Greetings from Quebec City, Canada! As I write this, I am sitting in a hotel lobby north of the border where I am attending a marketing research conference.

But that’s not going to stop me from checking in with my weekly update. So here it is, Week 12 of Food Blogger vs. Fat:

The Challenges

It was a crazy week for me that saw me dining out a lot more than usual. Wednesday night I attended a meeting where I ate way too much junk (chocolate chip cookies and lemonade).

Thursday, I visited Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center in Blue Bell for their Crab Fest dinner. I don’t eat crab, but I enjoyed everything else on the menu – chicken, sausage and mini S’mores pie.

Friday was our visit to Bixler’s Lodge for my weekly review.

Saturday was the annual The Truck Stops Here: Mobile Madness food truck festival at the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles.

As a foodie and member of the museum, it is one of my favorite events of the year and one that I look forward to every June.

Many of the trucks were repeat visitors, but one new addition that I was excited to try was Philly Fry.

There are two Philly Fry trucks (Red and Blue) operating in South Philadelphia along with a third location inside Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles. I love a good French fry so this was my first stop.

Philly Fry offers a wide variety of loaded fries, but I wanted a true taste so I got a small bucket of fries only while my in-laws, who were joining us at the festival for the first time, tried the cheesesteak fries.

I thought the fries were excellent. They were battered and fried to a crisp – the kind of fries that no longer resemble potatoes but are completely irresistible. The cheesesteak fries meanwhile, were topped with shaved steak and melted cheese, with plenty of both to ensure that every bite tasted like the South Philly favorite.

My main entree came from Mom-Mom’s Polish Food Cart. Last year, Julie and I sampled the halupkis and pierogies from this small wagon. This year, I had the kielbasa sandwich.

It was a giant sandwich loaded with homemade sauerkraut that was a perfect complement – not too sour to overpower the flavorful sausage.

After a walk through the museum, the day ended with a stop at the Mister Softee truck for dessert. Julie loves her chocolate-covered ice cream cones and I can’t resist a good Mister Softee milkshake.

The next day, we hosted a Father’s Day picnic at the house complete with burgers, hot dogs and strawberry pretzel pie for dessert so there was no opportunity for my body to recover from Saturday’s feast.

The Successes

While I somehow kept close to my calorie goal through most of the week, I had few moments that I could call “successes.”

I did a lot of walking during the food truck festival and at Crab Fest, but that was a wash with all of the food that I consumed.

Beyond that, I had two lunch walks and spent some time on Saturday and Sunday doing some house cleaning, but other than that, it was a rather uneventful week.

The Results

Last week was a wash. I am hopeful that my weight was actually skewed higher because my heaviest eating days were Saturday and Sunday and that I will have a much more successful week to come.

The Week Ahead

As I mentioned in my intro, I am in Quebec City for a conference. You may have guessed, that means it’s another crazy week for this food blogger.

I fly home tomorrow (Friday) for my second travel day this week. In between, I have attended workshops, listened to lectures, explored the city, and of course, sampled the local cuisine (poutine anyone?). I look forward to sharing those adventures with you in next week’s blog.