Mood:  celebratory

I'm so thrilled--I've decided to go to the IACP conference in New Orleans in April!!! Definitely cannot afford it but it seems worth it in terms of knowledge gained, contacts made, etc. And interesting, fascinating and fun. It doesn't look like I'll have a lot of time to soak in NOLA ambiance, as about 20 hours a day are scheduled for the four days I'm there, but it promises to be a wonderful experience. Emeril's gala is just too expensive for me, but I'll see scholar Jessica B. Harris, of whom I'm a big fan, and agent and media trainer Lisa Ekus, kind and good food writer John T. Edge (he wrote me a nice letter a couple years ago), and Mai Pham, who wrote Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table, one of the all-time best books on Vietnam and its food.

And my  new friend Jessica Bard is going to the conference, too. Jessica is a way cool, sociable, delightful, and very talented chef, teacher, food writer and stylist for Fine Cooking and other magazines who just happens to live nearby. After a brief e-mail correspondence we finally met and had lunch together on Tuesday, it was a real treat to meet her.