Kenmore Fall Blogger Summit 2012 Part 2

As some of you may remember, my Part 1 post was kind of the last part of my Kenmore Experience in Chicago.  It was the story of how I won the French Door Refrigerator :)  You can read all about it here. 

This post will be Part 2/3 posts :)

♪♫Let's start at the very beginning......♪♫ (Sorry, it's the musician in me!)

It all started with yet another eventful flight.  My first flight was actually on the run way (again,) then cancelled when they didn't have the part to fix the aircraft in Detroit.  Honestly, I'm happy I wasn't on that plane.  I'm a true believer in things happening for a reason!  I did make it onto the very next flight out, by the grace of God, and made it to Chicago about an hour and a half after I was originally supposed to land.  The Kenmore representatives were there to greet me and graciously agreed to claim my luggage for me when it finally arrived (3 hours later) so I could go to the hotel!

We stayed at Hotel Felix, which was only 3 blocks from the Kenmore Craftsman Brand Live Experience Studio.  My room was beautiful and insanely comfortable!

 Kenmore provided each of us with a lovely goodie bag!  That popcorn didn't last long, just sayin'.....

The lobby even had a wonderful sign to greet us!

I spent Friday afternoon touring Chicago with my good friend, Kyle.  We met during our run as "Hero" and "Philia" in "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To the Forum" in 2007.  We stopped at Orange for a delicious lunch and some Fruishi.

I don't know the names of the rest of the places we went, but we sure did have fun wandering around Chicago! I'm pretty sure we walked about 12 miles.....and it felt marvelous!

 I do remember "The Bean." ;)  We had some fun taking pictures there.....along with the rest of Chicago!

Friday evening, Kemore hosted a reception right at the Kenmore Craftsman Brand Live Experience.  The first thing I found was this lovely slow cooker.....

We mingled while we watched chef, Jeremy Levin prepare our 4-course dinner.  It was amazing to watch the careful plating.

Here was our menu for the night.  Pretty fancy, huh?!

I've never met a brussel sprout I liked until I ate this! First course: Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Delicata Squash, King Trumpet Mushrooms & Eggplant Puree.

Second Course: Wild Rice & Smoked Trout Francini, Chamed Watercress and Salsa Verde

This dish contained the best tomatoes I've ever tasted in my life!!!  I always save the best bite for last!

Third Course: Confit Hangar Steak, Kohlrabi Gratin with Arugala Chimichuri

Fourth Course: Grilled Apples & Sweet Potato Bread Pudding with Milk Caramel & Basil Cream

After our lovely dinner, Kenmore got right to "business!"  They chose 5 team captains for the next days' activities based on the most creative and recipes with the best "stories" we submitted to cookmore.com.  I was the last Team Captain they called!  I won that spot with this recipe for my Decadent Sweet Potato Casserole. Here's a photo of Kari Karch (Kenmore's in-house chef) announcing me as the final Team Captain!

This photo courtesy of Kenmore

We then had a taste test among captains.  We had to taste the Chimichuri sauce from the 3rd course and name as many ingredients as we could.  Here's me tasting the sauce....

This photo courtesy of Kenmore

Guess what?!  I guessed the MOST ingredients!  I WON!!!!  My advantage for winning?  I got to pick 2 teammates before anyone else!  We went around the room and each person gave a little info on what their blog was all about.  I ended up with an extraordinary team of women!  

From left to right.....

http://kirantarun.com/

Whit of Whit's Amuse Bouche, Kelly of 3 Boys and a Dog.com, Kiran of Kirantarun.com, Vianney of Sweet Life and Janice of Celebrating Family

These are all blogs you're going to want to follow!  I've never met a more fun, intelligent, awesome group of women!  We really were the "dream team!"  We deemed ourselves, "Team Hope!"  (That was an accident really.  LOL

This photo courtesy of Kiran Srivastava

After all the excitement, my new teammates and I walked back to Hotel Felix together.  We decided to meet bright and early the next morning for breakfast!  That was when I told my teammates I was going to win the refrigerator.  They laughed.  I'm pretty sure they thought I was crazy!  Hee hee!  Sometimes it's all about the mindset!  ;)

To be continued.......