LONDON BRIDGED…FOOD BLOGGER CONNECT ’09
Herman Melville
‘Connect’ … To join or fasten together. We connected. At every level … friend, food, blogger, emotions … we finally met! Am back from Food Blogger Connect in London, and reliving warm memories, connections, amazing friendships & a feeling of happiness … some sadness too. Did time have to fly by so soon? It’s difficult to express in words what we all experienced, maybe pictures will help explain. 
Was impossible to imagine virtual hugs turning into reality, but it happened? We built bridges and connected the ‘dots’! Phew, crossing the almost non-existent line between virtual connect & real connect was the most powerful emotion I’ve experienced in ages. Who would have thought that there could be so many more ‘bridge the gaps’ in life. Cementing relationships we built on twitter… yes, it was certainly love at first sight as Jamie said!! 
I had met Pam just a short while before off her flight from France at London’s Heathrow airport, and we were hysterical with excitement from word go. Time whizzed by & before we knew it we were checking into our hotel in Central London. How did we get here so soon?
We talked non stop from the time we met, and trooped down to Oxford Street, past stunning Marble Arch, & hit the shops. ‘I have no shopping to do’, declared Pam … you think that was true? Once we hit the shops, she was a goner and ‘wild’! I spent the day chasing her from shop to shop … we enjoyed ourselves!
Finally it was time to meet the ‘gang’…
Amazing feeling, we just stood there at the Eros statue at Picadilly and jumped with joy. Our first meeting, a few of us still missing, yet surreal in every way. Nervous uncertainty, childlike excitement … unbelievably we were together in beautiful London, a city which is charming in every which way. Goosebumpy feeling to know that this was happening in real time…
There was Beth looking sexy as ever in her pink beret & applique coat, charming Mowie without the camera lens on the eye, my twin sistah Jamie, sweet as expected but not as strapping tall as I thought …woohoo! There was sweet Alessio, dear man with his wonderful Italian accent. Yay! Finally group hugs, and then a scream went out. Hilda was here. More hugs!! She smothered us! 
Dinner was at Busaba Eathai at Soho, a Thai restaurant Mowie recommended for which we waited in the cold for over 30 minutes, keeping each other warm with the incessant talk & laughter. ‘Twas worth the wait! Once inside, you could tell that we were attracting attention. Not a word from other eaters around us, everyone was looking at us weirdly, yet amused. There we were … touching the leaves under the spring rolls, sniffing the pad thai to figure out flavours, styling food to get crappy night shots of food, discussing the FBC, and taking pictures of every crumb that crossed the table oblivious to the eyes following us. The food was great, finger licking good, just excellent stuff.
FUN!! Great first meeting & SO MUCH FUN! Wound up quite late & we trooped out to a ‘follow me’ call from dashing Mowie … hysterical, giggly & happy to be together in London! 
Finally time for the FBC the next afternoon, and we met at Levante restaurant. A beautiful place, dimly lit by exotic lamps, warm interiors, just right for the meeting. Through the first 30 minutes the place resonated with shrieks of excitement, and then it was food first … delicious Lebanese cuisine. A memorable meal indeed!
Time for business! The afternoon began with a wonderful talk on food photography & styling by talented Meeta from What’s For Lunch Honey who let us in on her secrets to beautiful food photographs and styling. She passed the baton on to Kang from London Eater who kept us mesmerized by his talk on food photography, techniques, taking pictures in low light etc. His post here is beautifully written with gorgeous pictures.
Next we had a talk by 2 fun ladies – Jeanne from Cook Sistah & my twin sistah Jamie from Lifes A Feast about blogging in general, focus, content, writers block, comment envy (LOL) etc. That was a much head nodding session, absolute connect. What followed was an all important talk by Jeanne about copyright issues & legal aspects of blogging, and the day was finally wrapped up by Kang with a talk on social networking issues and blogging. The twitteratzi was abuzz by then. We were happy fish in a big pond & his perspective was very interesting.
Mowie, Davina, Meeta, Nicole
We caught Mowie & Beth slurping some fresh Oysters with lemon & sea salt & descended on them. The market was lovely. Fresh breads, home baked cakes, quiches, Christmas breads, ginger parking, vine ripened tomatoes, gourmet cheese … foodie nirvana!
