I’ve been looking at these two suitcases for three days now. They accompanied me back from Seattle. I left with one. Returned with two. (I finally unpacked them last night). As I look at these two suitcases, I have to say that life is good. Very good. I wish I could convey the overwhelming inspiration and just plain goodness that I experienced at the International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC). I’ve thought long and hard about how to tell you about it and I have been trying to write this post since Monday morning. I just don’t know where to begin…
First off, Barnaby and Sheri and the rest of the Foodista crew were great and put on an awesome conference (and they just started planning in January!). Truly amazing. Then there was Sur la Table and their insanely generous goodie bag (this is the reason I had two suitcases for my return trip). And the incredible food from Bakery Nouveau, the Herbfarm, Six Seven at the Edgewater, On Safari Foods, and Spring Hill… just to name a few (there is some seriously good food in Seattle…). And then there were the speakers: Molly Wizenberg of A Homemade Life and Orangette, Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes, Amy Sherman of Cooking with Amy, Jayden Hair of Steamy Kitchen, and many others. It was inspirational and informative. I learned a lot and came back energized to finally make that big change… take the step to make writing a more integral part of my life… whatever that means (I know but I don’t know but I do know, you know?).
But more than any of these things, my greatest experience was the camaraderie. There were about one hundred food bloggers at this conference and I met maybe half I think (which for a wallflower like me is a big accomplishment). And everyone I met was warm and friendly and fun. “Food people are fun people” (I think it was Elise who said something like that during one of the sessions and she is totally right). I made new friends and connections. This group of amazing people who happen to also be food bloggers… well, this is my greatest souvenir from the ifbc and so that is what I want most to share with you…
Not without salt * Little Brown Girl 2.0 * The Recipe Girl * The Daily Spud * Passion for Eating * The Well-Tempered Chocolatier * Plumpest Peach * Simply… Gluten-free * Wild Yeast * Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy * Not Martha * inuyaki.com * Fork This * Wasabimon! * Hedonia * Supergirl … and so many others (check out the blog roll for ifbc for more great blogs!)
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. Excellent, excellent book. And she’ll be speaking at the conference. I totally have a crush on her writing and hope not to make a complete fool of myself if I do get a chance to speak to her.
