Vancouver Bloggers & Brands Conference #BloggersBrandsYVR

Last week the Bloggers and Brands Conference was held at the Vancity Theatre in downtown Vancouver. This was the first blogger conference I have been to, so I was excited to see what it was all about, meet fellow bloggers and learn more about blogging. The focus of the conference was to connect bloggers who want to work with brands, whether the have experience or not. Some sponsors were on site to talk about what they look for in bloggers, and there was definitely a lot for me to learn.

We started off with a yummy breakfast and time to network. Everyone spoke with the four sponsors at the event, met new bloggers and caught up with ones they already knew.

Telus was the title sponsor of the event, and they provided delicious sweets to everyone. There was a candy bar and macarons from Thierry Chocolaterie Patisserie Cafe. A little bit of sugar to start the day? Always good! Telus also gave out adorable red panda or cheetah plush critters. It was hard to choose between the two, but I brought home a red panda. They also had a contest for a brand new HTC One smart phone, which the Food Gays won, lucky them!

The other brands at the event were Canadian Beef, Microsoft and Canadian Chicken Farmers of Canada. Everyone had some swag to give out, which was a pleasant surprise.

I had a nice chat with Heather Travis (the lady on the left), who manages the Canadian Beef twitter accounts @LoveCDNbeef and @CanadianBeef.

Microsoft was offering to make Wordpress blogs into a Windows 8 app for free.

Chicken Farmers of Canada (@chickenfarmers and @ChickenDotCa) are also quite active on social media. 

Jill Schnarr, the VP of Community Affairs at Telus kicked off the presentations. She went through how Telus puts corporate social reponsibility on the top of their list. Telus really believes that we should "Give where we live" and they have become a leader in social reponsibility, donating millions of dollars to charities and volunteering their time to local communities since 2000. Telus also believes in the best customer service, and is very active on their social media sites. I have used the Telus customer support on Twitter before, and I can honestly say that there is always someone on the other side to answer your question and try their best to help you.

Janice Croze, from 5MinutesforMom.com, gave the next presentation about how to monetize your blog. She is a very successful blogger, as she has started early, and believes in helping others. Her site started off as a database to help moms find what they needed about parenting. Janice had a lot of good information about what your blog needs before it's PR ready.

Next there was a panel with Katie Drechsel, Manager Communications at TELUS and Heather Travis, Director Public Relations of Canada Beef, who let us know what brands look for in bloggers. The best advice was to engage them in conversation and build up a relationship with the brand.

For the last panel, four successful mom bloggers answered questions everyone had about their experience and the road they took to get where they are now. Michelle Sutter of PoweredyMom, Eschelle Westwood of Mumfication, Kerry Sauriol of Crunchy Carpets, and Julie Nowell of 3chickensandaboat all had a lot to say - it is possible to make a living out of blogging, but you can't be afraid to put in the work!

I learned a lot of useful things that I will apply to my blog (which has been way overdue for a facelift) and I was glad I attended the conference. I made some new friends as well! The Bloggers and Brands Conference is making it's away across Canada, so check out their site to see where they are next!

Learning about Canadian Beef at Safeway!

I was invited to be a part of the Love Your Local Safeway and Canadian Beef campaign and being a fan of both, I was really excited to take part. I met with the Safeway meat merchandiser, Mike Peet, where he answered all the questions I had about Canadian beef. I actually learned a lot of interesting facts about beef, and I'll post some of the more interesting ones below.

Q: Where do the beef come from?
A: The beef is only from Canada and comes from Alberta.

Q: How often does Safeway get beef shipments?
A: Depending on where the Safeway is located and the traffic to the store, shipments come 3-4 times a week.

Q: Why do you want to age beef?
A: When you age meat, enzymes break down, make it softer. Triple A beef at Safeway is aged a minimum of 14 days, and restaurants will age their meats as well.

Q: How long does the beef last in the store?
A: The beef found in the fridge section at Safeway is good for 10 days after receiving it in the store. The triple A beef in the glass case is good for 14 days.

Q: How do you know if beef is fresh? Can you tell by the colour of it?
A: The colour of beef actually is not a very reliable indicator of freshness. Beef is actually a deep purple colour but turns red when it is exposed to oxygen. Ground beef can also have a brown colour, but this is because of a small amout of oxygen present. The beef should be safe to eat up to the best before date.

Q: How long can you keep beef in the freezer?
A: 2-3 months for ground beef and 6-12 months for steaks and roasts. Use a vaccum seal if possible, or push all the air out of any bags you put them into.

Q: What are the most popular cuts of meat?
A: It really depends on the time of year!

Safeway has plenty of cuts of Canadian beef to choose from, and there are different sales each week.

Triple A beef in the meat display - pricer than in the regular meat section because these are the best cuts that are hand picked and aged for at least 14 days to ensure tenderness.

There are plenty of interesting facts and beef recipes that you can find over at www.beefinfo.org.

I personally enjoy cooking with ground beef because it is so versatile and you can pretty much put it into anything to add a bit of protein to your dish. I decided I try my hand at my my own hamburgers. I never really tried before because I always thought it was hard, and why not just pop on over to the nearest McDonalds? Of course, once I started to make it myself, I realized it was actually really easy, and the fast too!

What you need:
- Ground beef
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1/2 mushrooms, diced
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup crushed crackers
- salt (to taste)

1. Mix up all the ingredients in a bowl (the fastest way is to use your hands!).
2. Form a meat patty. You can make it any size you want, but you want to make sure the beef cooks all the way through, so don't make it too thick!
3. Place patties onto frying pan and cook until done (10-15 minutes).

With one package of ground beef, I was able to make six medium sized patties. The smell of the hamburger patties cooking made my mouth water, and it was definitely very tasty! You can mix it up by adding other ingredients to the patty as well - cheese, bell peppers, green onions - the options are limitless! 

My family had burgers for dinner, and I got to eat it for lunch as well the next day. Now that I realize how easy it is to make your own burgers, I think I might do so more often!