might need a phone with a working battery. As it got a little darker, those same random strangers entered my mind and I realized that I really don't know much about Portland and my brilliant idea of walking around for miles in the rain, all alone, may not have been so brilliant after all. Luckily, I picked up this brochure at the front desk of the hotel.