Dreaming of Bleeding Turnips and Travel Faeries

I've been enjoying my constant and steady exploration into the world of professional cooking, I am not quite there yet, but I am slowly building a foundation, which I'm thrilled about. I've got some volunteer bakery work lined up, I study and research daily on all things related to food, and I am constantly looking for opportunities to grow and learn, especially if they are hands-on.

Culinary school will have to wait, and I am OK with that. It will happen in time.

One thing I vowed to do not long ago was to look into attending food events, venues, and conferences, as often as I could afford it. I have yet to attend one and in the meantime, I am like a wide-eyed, mad cat at the window, trapped in the house, going crazy looking at all of the plump, fat mice scurrying around on the sidewalk that I can only dream of catching.

Crazy metaphor, but it describes my intense desire to get out and weave an exciting web of culinary travel experiences. There's so much going on, in and around my city and on the west coast of the states. I'd like to go beyond these boundaries, but that's more expensive. Culinary travel is the best way to learn and become seasoned (pun intended) in the world of food and drink!

My problem is that I have limited and tight finances, as of late. Yeah, I am one of millions of victims of this shoddy economic downturn. My mom often likes to say, "You can't get blood from a turnip," when an option is not possible, at the moment. It's kind of a freaky saying because odd visuals of mysterious blood leaking from the surface skin of turnips come to mind. Either that, or I begin to imagine a strange vegetarian vampire sinking his or her sharp, fang-like teeth into the firm, hard, dirt-speckled, earthy body of a freshly pulled turnip, only to be disappointed that there's absolutely NO blood contained in the dang thing to draw out!

*Shudders*

However, I find myself liking the saying. I know...it's a sick, sad world.

There's a fantastic event coming up that I am aching to get to. I just have to prepare the proper amount of finances to attend. There's airfare, hotel expense, spending cash, and a registration fee to consider.

The event is called The International Food Blogger Conference.


Foodista and Zephyr Adventures co-host the event and it's held in Seattle. This looks to be, I assume, their 2nd annual event. I noted an archive from 2009, but nothing archived before last year.

It costs 350 dollars to register and it's a fully-packed, 3-day conference. Authors, magazine editors, publishing companies, food bloggers and writers, lots of fellow foodies, an insane amount of food and dessert, and a horde of panel speakers and guests will all be there. Oh-em-gee!

I found a YouTube video for last year's event.



Looking at this video made me even more eager to attend. I am just concerned about being able to register in time so that I can attend before all spots are sold out. Since the event is in August (late August that is), if I'm able to register, I'll worry about the rest of the finances later, as there's time to prepare. Better to get a spot in, if possible, than to lose out on the opportunity completely. There's always next year, but I can't wait!

Attending this event would be my first, and it would be a great foray into making connections in the food and food writing industry. Along with growing as an aspiring pastry chef, I want to seriously establish myself as a food writer. 

The travel faery must come through for me. I'm so counting on it.