Thursday, August 09, 2007

When Food Bloggers Brunch

Blogging is like keeping a diary. You talk about your day and reveal a bit about yourself. The only difference is that there’s no lock and key and everyone’s reading your pages to Mom.

Still, I sometimes wonder if I’m really just talking to myself. Which is fine. I do it anyways. Being single, it’s nice to know that I can hold a conversation with myself. (But it is a bit rough when I argue with myself and then I don’t speak to myself for days.)

So it was nice this past Sunday to actually interact with other people who sometimes feel the same way. A few food bloggers gathered at Maverick in the Mission District (see separate review in the post below) and it was nice to share ideas, see that we all sometimes wonder if anyone’s reading us and, of course, talk about food.

The brunch was organized by Passionate Eater, who was one of the first people to post regular comments on my blog. She’s moving to New Orleans for her career (not in food) and invited some of her favorite food bloggers. (I’m honored PE that you consider me one of your favorite food blogs. ;-) ) Others attending included Chubbypanda and Cat from Southern California, Foodhoe and the husband-and-wife team behind Bunrab.

The common topic of discussion was camera, and which to use. It was like sitting at a table of paparazzi when our food arrived and the parade of cameras popped out. I would say it was a good three minutes of photographing before anyone started to eat. (Although, maybe Passionate Eater’s boyfriend started without us. I couldn’t tell since he was sitting to the left of me on the other side of PE.) I give props to the people at Maverick who were nonchalant about our photographing their food.

Here, Foodhoe’s camera was too quick for me and she snapped her shot and pulled back before I could frame my shot. Foodhoe, you’re a quick draw on the camera!

After finally eating our food (which was great), Passionate Eater passed around a box of manju, courtesy of Chubbypanda who carried it all the way up with him on Caltrain from San Jose. Manju is the mochi-filled delicacy from Japan, and Chubbypanda got an assorted box of manju—from baked to candied to powdered. They all looked good but we left most of them for PE.

We headed out after brunch to explore the Mission. Here, the Bunrabs are shielding their faces while showing off their very branded Bunrab caps. Note: They don’t wear their Bunrab caps at restaurants when they’re doing reviews.

After a pit stop at Bi-Rite Market, we ended up, of course, at Bi-Rite Creamery. This was the third time I was at this ice cream shop in eight days. (I was there just the day before and the weekend prior to that.) I ended up finally getting the nerve to try a test taste of the roasted banana (very banana but not what I was looking for) and ended up with a kid’s scoop of peanut butter with fleur de sel nuggets.

With our ice cream in hand, we did a brief stint standing in line at Tartine Bakery before we all realized that even food bloggers can’t eat that much. So everyone walked back to their cars or BART and back home to our blog diaries.

[Passionate Eater, I’m looking forward to your photo blog on the revitalization of New Orleans! Safe travels!]

Read the spin on brunch from the other food bloggers! Passionate Eater. Foodhoe. Bunrab.

7 comments:

Passionate Eater said...

Ooo! I love that you made two posts so I can leave double the comments! It was so great to meet you face-to-face, and I will document my experiences in New Orleans!

Anonymous said...

I'm really sorry I couldn't make this after all, since a medical issue came up. It looks like it was a lot of fun! Thanks for such a great write-up, it was really fun to read. It sounds like you enjoyed Maverick, so I hope to be able to try it sometime too.

Anonymous said...

Passionate Eater -- just got back from New Orleans. You must try Herbsaint (www.herbsaint.com) -- the best restaurant I ate at in New Orleans (and that's saying a lot!). -- David

Anonymous said...

Me thinks Chef Ben, you have more than you know. Had to laugh at the photo with everyone and their cameras! ..and don't worry...I haven't been talking to myself for days...

Unknown said...

oh was that blur me? how rude! It was interesting how solemnly everyone waited for picture-taking when the food was served.

Chubbypanda said...

Hee hee. The photo-fest was a bit amusing. I like it when food bloggers or amateur photographers talk about their cameras like guns.

"So what do you shoot?"

"My primary is a Canon Kickass2000. My sidearm is a Nikkon SweetshotFX, and I've got a backup on my Motorola Avenue Q."

=b

V said...

just discovered your blog... love it. Thanks! If you ever want to Brunch in Orange County, gimme a holler!