Yesterday, I mentioned all I wanted to munch on during my upcoming trip to Los Angeles… and my friends at the Lifestyle Bloggers National Conference #LBNC15, now in its 5th year, sent me a little note telling me – “Hey Madelyn!!! There is MORE veggie-friendly goodness in your munching future. Please check out these collaborators…” And here they are:
Amara Chocolate will be providing goodies in the form of Venezuelan Arepas with all the traditional fixin’s. I hope they bring along some of their gluten-free corn-based arepas filled with cheese, black beans and sweet plantain. To me that sounds like a great lunch!!! And for a little something sweet, they’ll make churros with a variety of dipping sauces, like dulce de leche, condensed milk and my favorite, guava sauce!!! Note to self – must bring exercise clothes because I might gain some pounds on this trip.
And then… to appeal to my junk food side, Dirt Dog LA will be making their authentic hot dogs to our conference. I’ve been told that if you’re in Los Angeles and you don’t eat a hot dog, you didn’t really visited Los Angeles. And in true Cali form, Dirt Dogs LA has Veggie Dogs!!!!! They serve them with grilled onions, red and green bell peppers over a variety of buns. In all honesty, I like my veggie dogs with just a squirt of ketchup and mustard, but I am willing to give these LA veggie dogs a try. And have you ever heard of Horchata Ice Cream? I haven’t and I hope one is in my near future…
And my friend Diana, now living in Sonoma County, is working as the pastry chef of Sam’s Social Club in Calistoga alongside Chef Kory Stewart. We spoke yesterday and we already made plans to taste the great creations she and Chef Stewart are offering. Let me tell you a bit of what I already have in mind – the house-made black truffle and white bean tortellini with rainbow carrots, cipollini onions and Piave Vecchio cheese sounds really good or the leek pancakes with avocado and jalapeno, hold the crab please!!! And I would like to finish with Diana’s churros topped with dulce de leche whipped cream. Or just give me the dulce de leche and the whipped cream on the side and I’ll be a happy girl. Can you believe the churros are also served as a breakfast menu item??? Decadent indeed…
Bueno people… I need to actually pack my bags now. Will keep you posted as soon as I arrive on the West Coast.
KarmaFree Cooking 
Have fun in LA Madelyn! Looks like you will have a fab trip 🙂