Do you know me? If you read my blog with any frequency I bet you feel like you do. I read many blogs from all over the world and consequently feel like I know many bloggers, though I may never have met them in person. It's quite an amazing phenomenon. As you read accounts of the Bay Area Food Bloggers Second Annual Picnic you will hear a common refrain--everyone was so nice, so friendly and so wonderful. It sounds naive but it's really true, not just here but everywhere you go.
This past week I had the opportunity to visit Seattle. Because I am a regular reader of many Seattle-based food blogs I made an effort to meet up with several bloggers, people I feel like I already know.
First I met Lara of Cookbook 411 and her charming husband Cameron. Lara is a fantastic photographer and instead of reading about what she is eating, I actually snuck bites off her plate and Cameron's as well. Food bloggers are generally into sharing, especially at meal times. I thought our dinner at Crush was very good and when the waiter made a joke about us "not sharing our feelings about a less than exquisite dessert on the internet" we had a good laugh. Review to come!
After dinner I got picked up by none other than Shauna the Gluten-free Girl. She treated me to a glass of red wine at Impromptu and shared her exciting news--agent, book deal, taking the coming semester off of work, engagement and even honeymoon plans. What a nice surprise to meet the love of her life as well.
The next day I was extremely lucky to have lunch with Molly who you probably know as Orangette. If I hadn't had Molly with me, how could I have justified ordering enough food for four people at Salumi? With Molly along for the feast I knew the leftovers would go to a good home. Molly also accompanied me behind the scenes with owner Armadino Batali for a little tour, a little chat, a little gossip. In addition to the tour, Armandino gave me a big mole salami to take home with me! On our way back downtown Molly and I shared David Byrne stories and our experiences blogging for Dannon.
The Seattle blogger I know the best, having read her blog for what feels like forever is Seattle Bon Vivant aka "Viv" . I have a hard time expressing how much I adore her. She's like my long lost blogging sister. When I read her blog I am never surprised but always delighted to discover we stay at the same hotel in Paris, stock up on the same tea, crave the same foods, and share a love of ballet, art and city life.
Viv has been missing in the blogosphere as of late. I won't go into details but suffice it to say she is hanging in there. It should come as no surprise that she is as gracious and generous and lovely in person as she is in print. She loaded me up with goodies, introduced me to the perfect hotel and cleared her calendar so that we could catch up late one afternoon in a cafe, later still over dessert and again over brunch. I hope she will be blogging again soon. Send her all your best wishes. And keep on blogging and reading blogs. Because really, this food blogging thing is all good.
FOOD + SEATTLE
