Let's eat!

Food, food, food.

As we sat down for lunch, Cori and I realized we hadn't told or shown you any of the food we're enjoying. Our conferences always have good food.

Lunch today was sponsored by the Idaho Potato Commission. So we ate squash, right? Nope, a potato bar.

We also had a wonderful guest chef share tips for cooking Idaho spuds complete with a demonstration and free autographed copies of his newest cookbook. Both Cori and I took pics, and we'll load them later so you can see.

Thursday night's meal was a good old Western barbecue. It was "mixed grill," so we had pork spareribs, chicken and carved beef, along with spicy corn, yummy baked beans and strawberry shortcake for dessert. The salads on the buffet included the same Greek salad we had for lunch -- black olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, arthichoke hearts and feta cheese in a Greek viniagrette. I love that salad.

The Shilo Inn, our conference hotel, prepared well for Thursday's lunch. The conference technically hadn't started, so no meals were planned. The hotel offered a buffet of lasagna, meatballs and chicken teriyaki... along with those great salads.

Remember, I had lunch with delegates from Colorado, Nebraska and Missouri? Well, Jan Denham of Missouri told the hotel we had a group that wanted to eat together, so they pulled some tables for us... in a separate little dining room. They were so accomodating on really short notice.

In fact, Teri Ehresman and Cathy Koon, co-conference chairs, have done a super job planning this shindig. Kitty Fleischman was in charge of sponsorships and fundraising, and Peggy Parks is conference treasurer and was in charge of pre-tours. They're all members of Media Network Idaho and collectively known as the Fearsome Four.

Anyone who's tried to plan a one-day state conference (Jenni, Becky, Carl, Jill?) have a small idea of what they've gone through. They've done a great job.

Well, I'm off to dress to the nines for the COA banquet. We'll let you know who earned the 2008 national honor.