To say that I am inspired and enlightened is a gross understatement. To say that I'm overwhelmed and dog-tired is also a gross understatement. But the positive so far outweighs the down side that, in the aftermath, what I'm holding onto is a big armload of inspiration.
In short:
- Kathleen Flinn makes me want to be a better writer.
- Penny de los Santos makes me want to be a better photographer.
- Alex Jamieson makes me want to be better to my body.
- Shauna Ahern makes me want to be a better blogger and just a better person, in general.
- Dianne Jacob makes me confident to charge people what my talents are worth.
Foodista and Zephyr, the incredible hosts of the conference, packed every waking (and honestly non-waking) moment of the three days chock full of sessions and gatherings. Most conferences I've been to give you plenty of free time. This one had events from 7:45am to 9:00pm. (You could choose to sit them out, but they were there for the taking.) Incredible, the amount of stuff that was packed into one weekend.
The sponsors (particularly Sur La Table, who gave us a generous bag full of kitchen swag, and Theo Chocolates who provided swag, chocolate, tours, and their warehouse space for this event) really provided us with great food and goodies. Thank you.
While the food and drink were incredible, the keynote speakers were great, as well. I particularly liked Kathleen Flinn's "Writing with the Five Senses", Shauna Ahern and Alex Jamieson's "Blogging for Specialized Diets", and Penny de los Santos' "Digital Food Photography" session.
I didn't attend every single event (I missed the wonderful James Oseland, editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine), nor could I possibly blog about them all, or post the hundreds of photos that I took. So, let's just stick to the digital highlights, shall we?
Good.
Enjoy!
Hotel Monaco
Theo chocolates and Cupcake Royale cupcakes
Oyster Bill with Taylor Shellfish and their Geoduck Ceviche
Food from Jason Wilson of Crush
Modernist cuisine and Lisa Dupar Catering
Bookstore catered to foodies
Modernist Cuisine table
IFBC organizers Allan Wright (Zephyr Adventures CEO)
and Barnaby Dorfman (Foodista CEO)
Kathleen Flinn
Panel with Dianne Jacob, Kristine Kidd, and Amy Sherman
John Howie of Seastar and Linda Miller Nicholson w/ camera
Salmon Carpaccio from John Howie/Seastar
Steak tartare by Daisley Gordon
Fino sherry cocktail being made at the sherry party
Secret Sherry Society's happy hour with sherry and tapas
Tapas being made by chef of Olivar
Top Pot Doughnuts
Local foods panel w/ Jack Czarnecki, Debra Music,
and Andrew Stout
Penny de los Santos after her talk that garnered
a standing ovation
Standing in line for the food trucks supplied only to IFBC
attendees. Incredible!
Photographers capturing the cook of the Skillet Street truck
Seattle Food Geek (Scott Heimendinger) and a line of
food bloggers
Pizza on the left was so fresh, I could have eaten a dozen slices
Pike Brewing had lunchtime beer offerings
Molly Wizenberg (of Orangette blog) talking
