A tenth floor view of the Inner Sunset neighborhood
I usually don't post on Wednesdays but you know me, I like to keep you on your toes.This past weekend I attended the BlogHer Food conference in San Francisco. It was a whirlwind weekend full of good food, old and new friends and some seriously awesome swag from the Chef's Catalog at an after-party hosted by a few lovely bloggers.
This was the fourth BlogHer conference I've attended (BlogHer '08, BlogHer Boston and BlogHer '09). I like to post about the conference because I enjoy them. Every time I leave a BlogHer conference, I usually feel better about myself as a writer and quite frankly, as a person. The conferences remind me that there is more to the world than my own small universe here in New Jersey and that I have a lot left to do and see in my lifetime.
I don't always bore you with all the details, each time. However, if you're reading this blog, you probably like food. Since this conference was about food (to be specific, it was about food blogging but at the end of the day, thoughts were on food) it just seems right to highlight some of my favorite conference moments and pieces of information that I picked up.
Friday brought a trip to the Ferry Building Farmer's Market with my friend and colleague Jessi and sampled some of California's finest produce and chocolates (healthy balance, right?)
Macarons and sea salts aside, I loved meeting the other bloggers at the conference who I knew mainly from Twitter and from browsing some of their websites. On Friday night, Denise and Lenny of Chez Us, the San Francisco locals of the group, organized a great dinner at Pauline's Pizza, where the wine flowed generously and we noshed on pesto pizza and roasted vegetable pizza.
After dinner, a few of us kept the party going over cocktails at Clock Bar. Joy of Gourmeted, Dana of Dana Treat, Kristina from Tennessee Locavore and I teased our cute, curly-haired waiter and drank cocktails called: humuhumunukunukuapua'as. (Disclaimer: I had 2 sips of mine when Joy declared that it tasted like perfume. She was right so I promptly send it back).
Overall, I thought the conference was extremely beneficial: for social and informational purposes. I could talk about it for hours but I can only imagine that kind of time commitment would be a tall order from most of my readers.
So in short, I met some great new bloggers and picked up some invaluable tips. You can read about some of them, including how to use your food blog to save the world and best practices in blogging on BlogHer.com. I'll also be updating my blog roll in the coming days so keep an eye out for some great new food blogs to check out!
It's so fun to read some blogs and see familiar faces! The conference was great fun and I learned alot from the SEO class! Love the pic of Sanfran from the 10th floor!
Posted by: megan | October 06, 2009 at 08:20 AM
I really wish I got to go. =(
Posted by: Jessica Lee Binder | October 05, 2009 at 11:06 AM
It was great to see you, but I think I still owe you a drink! The after party was fabulous and I went home a happy camper. Great to read your write up, sounds like the trip was worthwhile and you took home some good information.
Posted by: Gudrun | October 03, 2009 at 08:12 PM
Sounds like you had a great time! Food bloggers are just such a lovely bunch :)
Posted by: Kerstin | October 02, 2009 at 10:15 PM
What a fun time! Did you pick up a lot of great photography tips? (Do share!!)
I'm so sad I didn't get to go, but I cannot wait for BlogHer '10. It's going to be greeeaaaaaat!
Posted by: Sarah Caron | October 02, 2009 at 09:37 AM
Maris, I'd love to see your notes from BlogHer Food. I was so sad not to go! I really wanted to go to the photography sessions. Sounds like a great time. Liz and I are going to Napa in 5 weeks so we'll have some wonderful food (and wine) for sure.
Posted by: Meal Makeover Mom Janice | October 01, 2009 at 10:30 PM
That is such a cute photo of us! You didn't mention that the cute curly-haired waiter drank your drink for you (I think there was a crush going on there.) Great write-up!
Posted by: Dana | October 01, 2009 at 03:29 PM
I keep reading about how awesome this event was!! If only I could have attended!! Well, I'm shooting for next year in NYC! Glad to hear you had a fabulous time!
Posted by: lisa | October 01, 2009 at 02:56 PM
It was so fun to meet you! I wish I had gotten more SF fun in.
Posted by: Kate @ Savour Fare | October 01, 2009 at 01:10 PM
Ha ha, I see the embarassing dancing pics from the afterparty didn't make it. What a blast we all had, and so nice to run into you again after BlogHer Chicago!
Posted by: Biggie | October 01, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Oh, looks like an awesome trip!! I am a little bit jealous. One funny thing - your perfumey cocktail was named after a fish! (I only know this because my dad got a shirt in Hawaii with a picture of the fish and its name under it, and that's not a word you forget about easily, heh.)
Posted by: Joanna | October 01, 2009 at 12:29 PM
I am so glad we were able to meet and hangout. Great recap of the conference. I miss it already. I hope to see you at next years event:)
Posted by: Maria | October 01, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Fun hearing more about what you got to do, so many people there it's hard to keep up with everyone.
Posted by: Kalyn | October 01, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Sounds like a wonderful time and I am so impressed just from reading blogs and tweets how incredibly nice all the women in this community are
Posted by: Daryl Callahan | October 01, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Can there be a blogher version for boys? That would be bloghis? ^^.. I just love cooking and eating, vice versa..
Posted by: Bryan V. | October 01, 2009 at 09:59 AM
So jealous you went - can't wait for the NYC one next year!
Posted by: Cate O'Malley | October 01, 2009 at 09:34 AM
I was so interested in going to this, but just didn't have the money this year.
I'm glad you had a good time! It sounded like they had some great information.
Posted by: brandi | October 01, 2009 at 09:29 AM