The Whistler Sliding Centre is one of the legacies left behind by the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Here is where you will find the 1,450 metre long ice track with a 152-metre vertical drop over 16 corners where the World Cup Skeleton, Luge and Bobsleigh athletes compete and train regularly. Want to feel just like one of the athletes racing here? You’re in luck as the center offers visitors a chance to try their skill at these sports. I wasn’t too sure how I felt about that since speeds range around 140 KM (almost 90 miles per hour!) but more importantly the disclaimer from the Sliding Center handout read:  “Participants should use the washroom before the start of the run (due to gravitational pressure on bladder during runs)”  which definitely reinforced my decision.

I think I’ll stick to the sport of skiing (for now, at least).

Today at the Sliding Center, it was the second day of the 2012 IBSF (International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation) World Cup. We heard from locals and friends alike that this was an event that we absolutely had to see.

“Monica, you can be right there and practically feel the wind that comes off the racers as they swoosh by you at amazing speeds,” my friend Todd tells me with great enthusiasm.

Paying the $10.00 entrance fee we walked into the center and immediately felt the excitement in the air ring straight down to our bones. People were everywhere, cowbells were ringing in the anticipation of the upcoming races and in general the feeling here was one of complete, pure excitement.

Before we knew it the announcer comes across on the loud speaker and alerts us to the start of the Skeleton races and everyone gathers close to the track.

The excitement that we experienced here was truly breath taking.  If you would like to read the rest of the story and see some more photograhy from the event, please visit:  Just 5 More Minutes.

Thank you!

Last year I had the honor to meet and work with a professional ski photographer Matt Small.  In addition to working for ESPN, Matt has also worked with Helly Hansen, K2, Quick Silver, Nike, Warren Miller, Salomon, the US Ski Team, Cosmopolitan just to name a few.

A long time skier at Cyrstal Mountain Matt was able to introduce my readers over at Just 5 More Minutes to the world of Nate and Katie and their vintage Airstream travel trailer that they renovated and now use as their mobile ski lodge.

Imagine having your own mobile ski lodge to take with you wherever you please. The full story complete with beautiful photography can be found here at J5MM.

If you are ever so lucky to be able to visit San Juan Island here in Washington State I can promise you one thing.  If you dine at the Duck Soup Inn you can expect your life to change.  Chef Gretchen Allison is a culinary genius and her mouth watering creations will leave you longing for the islands.

Some of you follow me here and some of you follow me on Just 5 More Minutes (my epicurean  & adventure travelogue) and some of you follow both.  Thank you so much if you do follow both — I’m still trying to figure out a good way to mesh both of my blogs together, but it is really a challenge.  So until I do, I keep on updating both . . .

I hope it is okay to share this news twice, on both of my blogs because for me, it is the biggest honor.

Here we go (this is word for word as I shared it J5MM) :

_______________________________________________________

Dear readers,

It is really, with the utmost honor that I get to share this news with you.

~ Monica

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine called me up on the phone asking if I would be interested in attending Amanda Hesser’s lecture at Benaroya Hall here in Seattle.  Interested?  Oh my goodness, I was beyond interested, I was thrilled!

What an incredible night it was.  First I was able to enjoy a girls night out with one of my best friends and second?  Well — having the opportunity to listen to Amanda speak.

This was really a dream come true for me.  You see, forever I have looked up to Amanda with all of her accomplishments and notoriety.  So yes, I was thrilled to be going!!

As I sat in my seat waiting for the lecture to begin I was completely beside myself.  When she started speaking, I was glued to her every word.  I don’t think I moved once during the entire lecture. Her speech was so interesting and so very inspiring to me.  She made me laugh and she made me think.  She introduced other food bloggers that I had never heard of and also talked of Clementine Paddleford.  An American food writer in the 1920′s who would fly solo all around the country interviewing cooks from far and wide.  I couldn’t get wait to get home and learn more about Clementine!  She sounded like my kind of lady!

She also spoke of Food52.  With help from friend Merrill Stubbs they both created this most genius site.  If you haven’t heard about it, I promise you are in for a real treat.  Food52 is a beautiful site for home cooks to come together and unite as one.  Everyone shares their recipes but what is really great about Food52 is that you are connected when you are there.  Connected as far as, if you have a question about an ingredient or just about a recipe in general — you can immediately contact the Hotline, online — and within a minute have your question answered.  Also, this isn’t your typical community recipe site — see for yourself and do a search for “beets,” and just wait and see what appears before your eyes.  Beautiful photographs of recipes that contain that ingredient.

Then came Molly Wizenberg of Orangette.  One of my most favorite foodie bloggers out there.  Molly sat down with Amanda after her speech and read questions from the audience.  I was so happy to finally be able to see Molly in person.  Oh and her blog?  It is really, really awesome (and beautiful).  Molly also has a really great writing style that I just love.

After the lecture and Q&A was over I had the opportunity to personally meet Amanda.  I walked up to the stage and introduced myself and as quickly as I could, I explained to her what I do (J5MM).  I think I was stuttering because I was so nervous but she was so nice!

Anyway, fast forward to yesterday (probably one of the most happiest days in my life) when I received this tweet:

Amanda and Food52 really liked my site!  They liked it enough to write about it.

I am really, completely honored and so, so very happy

Here is the link to the post and a screen shot of the post — if you do happen to read it I would love to hear what you think!

I am so honored (and proud) to have been asked by Full Circle Farms (a CSA – community supported agriculture) to be a guest blogger for their wonderful and informative blog titled, “Good Food Life – Celebrating the Life that Good Food brings!”  Last week my first post was published and I would like to share it with you.  I shared my recipe for smoky beet chips and the story of how they came to be.

Here is a preview of some of the photos I took for the article as well as a link to the article itself.