So where was I?<\/p>\n
We attended Food Blog Forum<\/a> last weekend, courtesy of lovely sponsors: Walt Disney World<\/a>, Kitchen Aid<\/a>, Oxo<\/a>, Le Creuset<\/a>, Whole Foods<\/a>, Land O’Lakes<\/a>\u00a0and many more!<\/p>\n When I said “we”, well<\/em>, the Husband got to explore Disney theme parks while I studied. Win some, lose some \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n <\/p>\n with Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen. Squeal!!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Not only did I learnt so much, but I finally met so many wonderful people in real life! That my friend, is worth sacrificing the visit to Animal Kingdom (yeah, the Husband played all day.)<\/p>\n The forum begins with a welcome reception at Grand Floridian Resort. Like many others whom might not be able to willingly admit, I was quite intimidated. Not with the settings, but meeting so many friends that I know would be as wonderful in real life. With constant communication over Blog, Twitter, Facebook etc, you’d think meeting in real life would be easy.<\/p>\n Mmmm.. yeah, it kinda makes sense. We all came together with the same purpose: The love for food and photography. Sharing common interests definitely made it easier to mingle.<\/p>\n Of course, yummy spreads of foods definitely helped ease into conversations \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n We chatted, hugged it out and laughed all while stuffing ourselves silly with\u00a0scrumptious\u00a0foods. Disney definitely has my vote as the best event organizer ever! There were jumbo shrimp cocktails, cake pops, creme brulee, fancy salads and macarons.<\/p>\n Oh macarons. I was so busy sampling and totally forgot to take photos.<\/p>\n with Emily of Sage Recipes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n You’d think that with all the appetizers at welcome reception, we’d skip dinner. No way! The Husband, Emily<\/a> and I hopped on a bus to make our way towards Downtown Disney for dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express.<\/p>\n Again, there’s no photo because we were busy eating. We thought Emily would enjoy getting on a boat ride, and we did that before heading back to the hotel to crash hard for an early morning alarm.<\/p>\n with Angie of Bakerella. OMG!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Day 2 started bright and early at Epcot — which by the way, it’s the best place to host a food forum. Only regret is I didn’t get to stumble into Mickey or Minnie before hand.<\/p>\n But I did get a chance to mingle with Angie from Bakerella<\/a>, aka Queen of Cake Pops, aka the most down to earth, friendly and kind friend \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Scott Hair welcomed everyone to the forum with much enthusiasm and sense of humor, it’s kinda infectious. We were told to get on our feet and utilize our speed dating skills to go say “hi” to the next person on the floor. It was hilarity at it’s finest.<\/p>\n I grabbed at the chance to go and say hello and hugged it out with\u00a0Merry<\/a>\u00a0&\u00a0Lauren<\/a>. Wish we had more time to play catch up!<\/p>\n Scott and Jaden<\/a>\u00a0are truly a match made in social media heaven. Their words of wisdom definitely\u00a0resonates\u00a0through the blogging world. The most cherished advice from them:<\/p>\n “be a dreamer and a supporter. Help someone else live their dreams.”<\/em><\/p>\n “someone helped me a few years ago, and its my turn now to extend help.”<\/em><\/p>\n So inspiring and humbling!<\/p>\n Anyways, the first topic was Food Styling & Photography by Todd & Diane Porter of <\/span>White & Rice Couple<\/a>. I love them for they’d taught me:<\/span><\/p>\n I LOVED this session too much, that I shed a lot of tear. It was emotional and I’m happy the speakers truly connected with the audience.<\/p>\n The following topic was PR perspectives, and the speakers were brand\u00a0ambassadors\u00a0from Kitchen Aid, Oxo, Disney and Jaden publisher of Steamy Kitchen. I learnt that:<\/p>\n There were many breaks in between as well, and whole lotta giveaways graciously sponsored by event organizers.<\/p>\n with Rachel of Kitchen Aid<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The next speaker was David Leite<\/a> on how to write a bigger, better and more badass food posts. I’d learnt that:<\/p>\n Phew! That’s a long list and it proves without a doubt, David definitely fits into the “blogging guru” category.<\/p>\n Grishma of ZaikaZabardast<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I’ve known Dawn Viola<\/a> through Facebook and the blogging world for a while now, and had the pleasure of hugging it out and listening to her speaking on how to turn blogging into professional writing. Here’s what I’ve learnt:<\/p>\n Dawn is such a great story-teller & speaker. She is so bubbly in person and I am so glad to have met her. Best thing, we live in Central Florida so this wouldn’t be the last time we mingle, for sure \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n Luncheon reception at Epcot Disney -- appetizers and main course<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Before we knew it, lunch time loomed and we were whisked by Disney cast members into a huge lunch reception that was bedazzling. I almost pinched myself, it was that surreal. Everything was super classy and I am sure it was beyond the event organizer’s expectations as well. We were gobsmacked by the arrangements and Disney’s hospitality. From the setting, to array of amazing foods and the opportunity to speak to the foodies from Disney (chef, sous chefs etc), it was definitely a foodie’s dream that came true!<\/p>\n Todd Porter, me & Diane Cu of WhiteOnRiceCouple<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The only thing I would mention about desserts? IT WAS PHENOMENAL!<\/p>\n Luncheon reception at Epcot Disney -- array of desserts!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n After returning from lunch, we headed into round-table discussions where I watched a food photography demo, learnt all about copyright from talented Elise<\/a>, discussed PR pitch with Jaden and publication with Angie & Alison<\/a>.<\/p>\n As soon as the event wrapped up, I headed back to the hotel for some relaxation before heading back out to watch Illuminations at Epcot. We had a front row reserved with desserts in tow.<\/p>\n Disney did it once again, with so much style!<\/p>\n Whole Foods were gracious to host our farewell brunch the next morning. With great foods, natural lighting (for photos, of course) and heavy hearts, I bid goodbye to many friends sharing the same passion: my love for food + photography.<\/p>\n with Jenny of Picky Palate<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I’m sure I didn’t get a chance to speak or take a photo with each and every one at the forum. But the ones that I met, touched me beyond words of encouragement and I cannot be more grateful to the event organizers and sponsors for realizing this event.<\/p>\n Whole Foods brunch!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Thank you so much to Jaden & Scott<\/a>, Julie<\/a>, Dawn<\/a>, Walt Disney World<\/a> and all\u00a0event sponsors for making this a truly foodie extravaganza event!<\/p>\n The best part about the whole experience was absolutely learning<\/em>. There’s no age to keep learning from each other. I’ve soaked it all and now its time to reboot, recharge and take this blog of mine to another level.<\/p>\n Hope you are having a great weekend — what is your words of encouragement or wisdom? Have you attended a food blogging conference or event that had a positive impact on you?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wow, where do I start?!? Firstly, I apologize for the lateness in publishing a post yesterday — a stiff neck and shoulder pain is the culprit. I can’t sit too long in front of the computer to blog. So if you think I am ignoring your emails etc, sorry, and I blame it all on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[115],"tags":[300,299,297,296,298,301],"class_list":["post-2716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","tag-fbforl","tag-conference","tag-disney","tag-food-blog-forum","tag-food-blogging","tag-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/kirantarun.com\/food\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/DSC_0254.jpg\" "\\"DSC_0254\\"")
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