Chattering 19 to a dozen, happiness was the mood, never ending good company, we set off to visit a cheese tasting cafe & then eventually settled down to a meal. 
Thereafter it was adieu from me as I had a flight to catch, and adieu from Sunita as she had to leave to. 
Heartbreaking farewells as we all wished we could stretch time endlessly, but all good things come to an end, and this did too! 
It’s been a fun session at the FBC, a huge learning ground, things to do in the pipeline, and groundwork already begun for FBC10!
Don’t miss a post
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
45 Comments
Barbara Bakes
I'm so glad you were able to attend. Even if I was a wee bit jealous! It looks like a fabulous event!
Rosa's Yummy Yums
That must have been so great! It is so exciting to meet other bloggers!
Cheers,
Rosa
Twinsy Rachel
Welcome back n I can see how much you enjoyed! The snaps are full of energy n excitement 🙂 glad to know you guys had a wonderful n fruitful time. Awaiting the apple crisp recipe…Cheese tasting cafe, huh?? yummy!!
TC
Daily Spud
I'm feeling a bit breathless after that post! Sorry that I didn't come up & say hi on Saturday – I meant to but the afternoon slipped by so quickly… Ah well, roll on FBC10 🙂
Jamie
Ah, honey, it is like a dream and you have written it all so well and so detailed that we are all back there. How amazing to have actually hugged you (several times if I remember correctly) though I so need to spend time alone with you now, FBC was so overwhelming! Beautiful post, beautiful memories!
MeetaK
what a lovely wrap up Deeba! We certainly need to spend more time together away from the exciting and pulsating FBC. I wish I could have spoken to you in Hindi more. I loved you and you are all that I imagined you to be and so much more. Missing you tons!
Divina Pe
Wow, Deeba, you look like a goddess to me and the rest of the food bloggers. I really, really, really hope to meet you one day. Thanks for all the wonderful photos. I knew you had a real blast.
sunita
ovely! Yes, we did have a fabulous time, didn't we?The smiles say it all!It was great to meet you.
Bron
Oh Deeba, it all sounds and looks so wonderful, how super that you were able to make the trip!
The Cooking Ninja
In all honesty Deeba, the only thing I intend to get was TEA in London, that is until you show me the Oxford Street! lol! Blame it on exchange rate £1 – 1.10€…I did went crazy when I see vibrant colours everywhere. It's a good thing I misplaced my card. LOL!
It was fantastic meeting you, love u to bits and what fun we had together and with the rest. 🙂
Happy cook
I agee with sunita the smiles says everything, Looks indeed like all of you had a lot of fun.
bethany (Dirty Kitchen Secrets)
Deeba- It was so lovely to meet you! You are as lovely in person as I imagined. I loved having those chats with you on Sunday if only we had more time 🙁 And btw you're still going to hold my hand right?
Bxx
Colloquial Cook
GrRRReat post Deeba 😀 Love the little stamp-like pictures!
Are you coming back soon or do I have to book a flight to India? I'm putting hot curry powder everwhere! Like yesterday, in my butternut squash soup and it was deeba-tastic. I'm a convert 😀
diva
yes our goodie bags sure were the envy of all! 🙂 yay to having met you finally and finding out you're not so tall then eh? JOKES. i love u to bits! thanks for all my presents. can't wait for the next fbc. xx
Arwen from Hoglet K
Sounds like you had a fabulous time. It's great when you find people you can click with so easily. Have fun with the goodie bag!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
Deeba, I think it was your attendance more than any other which really emphasised what a truly international event this was and the lengths people were prepared to go to to be there.
The time went so fast and I barely got to speak to you, I was quite conscious that I didn't want to hog the precious time of those of you who were so obviously excited about spending quality time together and it is really touching to read about the strong bond you have all made. I hope that next time we have more time to get to know each other and in the meantime we'll always have twitter!
