Gratitude, “Your palate is your own,” and “To hell with SEO!”: An IFBC recap

My last post was sheer reaction. It had to be said. If you’re reading this and were at WBC 14…well, you’ll get it when I say that post was my “print writers” response. That being said…

First off, I want to say thank you to the crew at Foodista and Zephyr for busting their asses all weekend and putting on yet another stellar conference. While some failed to make the most of the weekend, I made some fantastic connections with those who I mentioned in this post, plus new folks like Chefs Perry & Chris from Haute Mealz (Chris also has his own blog: cook good. write bad.), Renee from The Good Hearted Woman, Sarah from Gazing In and new winery and distillery folks, such as Lachini Vineyards and Grapeworks Distillery in Woodinville.

The additions to my collection from my Woodinville excursion.
The additions to my collection from my Woodinville excursion.

One of the best sessions that I went to was the Wines of Bordeaux. Okay, okay…maaaaaaaaaaaaybe it’s because they had bubbles waiting for us as we walked in. But honestly, this was definitely one of the best sessions. The 2011 Château Sainte-Marie Réserve Entre-Deux-Mers (Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon/Muscadelle blend) is a *KILLER* deal at $15.

While in the tasting, the woman sitting next to me kept saying that she wasn’t getting any of the aromas & flavors that others were getting in the wine. I turned to her and said, “Your palate is your own. If you’re getting something different, then that’s completely okay.” And it’s true. When you’re tasting wine, don’t worry about the tasting notes. What do *you* taste? What do *you* think of the wine?

The other best session that I went to was recipe development with Shauna James Ahern of Gluten Free Girl. My biggest takeaways from this session weren’t the tips on recipe development. They were actually more of what drives people to sites. The three best quotes are as follows:

Community

Hell with SEO

Inspires

All of these are reminders that all of us bloggers need to sometimes sit back, remember why we started, where we’re currently at and strive to make sure we’re reminded why we’re blogging…to keep making our passion an extension of ourselves.

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