Food Wine Conference 2015 Recap

Three weeks ago I attended the Food and Wine Conference 2015 in Orlando. It was a great weekend filled with food, wine, and plenty of good company. It was held at The Rosen Shingle Creek Resort. As you can see by the view from my window, it was a beautiful place.

This whole weekend was made possible by Isabel from Family Foodie and Sunday Supper.  She organizes the conference and does an unbelievable job. There is also the help of lots of others, especially the whole Sunday Supper community. I can't thank everyone enough!

I saw some old friends, made some new friends and learned a lot. But then it came time to write about it and my brain went into  overload. Every time I started to write, too much information came to my head. It was so hard deciding on what to say without writing a long book.  So here I am over three weeks later. I  have decided to share my favorite tidbits and photos but will also give you links to lots of other blogger recaps so you can hear about everyone's experience.

The Food and Wine conference 2015 started late Friday afternoon but before it even began I had plans with eight other bloggers to head to a new restaurant in Kissimmee, Florida. Shubee's Coastal Grill and Bar had just opened up and we were treated to a fabulous lunch. We tried some appetizers and I had some of their famous crab cakes. The crab and spinach dip was hands down the best I've ever had. If you are ever in the area, I recommend that you go to Shubee's.

It was a great lunch with great company. I was able to meet some really nice people before the event even started.

The event began with registration and a chance to make your own sugar scrub hosted by Dixie Crystals. I chose the creamsicle scrub and it smelled just heavenly. After that there was a cocktail hour with strawberry shortcake cocktails and plenty of chocolate. What's not to love here?

That night we had a station style dinner where we were able to try food from all of the restaurants at the resort. The food was great and the room was beautiful! Here is the view from up above.

The next day there was lots of great speakers and learning sessions. We were all very well fed with snacks provided by Cabot Creamery, Parkesdale Farms, The Georgia Peach Commission,  and Pacari Chocolate.

One of my favorite parts of the conference was the "Sunday Supper" style dinner on Saturday night. The dinner, hosted by Certified Angus Beef and Hess Collection Wines was delicious and served family style; there was lots of mingling and I sat next to two fellow bloggers,  Marlene from Nosh My Way and Wendy from The Weekend Gourmet. I spent much of my time over the weekend with them and it was like hanging out with two life long girl friends. This was the first time I met Marlene and Wendy I knew from one other food blogger weekend but we were like old friends chatting away.

The fun did not end on Saturday night as Sunday there was another full day. It started off with a beautiful brunch hosted by Duda Farms.  It was another day of learning, meeting brand sponsors and mingling with other bloggers.

I can't say enough good things about this conference. What stays in my mind most is the kindness of Isabel and the Sunday Supper community. Food bloggers are such kind, generous souls and kindness was the vibe I felt at this conference.

Thanks again to all the terrific sponsors that helped make this an awesome weekend! Do yourself a favor and try to get to this food blogger conference next year. I know you will love the weekend as much as I did!

For some other bloggers perspectives, take a peek at these recaps. I will constantly be adding more as I get the links.

Nosh My Way

The Weekend Gourmet

Mid- Atlantic Foodie

KC in the Kitchen

Crazy Foodie Stunts

Famous Ashley Grant

Kimchi Mom

Cupcakes and Kale Chips