Hope to see you again at FBC10!
xxx
Curry Leaf
Exciting news and fabulous pics.Could recognize only a few bloggers at first sight.Thanks for the details
The Purple Foodie
Excellent photos, Deeba! I'm having so much fun reading everybody's FBC posts! Are the larger versions of the photo anywhere on flickr or picasa?
Natashya KitchenPuppies
Such a wonderful time had by all!
Everyone looks so happy and excited to be there!
meeso
What a fun experience for you all 🙂
Mowie
Deeba, it was such a pleasure to finally meet you. I was so happy that you decided to come join our little family affair all the way from India. You are one of the nicest people I've ever met with a wicked sense of humour and it's such a shame we didn't have more time together. Great post, great post title and lovely pictures. Lots of love xxx
Yasmeen
Can't imagine the fun you foodies had 🙂
Hilda
My sweet sweet Deeba, I wish I'd had a little bit more time to talk to you, it was literally in short bursts here and there, I think Pam got the most of you! (jealous, lol) But I am so so happy we finally met and that we can now do the Ottolenghi Girl Team. I can't wait to see you again at the next one and maybe we'll swing stopping there if we go home to Lahore in the meantime! Thank you for the compliment too re: papoose. =)
Kitchen Butterfly
Hi Deeba…it was lovely to connect with you at FBC. So next time it's decided – we meet at the airport, rather than you and Pam and we can talk our way through loads of Dhal,Naan….hmmm what else, Lassi and you can give me all the tips I need!!!!!!! Lots of Love.
Sari
Wow, Deeba, I'm speechless! It's a wonderful write up full of emotions and beautiful photos. It was lovely to meet you and I hope we will have more time to chat next time!
Helene
Such a nice trip, brought tears to my eyes. I wish I was there 🙂
Soma
Sounds super super fun! lovely write up and pictures.
Gloria
ooh Deeba what really nice and lovely event!All of you look so happy, absolutely nice,pictures,drnf you huggsss, gloria
Kerstin
What an awesome event! I'm glad you all had so much fun! I love meeting bloggers 🙂
Chez Us
Deeba, I am so glad you got to go, it sounds like it was an amazing event and there were so many wonderful food bloggers there, that I admire. Great post!
Peter M
Deebahhhhh, lots & lots of pictures chronicling many new friendships that were made. I regret missing all the fun.
Muneeba
Awww man … that sounds like so much FUN! Just a wee bit envious, that's all 😉
Cynthia
Vee, you have captured with your voice, the excitement and enthusiasm of this event exceptionally well. As I read, I could "feel" everything you were expressing.
shaz
What a wonderful roundup Deeba, you've managed to cram so many pics into this post -unreal. Great to finally place faces to names (and see Mowie without the lens :))
Ann
Looks like fun times for a fun group of people! Congrats! You finally got to meet the people you've been relating to through your blog, and we finally got to put some faces to the people we look to for inspiration!
Manggy
Oh, so there were men after all! Heh. So jealous of your trip to the UK, but that's life. Loved your pictures and stories!
Bharti
What fun! Glad you were able to make it there and have such a wonderful time. I enjoyed simply reading about it!
OysterCulture
Oh what fun! It looks like you had a fantastic time and I am so happy you enjoyed yourself. Thanks for sharing the experience with us!
Alexa
Deeba,
Sounds like such a lovely trip and blogger get together. Very inspiring!
Cheers,
Alexa
Nicisme
It seems like ages ago now! How I would love to have that weekend all over again.
Was great to meet you, thank you for all your lovely gifts.
Hope you had a nice time with your family – we are missing you in tweetland!!! xxx
Rajani
such fun!!! looks like you had a great time… and happy shopping.
Trissa
What a great experience! I loved the pictures as many of them I also tweet or visit their blogs so it is good to put faces to all of them. Thank you for sharing!
Jeanne
Sigh… we had SO much fun!! Like you say – it was fantastic meeting all the people that we only knew via their blogs… and even at Vivat Bacchus we were getting funny looks from the other diners. But we all thought we were totally normal 🙂 Roll on FBC10!
Jeanne
BTW, is there any way I could persuade you to e-mail me any photos you have of me at FBC or the Vivat Bacchus dinner? I have no pics of myself!!