The Inspiration of IFBC and swag bag giveaway.

*Giveaway announcement at the end of the post.*

Our favorite Top Chef master, James Oseland keynote speaker at IFBC. All photos by Brendan.

Do you see this post here? I wrote it in about 15 minutes. My fastest blog post ever. My journalism instincts kicked in and I went into full-on reporter mode for this blog entry whiling attending the IFBC conference in Seattle last weekend. Even when I was gathering notes at the food carts (we were asked to blog about our favorite Seattle food cart during a lunch contest) I knew I was probably gathering waaay more info than an average blogger. What does Skillet seasoned their burgers with? (Salt and pepper.) What kind of bread do they use? (Brioche.) What’s this creamy, sharp tasting cheese in this burger? (Cambozola.) Why do I want to put another one in my mouth? (Because it’s so darn tasty.)

All of my questioning and speed blog writing won me a delicious Theo dark chocolate bar and the cookbook, My Nepenthe by Romney Steele. Brendan and I have actually been up to the Nepenthe restaurant in Big Sur years ago while on our honeymoon. We didn’t get a chance to eat there, but did admire the beautiful view. It’s gorgeous.

Hey book club. Molly Wizenberg really as friendly as she seems in her book.

More than the tangible prize, I was just thrilled to know that Molly Wizenberg, Kathleen Flinn and photographer Penny De Los Santos were the judges for this contest. You see, I have works from all three of these professionals in my bookshelves. I’ve read Molly’s A Homemade Life for my book club. I have made her “Winning-Hearts-and-Minds” chocolate cake about a hundred times. Kathleen Flinn’s memoir The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry kept me company on a long flight to London and had me dreaming of going to cooking school in France.  Most recently, Brendan bought me Andrea Nguyen’s Asian Dumpling cookbook for mother’s day, and I have been drooling over Penny’s photos ever since (and the recipes are so hands down good).

For me, as a first time blog conference goer, this was what my IFBC experience was all about. Meeting people in the food community and being totally inspired. I met authors, print professionals, recipe writers and uber-famous bloggers. I mean, I live in Utah people. When do I get a chance to sit next to Lael Hazan during dinner?

I'm such a fan of Fr. Leo's Asian inspired fajitas.

I met Fr. Leo (you may know him for his appearance in Throwdown with Bobby Flay and yes, the priest beat the celebrity) at Friday night’s opening party. We talked about his message about strengthening families by sharing food. My heart warmed knowing we share the same passion. He was nice enough to mention Brendan and me on his blog too.

This book is gluten-free and looks delicious!

Shauna James Ahern from Gluten-Free Girl brought one of her two existing new cookbooks, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef to the conference. She was kind enough to let me flip through the pages of her beautiful book, and her presentation Sunday morning made it worth arriving early that day. (Okay, the Top Pot doughnuts also helped.)

Dianne Jacobs + me.

But the highlight of my conference? Meeting Dianne Jacobs. Her book Will Write for Food was the first foodie book I bought and I ate it up in the course of a couple of days. I loved it so much, I bought the second edition at the conference. I was motivated by her recipe writing panel on Saturday (with Amy Sherman and Kristen Kidd) and thought hearing from them was a great way to kick off the next two days of speakers.

I like Dianne because she hits the hard topics without being afraid to be controversial, (Take a look at her blog. She’s already written a couple of post about IFBC so far. This one is about blogging for love, and she also continues the heated debate about giving recipes away for free.) While she can be blunt, Dianne is also approachable and kind. When I found out she has some Chinese in her, I had an a-ha moment. Like, “Oh. So that’s why you’re so no nonsense. You remind me of my to-the-point Asian aunties.”

One cannot live on inspiration alone, though. As much motivation as IFBC gave me, I know I need follow up with some thoughts I had during the conference. So, expect to see me blogging much, much more. I have a new feature I’m excited to try out, and guess what? I’m evening hosting my first giveaway!

Since Brendan came to the conference with me, we doubled up on goodies from our swag bag. Needless to say, I have much more swag than I need. I’ll post tomorrow what we’re sending away, and you’ll have a few days to leave a comment. Doing a giveaway was a tip Dianne mentioned in her book as a way to build traffic, and heavens knows I need it.

Thanks to all those who made IFBC possible. I was completely inspired. Now it’s time to get my blogging butt into gear.