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Weekend in Boston for FNCE 2016

Hi! You guys. I woke up at 4am this morning to get to the airport so I’m feeing a bit out of my mind as I’m typing up this post.  I typed up the first part of this post on the plane and now I’m sitting in the Smashburger parking lot waiting for them to open because I tend to crave burgers after I fly (it’s currently 9:30am lol).

Any who.

You may have seen over the weekend that I was in Boston for FNCE. The Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics paid for my entrance into the conference in exchange for this post.  I wanted to share some of the fun!

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At FNCE there are a lot of educational sessions and lectures for dietitians, but I go to FNCE to talk with brands and PR companies. This year I also spoke on a nutrition entrepreneur panel with Siggi’s. I wished there would have been time/brain space for me to attend some sessions, but this year it didn’t happen.

I flew into Boston Friday morning and went straight to lunch at Tatte. I got a lot of awesome Boston restaurant recommendations on IG and loved trying them out!

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I went with a latte + salad with arugula + romaine, ALL the goat cheese, apples, edamame, dressing and a super chewy/doughy/fluffy piece of bread. It was the best bread I’ve had in a while. The salad also had dried apricots, but I didn’t touch those. I HATE apricots.

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I hung out in a perfect little corner of Tatte until we could check-in to our Airbnb.

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I was staying the weekend with 5 other RD bloggers: Anne, Robyn, Alexis, Rachael and Alex (I also got to spend a lot of time with Meme, Kristina, Julie, Carlene and Kara!). All great people.

Friday night we went out to dinner at Row 34.

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Wine!

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We had fried calamari + deviled tuna toast to start.

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Then I got the crab cake + a black bean slaw + some type of tangy puree. This crab cake was very meh. There wasn’t a single piece of lump crab meat. BOO.

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Another night for dinner I attended a dinner hosted by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute at The Oceanaire.

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This was by far my favorite dinner of the trip! I had excellent company.  Meme and Abby were with me…and Ellie Krieger was there (…and of course I was super awkward around her).

The food was incredible. Crab avocado slaw + epic soy glazed cod + soba noodle salad in a thai PB sauce + smoked king salmon + burrata salad with crispy parmesan bits + two large glasses of wine. It’s a dream of mine to go and catch a salmon in Alaska! 

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Last night for dinner we ate more seafood at Legal Seafood. At a Avocado event earlier that day I had a totally bomb avocado margarita. That may become my favorite cocktail. So creamy. And we made avocado roses!

fnce-2016-38fnce-2016-37    For dinner I got tempera green beans that the table shared together and then a clam, pancetta & arugula pizza that was everything I was craving. It was so salty and savory. YUM.

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Rewinding now back to earlier in the weekend…

Saturday morning I woke up at 4am and could NOT go back to sleep. So annoying. I laid in bed until 5:30 and then figured I might as well go check out the gym our Airbnb had.

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I did a bunch of random things until I started getting hungry. Then I showered and walked over to Thinking Cup for breakfast. Hazelnut latte + breakfast sandwich (their english muffin was SO good.) + a cookie snack for later.

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The rest of that morning was spent touring a cranberry bog with Ocean Spray. We even got to put on waders and get into the water, which was ridiculous and awesome.

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kristina + me + meme.

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For lunch Ocean Spray provided us with pesto sandwiches + salad + bread + a sparkling cranberry juice that was super refreshing.  Eaten while listening to a talk on the benefits of cranberries.

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Later we chilled at the Airbnb and Alex made us all lattes, because she’s great and just a super caring person.

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Sunday I spoke on a panel for Siggi’s with Alexis and Jenny. The panel was fun. By the time the panel started I was more excited than nervous, but my voice still cracked while I was responding to the first two questions.  So it goes:) I know I can’t get better at public speaking if I don’t keep forcing myself to do it.

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After the panel I grabbed breakfast with blog-reader-turned-friend Jess

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I went with iced coffee + cream + vanilla and a breakfast sandwich.

