Best at Taste of Chicago

Went to Taste today at lunch. Best thing I had today was breaded beef
sandwich at Ricobene's. Had Taste portion for four tickets and still
good quantity. Beef on steak from an Asian food booth (Star of Siam?)
was also delish. Liked fried ravioli with marinara sauce but can't
remember name of booth.

Worst was beignet at booth that also sold chicken and waffles. Thought
it was greasy and overcoated with confectioner's sugar.

Zantac at Taste of Chicago

Zantac offered an eating contest, a cooling station (pictured here),
free photos and samples.

BlogHer Conference

I wish I was going to BlogHer '10, the best known conference for women
bloggers. I went last year to the Expo portion and loved it.

Getting to meet other women bloggers, the energy in the halls as women
share ideas and get inspired, the chance to talk directly to brand
managers and PR/marketing folks. It was great seeing the diversity of
bloggers and their interests - from mommy bloggers to product reviews
to postpartum depression to cloth diapers.

The photo shows the free stuff that I picked up at the Expo and at the
Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge. The lucky few who arrived at the Swiffer
SocialLuxe Lounge party got a huge gift bag that contained a Kodak
mini videocamera and Crocs among other things. I was envious of the
women who got the beautiful and loaded gift bags - it was the best
gift bag I've ever seen in my life. You know from my other posts that
I've gotten a lot of gift bags in my time.

The 6th annual conference will be held August 6-7 at the Hilton New
York in New York City. It was held in Chicago last July.

Taste of Chicago

Taste of Chicago starts today at 11am. Yum, yum. Chef Mario Batali
will be doing cooking demo at 1pm today while Giada De Lautentis cooks
on July 1 at 3pm. Think Salt n Pepa are playing tonight.

Jimmy Bannos at noon today. Ina Pinkney of Ina's at 3pm tomorrow -
think I saw at the Restaurant Show.

America's Beauty Show Samples

Here are the samples from March's America's Beauty Show and Face &
Body Midwest held at Chicago's McCormick Place.

Will be Speaking at Cosmoprof North America

I am scheduled to speak about the state of the US beauty industry at Cosmoprof North America to be held July 18–20, 2010 in Las Vegas. Joining me on the “Look Back, Look Ahead, Look Within” panel are Alisa Marie Beyer (founder and creative director of The Benchmarking Company), Brian Luborsky (chairman/CEO of Premier Salons), and moderator Jeff Falk (senior editor of GCI magazine). More info at http://www.cosmoprofnorthamerica.com/visitors/Education.aspx

Natural and Organic Personal Care Products

I spoke about natural and organic personal care products in this videocast from last summer.

Recession's Impact on US Beauty Market

I just learned how to embed a YouTube video into my blog (so easy, just copy & paste) so am reposting about my April videocast on how the recession has impacted the US Beauty and Personal Care industry.

Evian Roller Babies International Version

I recently discovered this cute Evian Roller Babies video while reading a post about "How to Make a Hit Viral Video" on Google's CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) blog - http://google-cpg.blogspot.com/. Have read some interesting posts, especially on marketing to moms, on that blog.

Ambassador Organics

I'm here with Ambassador Carol Mosely Braun at the Restaurant Show.
After serving as a United States Senator and the Ambassador to New
Zealand, Braun founded Good Food Organics in 2005.

The company sells coffees, spices and teas that are organic,
biodynamic, and fair trade. Egyptian hibiscus tea was sampled at the
show.

Braun was also scheduled to speak at the Chicago Green Festival where
the company also had a booth.

Nutella & Door County

At the Nutella booth at the Restaurant Show I enjoyed the crepes with
Nutella and mixed berries. They were prepared by these folks from Door
County's Mr. Helsinki Restaurant & Wine Bar.

My husband and I have spent several wonderful summers in Door County
(usually staying at the Eagle Harbor Inn in Ephraim). So we've walked
by Mr. Helsinki but hadn't eaten there. Next time we go to Door County
(sometimes called the Cape Cod of the
Midwest), I'd like to try their lemongrass crabcakes, Death's Door
Chicken crepe, and bananas foster crepe.

VnC Cocktails

VnC Cocktails had a booth at the New Zealand pavillion at the
Restaurant Show. Think this is founder-director Shane McKillen serving
the ready to pour cocktails including margarita and pacific breeze
varieties.

Return to Blogging

I haven't blogged in about three weeks due to work deadlines and
having a cold. Feeling good now. Here's me with Michelin Man at the
Restaurant Show.

Ghirardelli Treats

Here's RoseMarie Carvallo of Rose Petals Cakery who made delicious
chocolate cupcakes and truffles (including sea salt variety) with
Ghirardelli chocolate for the Ghirardelli booth at the Restaurant Show.

I had recoginized her name because she had baked the chocolate chip
cookies for the Laura Numeroff (When You Feed a Mouse a Cookie)I
author event at Anderson's Bookshop.

Sweet Street Desserts

This is probably my favorite booth at the National Restaurant
Association Show. Loved their chocolate cake.