Will Work for Food

I am not a fan of long meetings and my job requires long meetings every once in a while. The one upside that always exists, even in the worst meetings, is the food. There will always be food. So when I received an invitation to attend a 5 hour professional development and networking meeting, I realized it was during “dinner hours” and immediately RSVP’d. This turned out to be a great idea. The meeting itself turned out to be very interesting and the spread afterwards was nothing short of TASTY!

I fixed a plate of hors d’oeuvres and sat down with a couple of coworkers to discuss the yummy fare…Clockwise from top right:

• Olive and Roasted Tomato Tapenade with Wasa Crisps
• Carrot sticks with Spinach Ranch dressing (I’m a fan of carrots)
• Brie and Raspberry En Croute (this was REALLY tasty!)
• Chipotle Roasted Shrimp w/ Pico de Gallo Brunoise on Polenta Croutons (I loved the polenta crouton, that was a great idea)
• Tuscan Chicken Fontina Bites (these were sooo awesome!)
• Shepards Pie (center – I used to hear about this dish back in my Minnesota but never tried it for myself… don’t think I’ll be sad if I never try it again)

I didn’t grad a pic of the Petit Fours but there were at least 12 to chose from. I really enjoyed the mini mango-iced cookie sandwich with apricot filling. All in all, throw in unlimited beer and wine and I left feeling more connected with my coworkers and pretty satisfied with the food!

This is what my plate looked like at the end… (I don’t like olives and the shepards pie was a little…. scary?)



All in all, it was a great event, hosted at the Hyatt Lodge Hotel in Illinois. You can bet your dinner, I’ll be back there for more meetings and food!
#Chicago