Bay Area Blogger's Picnic

Yeah, I'm not in the bay area. Sue me. Still, it was nice to finally get down there and meet the truly wicked shibby people I heart so much! Owen, was kind enough to host and allow us all to party. I finally got to put some face and voices with people I now e-mail and comment with on a practically weekly, and in some cases daily, basis. We'll try to sum things up in a few quick and easy blurbs because my tendonitis is kicking in really hard tonight, and I'm still coming in and out of my food coma after filling both of my stomachs.

FOOD!
The food was totally freakin rock my socks awesome. I made a tasty little olive loaf, or well, it's normally tastier, but my new apartment's oven is what I would describe as a sketchy easy-bake built into the wall. Nothing rises, so it was a dense loaf, but good none the less. Recipe to follow in a later post.

Now, when you get 50+ food bloggers together you can guarantee some pretty awesome food is gonna happen. Penny took some shibby photos that you should check out! Joy, my favorite restaurant whore, brought an excellent fruit salad with ginger and mint syrup. Elise brought a stash of wine like she was opening a speakeasy. Quality too, I generally hate wine *gasp!* but I finished about 3 different glasses. (Look mom, I'm a lush!) Though my ability to describe them wasn't so much "oaky" or "a chocolate finish" but rather, "Damn, that's some wicked tasty wine." Shuna also made prolly some of the best dessert ever in existence. There were also some excellent toastettes with cheese and figs... like a party in my mouth and everybody was invited. Basically, it was like christmas, my birthday, and the day I got my Kitchen Aid all wrapped into one.

PHOTOS!
Everyone was armed with a camera; it was like a red carpet photo shoot. Heidi of 101 Cookbooks also gave me some camera advice. Who knew my costco camera could take quality pictures? For example, here is my bread when I photographed it with my camera:









Here is heidi's pic:
Yeeeeeeeeah. A bit below is my first pic with her advice. The shot could be a better angle, and more close up, but at least it's not all grainy and gross my pics usually are. Dramatic improvement, so thanks a ton Heidi! Ya'll should expect more pics here now from various recipes and restaurant adventures. I have to say, I am really excited!


ROB!
I got him to socialize. He actually had fun. He even got some inspiration to contribute a bit to this blog with his granny's recipes from Lebanon! Yayness!

PEOPLE!
I don't think I can say anything that would do them justice. Like I said, I heart these people. You guys are awesome and incredibly shibby! *huggles to you all*

You can see a few more pics here! Few because my camera battery died. :(