What’s up guys? Hope you had an awesome weekend! I spent mine over in Nashville for the much-anticipated Food Blog Forum! My brain hurts from the vast amount of information learned in zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..
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Whaaat? Where am I?!
Ohhhh… My bad. Suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation over here!! Anyway…. This weekend I made the voyage to Nashville with Vanessa of Life Undeveloped, Brooke of Baking with Basil, and Jamie of Bibliophiled Away. I left Nashville a mere two days later with a few new friends, 17 pages of notes, 33 items on my want-to-do list, and crap ton of free swag!
Look at all this stuff!
Free stuff = happy foodies!
Our first night in town we headed over to a Taste of Nashville party at the farmers market where we were given the task of sampling everything from mustard slaw hotdogs to goo-goo clusters to vanilla vodka over blood orange soda. It was horrible.
Out of everything I sampled, My FAVORITE nibblet was the Onion Bisque from the folks at Perl. I am sending hopes and prayers that they someday offer this soup online.
Please!! I beg you!!!
We also got to see a live cooking demo with Arnold Myint. Arnold is a Nashville native who owns several restaurants in the city. He was also a Top Chef Season 7 contestant. Since I cancelled my cable to support my coffee addiction, I had no clue who this guy was until I read the marketing flyer… Regardless, it was super fun to see a professional chef at work in the kitchen. I really liked the lentil tacos he cooked up. I’m going to try to recreate them… one day. Hmmmm where did I put that want-to-do list anyway?
Saturday was JAM PACKED with forum sessions on different topics, including: PRspectives, recipe writing, blogging etiquette, food styling & photography, working with brands, blogging as a business, and social media.
My favorite of all the sessions was the food styling & photography session with Todd Porter & Diane Cu, the White on Rice Couple. Beyond being extremely informative, it further cemented my desire to become a better photographer. It also resulted in about 7 of the want-to-do’s on my list!
Look at us all ready to get our learn on! And our eat on, obviously.
Caroline, Brooke, Moi, Jamie, Vanessa (thanks to Vanessa for the people photos!)
For lunch we hit up some local food trucks for a sampling of their tastiest wares.
The weekend was pretty much scheduled out from start to finish, so there wasn’t much time left for exploring Nashville. Sunday morning I took a quick stroll in hopes I might stumble upon something interesting near the hotel.
All I found was this piece of art… and I have no idea what the heck it is.
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It was great to meet you! I am with you...I need that onion bisque soup in my life, everyday. And, the pumpkin seed romesco sauce with spaghetti squash. Look forward to seeing you again, soon! :)
I agree!!!! I'm not sure that bisque will ever be topped. It's kind of cruel they only gave us a little shot glass sample... Now we're all addicted and going through withdraw :)
Ha, that "art" is called "Musica" and we're just as perplexed about it.
Funny you mention the soup from Perl--I heard they were coming Friday night and I raved to Beth about how much I loved that soup at a previous event and she put in a special request for it. I'm glad others like it as much as I do! I need to have an event that requires catering...
So where'd you guys go for dinner after The Patterson House Saturday night?
OMG Thank you thank you thank you for requesting the soup. It was to die for!! After checking out menus at a few other places, we ended up going to Amerigos for some pasta :)
This event sound like so much fun! I would love to listen in to the food styling and photography session! I love photography and would love to become a better photographer. All of your eats looks amazing as well! :)
Thanks Kim! Yes it was really inspiring. I'm trying to work some budget magic so I can take a few photography lessons. Time for some creative accounting :)
At first, I thought the napkin you wrote on said "Mom, Mom, Mom" until I realized it was "num, num, num." Then I wept.
P.S. I miss you.
Miss you too Mom. Mom. Mom. :D
I've always wanted to go to Nashville! It seems like it would be such a cool place to travel to. That event looks awesome! :)
We had a great time -- but I need to go back and do some major exploring! And eating.
Have you ever seen anyone that excited to get vanilla beans?? Kudos to you and Vanessa for taking people pics!
Ah yes, good ol' Musica. If you're baffled by that sculpture, I hope you were able to make it to the downtown riverfront to see the roller coaster, I mean, Ghost Ballet ... :)
Great recap – glad you had fun in our fine city! I live here and haven't heard of Perl – will definitely check them out!
hahaha.. I'll have to add that to my itinerary for my next trip to Nashville :)
So great to meet you Mary! Have a great week!
Nice to meet you too!!
Haha..yes, you found Musica! One of nashville's most controversial + random art installations. Around the holidays and when the Predator's were in the playoffs they get costumed-up by super-secret stealth pranksters.
Hope Amerigo's treated y'all well!
It was extremely random, but I had no idea it was a controversial piece! I thought I just didn't have "the eye."
Thanks again for the restaurant recommendations!! We'll have to meet up next time you are in CLT.
What an amazing event!!! I'm so jealous!!! It sounds like you had a great time and definitely came home with some good info and awesome swag! (I *love* swag! Who doesn't?) I would to attend this someday. It looks like so much fun! And god knows I could use the photography help! ;)
It was super fun! I'd like to attend another conference soon -- I'll have to keep an eye out for good ones!