**Nat'l What's Cooking Nestie GTG: 2010!**

joelen&louis

Hi Ladies - I'm fairly new to the Bump since we're expecting our first in a few months. However I am a regular on The Nest.

A few years ago, we were successful with a Nat'l What's Cooking Nestie Board GTG back in 2007 where WC nesties from 7-8 states came out to Chicago for a weekend. We all got together and I coordinated a few events for us. You can view pics and read about our GTG here:

Day 1: Chicago Dinner
Day 2: Pizza & Chocolate Tour
Day 3: Chinatown DimSum Brunch

Well the What's Cooking Board Nesties are up for another Nat'l GTG here in Chicago once again. There's quite a few planning on flying/driving out in addition to the many Nesties who love to cook and bake that reside in the Chicagoland area. So if you're into cooking or baking, or even just starting to learn, come and check us out on the What's Cooking Nestie Board!

Right now, we're determining on a weekend sometime this fall. If you're interested in joining us, you can cast your vote on a date HERE.

Being that I've hosted the National What's Cooking Nesties GTG previously, I'm more than willing to help coordinate activities that we can do together as well as possibly get a few culinary hook ups around the city for folks to partake in on their own time. When I hosted last time, we welcomed all DH's and significant others. I'm guessing the same is true for this year where all DH/SO and even babies/kiddies are welcome too.

Back in 2007 I coordinated events from Fri - Sun... all of them are optional and everyone just attended/participated whatever events they wanted or could make.

So far, I've seen interest in doing our pizza and a chocolate tour.

I can also put together itineraries of other culinary tours in various neighborhoods for those who want to venture out to see the city - not just the touristy (overpriced) places. My assistant organizers of What's Cookin, Chicago would be thrilled to be your personal tour guides and share their foodie tips and some local 'secrets' about places around town. To check out some culinary tours we've done in the past few years, see this LINK.

For those that want to get together and actually cook in a kitchen, I can access a commercial kitchen for us to use and host a potluck. Another idea is a personal culinary cooking class taught by some chefs I know.

Do you have any other ideas of what you would like to see/do?

If you plan on attending and would like to help plan the GTG with me, please shoot me a PM or send me an email at itsjoelen@gmail.com.

And if you're a hardcore foodie like me, I encourage you to check out my culinary group here in the city, What's Cookin Chicago. We're a fun group of nearly 1,600 Chicagoland foodies that get together quite often. We host quite a few culinary events every month - everything from wine events, varous food tastings, food swaps, themed potlucks, neighborhood culinary tours, culinary lecture events, hands on cooking/baking events, community service with local soup kitchens, etc.