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Then I headed into the expo where there are hundreds of food and nutrition companies promoting their goodies.

Some favorites…

Nature’s Path

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Organic Valley

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California strawberries

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Hello, Fresh. (whoa this photo ended up really orange)

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Some expo freebies! Those Perfect Bars are really really tasty.

fnce-2016-36For lunch that day I met up with an old college friend, Haley, who I have stayed in touch with. She’s a dietitian that works in private practice in Pittsburg and I feel we are very similar in so many ways AND she has a very infectious energy. I was happy to get to catch up! We went to Flour and I got latte #2 of the day + a soba spinach salad that had tofu. LOVED THIS MEAL.

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I had a great time at FNCE. Social events are still hard for my introverted-ness and probably always will be. I find it easiest if I have goals for the events I attend and can focus on those rather than making random small talk. And sometimes the goal is to just make random small talk with a particular person I’ve been wanting to meet in real life:) I really thought Boston was such a great city! I’d love to go back with Andrew sometime.

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21 comments

  1. It looks like you had such a blast! I am an introvert too in many ways, so going to FNCE last year was overwhelming but fun. A friend of mine from our undergrad nutrition program went with me, which made it so much better. :) I would be so awkard if I met Ellie Krieger – I started following her back in 2007 or 2008 I think!

    • I was like, “holy crap. It’s her!” She’s gorgeous in person and so so kind. We talked about her daughter and other very random things haha.

  2. I really enjoyed following along on your Instagram. Nutrition is such a fun and exciting field to be in! I’m going to set the intention of taking a solo trip to the next FNCE.

  3. Thanks for sharing about your time at FNCE! I was following along a bit on social media and it looked like a blast. Love that you got to explore the cranberry bog!

  4. Hi Kylie,

    I was at the NEDPG panel you where you spoke. I’m also a past client of Robyn’s!  It is so cool to see that you know her too. I just LOVED your panel discussion.  You didn’t sound nervous at all. You were very confident and inspiring. The ladies at my table (Mandy, Jen and Chere) also felt you have one amazing husband.  He sounds so supportive.  I am now following you through feedly.  Thank you for being at FNCE and fueling my “soon to be” RD career thoughts.

    • Hi Jill!

      Robyn is great! So glad you two got a chance to work together:)

      Thank you for the kind words about the panel! I would love to do one again since I prefer them to actual presentations haha

  5. Great post! Where is your shirt from–the one with the eyelet at the bottom? SO SO SO CUTE. 

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  7. Great recap. I loved following all of my fave RD blogger ladies on your FNCE adventures! Bummed I couldn’t make it there this year myself. I heard you were great on the panel btw! :)

  8. I just read this and realized I am the girl with the leopard bag in your Organic Valley expo photo! I wondered if I would run into you at FNCE lol I guess I got pretty close!

  9. Yay so glad you loved Boston! Glad you got to hit up all the good restaurants too. My fav place is the thinking cup! So cute in there. Hope you are having a great week! <3

  10. Loved reading your FNCE recap and following all of the dietitian adventures that were taking place in Boston this weekend through social media. I was so sad that I couldn’t make it there this year, but I’m glad to hear you had a great time! Would have loved to have been able to attend your Siggi’s panel :)

  11. Love your recap! I was at the NEDPG panel and really enjoyed hearing you speak! Also totally did not notice your voice cracking at all so don’t even worry about it.. I think that’s one of those things that we think everyone notices, but really no one does! And THAT TARGET BAG <3 I literally bought it just to carry all my stuff around at FNCE haha. Saved my life.

    • It’s so weird! People keep saying they didn’t hear it crack, but it TOTALLY did. MY mind plays funny tricks! Thanks for attending the panel:)

  12. Your trip looks so fun! As a fellow introvert, I totally get where you’re coming from about the social events. Heck, I’m doing yoga teacher training right now, and while I love it, it’s not always easy to psych myself up for 3-6 hours of uninterrupted interaction. Good for you for putting yourself out there anyway! That’s how we grow :)

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