ICES09 - Day Five

Alright, it is time to hang up my bright pink ”First Timers” badge and head on home. This was a great experience and it will be cool to try out my new skills and tricks in my own kitchen. Never mind my bag of new toys, shiny and new, begging to be used! So, in review I ask myself:

• Was the schedule exhausting? Yes. (a rookie error to do too much)
• Was my luggage pushed to its limits with new equipment, catalogs, and samples? Yes.
• Was my extroverted nature saturated with new friends from all over the county, as well as new international friends? Yes.
• Was my notebook continually full of new ideas, suggestions, recipes, contacts, and resources? Yes.
• Was it enough to drive some attendees to require copious amounts of Xanex? Yes.

But in the end it exceeded my expectations by setting my mind churning with new ideas and inspirations. I hope to return to San Diego in 2010 and/or Charlotte in 2011, but I know I will see many of these folks at cake shows and competitions before them.

Since so much of the ICES experience is about sharing creativity I am going to close out by posting photos from the Magnificent Mile  Art Showcase (aka the cake room). I don’t have a reliable list of who brought which cake, but they are from all 50 states and several other countries.

Cake room