“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men.” 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…
Squeals of endless joy, shrieks of ‘is that what you look like’, screams of ‘Oooh so you aren’t that tall after all’ found us – Mowie, Alessio, Beth, Jamie and Pam framing memories in London. Our first meeting & we hit it off. Gosh, it was like we’d known each other forever. 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 BusabaEathai 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 sistahJamie 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.
Out to dinner again, and this time we met at Vivat Bacchus, one of London’s most successful and popular restaurants at London Bridge. It has become known for the range and quality of its wines, and the innovation and flair of its modern European menu. A beautiful restaurant chosen by Jeanne & we took the place by storm. Were finally told that we could no longer take any more pictures with the flash on!!
Mowie, Davina, Meeta, Nicole
We all sat there enjoying our meals with speciality world platters, French, Greek , Italian, Spanish, South African, it was all there. The chitter chatter continues deliciously into the wee hours of the night in good company. This timeMeeta, Nic, Davina, Sunitawere also there… &Jeanne of course! No one in a hurry, no one in the mood to move. So much to say…all of us taking in the feeling of being together, & loving it.
The food walk the next morning, & we met in a slight drizzle at Marylebone Farmers’ Market. Happy to be together again, clutching bags & umbrellas, we trooped off to the whole food market with our star attraction, Hilda’s gorgeous little papoose, who blinked her beautiful eyes at all the giggly girls (& boys). 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!
Oh and did I tell you we got the most envious goodie bags organised by Beth at thFBC. Sea salt, milled flour, olives, matured cheddar … a whole bag of yum stuff. I got back & baked of course, using something from the bag. Here’s a sneak peek… Apple Crisp
…the recipe to come soon! I also came back loaded with gifts from these beautiful people I met. Pam & Sunita are still chuckling at the way I was trying to stuff my suitcase & trying to drag it to Paddington!! I am so overwhelmed and will share my goodies with you in a later post! Don’t miss a post
