Traveling Home From Blogher'07

I do promise to write all about Blogher’07, which in a nutshell was absolutely awesome. But I thought I'd share my food journey home from the conference, after all I am a food blogger and very proud to be a member of that group.

I suppose I should start with leaving Chicago. I spent the night at the O’Hare Airport Hilton because my flight (a two-parter via Monteal) left at 6 AM. You heard (make that read) correctly. O’Hare is huge so even though it was just a walk across a road from the hotel, the walk to the final gate seemed to take forever. Naturally all the wonderful goodies I had collected at the conference, squished into my carry on (no checked bags for too many opportunities to get lost along the way) weighed a ton. It was too early in my zombie state to eat anything but the line ups at the usual suspects were huge - just to buy coffee and cellophane wrapped turkey or egg sandwiches or gooey doughnuts or buns. No surprise really, we've come to expect the mediocre as a given. Toronto at Pearson International Airport was no different. I’d love to hear of better airport food experiences, so please share. Who knows, perhaps that’s how I’ll choose my next vacation.

But seriously….I landed in Montreal’s Trudeau Airport and by now it was 10ish and my flight to Halifax scheduled for 11:20 AM. Naturally my thoughts turned to food and I was steeling myself for the usual bad airport food options – MacDonald’s , doughnuts, bad wrapped ham & cheese sandwiches.

And there before me was the MBCo – La Boulangerie de Montreal. I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion, what a gourmet experience it is to travel by train from Montreal’s Central Station. I even mentioned it to someone at the conference, but I never thought I’d find the same quality and beautiful presentation of food at the airport. If anyone has been to the Holt Renfrew Centre on Bloor Street in Toronto and has been to their self serve food counter in the lower level, you’ll get the feel for this place (If you haven’t been there…go!).

A picture is worth a thousand words they say, so check out these photos (I did learn some things at the fantastic Food Photography session run by Bea Peltre of La Tartine Gourmande & Lara Ferroni of Cook & Eat (but I digress,).

When is a egg salad sandwich NOT just an egg salad sandwich….when it’s made with fresh herbs (perfect for Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by the terrific Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen) on dark rye and tied with raffia .

Or fantastic quesadillas like these:
Lobster & shrimp

Chicken & Brie

And don’t even get me started on the selection of picture perfect tartlets.

Of course I had to have a real Montreal bagel (check number four of my favorite food memories) with lox (smoked salmon) & cream cheese no matter how good everything else looked. So I paid my $10 – true a little on the expensive side, but worth every penny. And much to my amazement, I was told to take a seat and that she would bring my breakfast over to me. How civilized!

My bagel & lox came in a lovely white box with a clear lid…no little dinky bag hiding a saran wrapped sandwich for me!

And it tasted just like St Viateur Street Bagels with subtly smoked salmon, a few slivers of crispy onion and cream cheese on a grilled sesame bagel. What a perfect end to a perfect trip.

Stay tuned for some of my own Blogher'07 Conference highlights.

Related links: Food & Drink BlogHer'07 bagels travel