POM Blogger Harvest Tour: Day One!
This morning I left my apartment at 6am to make it to the airport on time. A couple of airplanes later, with a quick stopover in Denver between them, I arrived in Fresno, California!
The POM company gave each blogger (there are 15 of us in total) a temporary credit card to pay for the taxi to the hotel, and I arrived at the hotel without a hitch about four hours before we were all planning on meeting together for dinner. A lovely little POM care package was waiting for me upon my arrival: it included a big environmentally-friendly tote bag full of goodies! Inside the bag was a folder full of the Harvest Tour information as well as a POM notebook, POM pen, POM usb device (with POM info and press releases on it, as I learned after I plugged it into my laptop), a bunch of beautifully designed cards with recipes for using POM on them, and a very large diagram of “how to open a pomegranate” (clearly it takes a lot of skill. Without step-by-step instructions I’m sure I could make as much of a mess with a pomegranate as anything else in my kitchen ;)). There was also a smaller box and inside it were a POM t-shirt (my size, yay!), POM Iced Coffee, and Spiced POM Cider. And a water bottle too, which was very much appreciated after the flight.
I decided that I should spend the next few hours exploring some of Fresno before meeting everyone, so I asked at the front desk if there was anything interesting in the area. When she mentioned a Trader Joe’s nearby I’m sure I nearly shrieked with excitement! I went for a little walk to discover Trader Joe’s and it was heaven. I ended up buying a loaf of vegan sprouted bread, Better ‘n Peanut Butter, and a Clif Z bar. I haven’t ever seen any of those items in Canada before and I always hear bloggers raving about the latter two, so I just had to try them. I ate the Clif Z bar as a pre-dinner snack and the honey graham flavour was very tasty. I’m excited to take the bread and peanut butter back home with me. Some people get excited about seeing tourist sites when they go traveling; I get excited about places like Trader Joe’s.
After my expedition to Trader Joe’s, I went out walking in the other direction and discovered that the area that of Fresno that we’re in right now consists of large box stores and even larger parking lots. But that also means that there’s a gigantic mall only about 20 minutes walking distance away. I found a lovely pair of boots and am somehow going to fit that gorgeous purchase in my bag along with my Trader Joe’s treasures to take home to Winnipeg.
Then it was time for the dinner! We went to BJ’s Brewery and because there were so many of us it was difficult to get around to talking to everyone. I spent most of the evening talking with Kristy of The Wicked Noodle and Eric of Eric Rivera’s Cooking Blog. I think I spent far more of my time laughing than eating, which is always a good sign. They are both hilarious and it was wonderful to meet with other food and health bloggers! It’s also good to be able to finally put a face to bloggers that I see all over the blogosphere, such as Heather of Heather Eats Almond Butter, Tina of Carrots ‘n Cake, and Roni of Green Lite Bites– and to meet bloggers whom I’d never know about before this occasion. And of course, as soon as the meals arrived, everyone whipped out their cameras and started snapping photos. How I do dearly love bloggers! It’s just the beginnings, I’m sure, of an immense amount of fun.
I had a lettuce wrap with Thai shrimp and some calamari to begin, followed by a massive salad with heaps of Cajun shrimp, artichoke hearts, and fire-roasted red peppers, and then finished it all off with a taste of apple crumble and a few bites of cookies with ice cream on top. Delicious! But I’m especially looking forward to tomorrow night’s dinner, which will be a specially-prepared POM affair.
It’s time for this health blogger to crawl into bed before a busy day tomorrow of touring the orchards! I love being a part of this experience.
It was very nice meeting you!!!! Can’t wait for tomorrow!
Eric- same here! Also check out those tags 😉 I learn quick. Hehe.
That sounds like a great day! I love going to new places and meeting new people…
Have fun! 🙂 Can’t wait to read more about your trip…
My parents used to live in Fresno. There’s a nice section of town called “Old Fig Garden.” If I remember correctly, the had a Whole Foods in the shopping center. Too bad Braun’s ice cream is no longer there, they were the best. How they could possibly have gone out of business is beyond me.
So glad you are having this great experience!!
I’m glad you are enjoying the experience. I only wish I was there to meet everyone, hehe.
Hanlie- it’s lots of fun to meet new people, especially when everyone is so like-minded.
Andrea- I shall indeed!
Pubsgal- ooooohhhh Whole Foods deliciousness. America is such a great place.
Dr. J- thanks!
Mary- next time 😉
Sagan!! It was so fun sitting next to you at last night’s dinner. I agree that we’re in for a lot more fun 🙂 See ya’ at breakfast!
Sounds like a great trip so far. Can’t wait to read more!
Wow. A brewery tour, a trip to TJ’s, catching up with amazing bloggers…can this day get any better?! Lucky you!!
I get excited about trips to TJ’s too! Foodies, huh? 😉
I can’t wait to see what you think about the Better N’PB. It’s different….I was expecting it to taste just like PB and, well, it doesn’t. But not necessarily bad…okay, I’ll stop!
Enjoy the rest of your trip!