Thanks to General Mills and Coyne PR, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Minneapolis to attend the General Mills Eat & Greet with 50 other bloggers. I can’t put into words what a fabulous time I had, and I learned so much. It was an invaluable experience. All the bloggers were spoiled throughout the trip with gifts and top notch treatment. Check out the sign above. There were tons of signs like that all throughout the General Mills facilities, and it made all of us feel quite special! One of my favorite parts of the event was meeting new people. I would have to say that meeting HungryGirl was one of the highlights of my trip!! She was hanging out in the photography studios working on her food photos.

I also had the chance to meet the Trix Rabbit and Lucky the Leprechaun. The two other lovely ladies in the photo are Jenny from Picky Palate and Angie from Bakerella. I am so lucky to have met these amazing ladies. I spent the day with them as we toured the facilities, and we had a blast. It wouldn’t have been the same without them.

Part of the tour of the General Mills facilities included a trip to the photography studios. I could have stayed in the studios for hours just watching the photographers and food designers work their magic.

These awesome pictures lined the hallway leading to the studios. Every picture involved a General Mills food product.

A chess set made with Chex

A purse made from Fruit Roll-ups

A charm bracelet with Lucky Charms marshmallows and a Cheerios nose ring

Before going into the photo studios, we took a peek in the prop room. I was so jealous! I would be in heaven if I had this many choices of dishes, bowls, glasses, and pans to choose from when plating my food for pictures.

These dishes were ready and waiting to appear in front of the camera.

On to the photo studios next! Check out this amazing camera. I wouldn’t mind having one of those!

The photo studios were amazing! I would love to have a job there!

Here is some pasta getting ready for a moment in the spotlight. I was amazed at all the tools used to make the food look just right for the photos. The food stylists use some interesting tools including glass cleaner, tweezers, q-tips, paint brushes, bamboo skewers, spray bottles, and eye droppers.

The photography group took time to give us hints on how to work with color schemes, lighting, and food styling when taking pictures for our blogs. Jenny, Angie, and I were lucky enough to spend some time with the photography group. Their jobs sound fascinating and fun. They told us stories of having to get pictures just right to represent the food accurately. For example, when a chocolate chip cookie picture is taken, it can’t have too many or too few chocolate chips. It has to be an accurate representation of what the consumer will get. A chocolate chip cookie picture could be the result of a full day’s work and a batch of 100+ cookies. They also told a story of having to dig through a large bag of Lucky Charm marshmallows to find 6 “perfect” rainbow marshmallows.

The photography group spoiled us by giving us a bag of goodies including a pot pie recipe book, a fill card for our food photos, a food photography tip book, and stationary with General Mills food photography.  General Mills supplied all the bloggers with Flip video camcorders, so I was able to video some of the tips shared by the food stylist! Enjoy!

Come back tomorrow for more trip highlights, including the Betty Crocker kitchens and some tasty new products!

I have spent several days revisiting all of my favorite pumpkin, cupcake, cookie, and cake recipes, and now the day is finally here: Megan’s Munchies is officially one year old! I am not going to share any recipes or recall any more posts on this special day. I just want to send a BIG THANK YOU to all my readers, new and old! Thank you for reading and for all your wonderful comments! You are all amazing!

HUGS to you all! Here’s to another year of food, fun, and friends!