Ask yourself these questions:
Do you instinctively reach for a camera when a meal is plated? You might be a food blogger.
Do you push people out of your kitchen so that you can get that picture before the food cools off? You might be a food blogger.
Do you study which side of your cake, steak, bread, or fish has the best profile? You might be a food blogger.
Do you track blog hits like other people track the stock market? You might be a (food) blogger.
Do you find yourself blogging, emailing, or tweeting about the latest episode of Top Chef? You might be a food blogger.
Do you worry about what the next social networking craze is going to be because it means you’ll have to set up yet another online presence? You might be a (food) blogger.
Do you refer to people in conversation as Sweet Mary, Dining Dish, or Strawberries in Paris as though that really is their name? You might be a food blogger.
Do you appreciate the beauty of a Printable Recipe widget? You might be a food blogger.
Do you have nightmares about a certain bowtied cooking show hosts showing up on your doorstep for a smackdown? You might be a food blogger. Oh wait, maybe that’s just me.
Now, what happens when you get a group of food bloggers together for a pot luck dinner? If you’re me, you stress over whether you made the right dish. Then, once you get over that nonsense, you spend an evening laughing, eating, and sharing with some incredible people who all understand why you do what you do. Not only do they get it, they do it too. It’s a shared affliction. We all see a glimpse of ourselves in those “do you” questions, whether we admit it or not.
Thank you to everyone who made our get together on Friday the 13th a night to remember for all the right reasons:
You know the evening is a hit when we’re all too busy shoving food in our faces to worry about taking pictures of what’s on our plates. It was lucky I snapped that picture of my Roquefort Tarts before I left home. Otherwise, I’d have no proof that they ever existed.
Roquefort Tarts
- 2 boxes mini filo shells (30 shells total)
- 3 ounces block style cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/4 cup crumbled Roquefort cheese, at room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place filo shells on a parchment lined sheet pan.
Place all other ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until smooth.
Spoon the filling into the shells. Garnish with a bit of additional chopped parsley and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until the surface puffs up. The tarts will collapse a bit as they cool.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Bon Appetit Hon 
Totally. Guilty. On all charges.
PS: How cool is it that you got all of those people together? I think that’s amazing that you’ve got so many bloggers in town!
I was introduced to a few of the Baltimore Food Bloggers over the summer. This was the second event I’ve attended and it was great to meet more local folks who all do this crazy blogging thing.
Can I tell you how nice it is to put (real) names and faces to the blogs I read? Of course, I still find myself referring to people by their blog names. You’d think four years of sorority would have better prepared me to hone those social skills.
Wendi,
It was great to put names and faces to blogs!! I’m not sure I still have it all yet…will get there though! Thanks for making such delicious tarts! May just take em downy ohchean hon!
Cheers!
Kristin
Kristin, enjoy those tarts….downy ohchean or any old where. They are the essence of quick and easy. Hope we’ll see you at the next get together.
BAH strives to be tasty AND informative so for those not fluent in Bawlmerese, downy ohchean = down the ocean, hon.
I know I love food bloggers. Does that count for anything? 😉
Shutterboo, it counts for everything.
Those tarts were sooo good! Nice list there Wendi!
Thanks Liz. Feel free to add to the list if you like. I’m sure I’ve overlooked many food blogger quirks.
I’ve got one to add to the list:
You feel no guilt about taking a slice out of a cake or pie, so you can photograph is at home, under the proper lighting conditions. When someone asks you what happened to the slice, you look at them with surprise and say “blog photos, duh.”
I can’t believe those tarts had Roquefort, which is not usually my favorite cheese. Because I loved the tarts!
Beth, I never thought to do that. I always just try and make do with the crappy lighting and fix it the best I can in Picnik. You are slick my friend.
Pretty sure I grabbed Roquefort for those tarts. I can double check, although any old blue cheese would do if you don’t dig Roquefort.
Beth, I checked the package and according to the label, I used Danish Bleu Cheese. Technically speaking, NOT Roquefort. Tasty anyway.
You’re too funny! I can now say, without a doubt, that I am indeed a food blogger.
Smiling…because for a few weeks now, I’ve been drafting a ‘foodie facts list’. Smiling still….good read
Thanks Kitchen Butterfly. Can’t wait to read your foodie fact list to see if there are any cultural differences between here and there.
For instance, we were in Europe over the summer and I was unsure about pulling out my camera in restaurants to photograph what we were eating. Of course, I could have totally played it off as being a “tourist” and not a food blogger.
Wendi–but normal (non-food blog) people don’t have clamp lights that they use as external lighting in their kitchens 😉
How could I have forgotten about crazy do it yourself projects (aka building your own lightbox) or obsessing over supplemental light sources? I’ve got small goose neck lamps that live in the coat closet and a flattened (cardboard) lightbox in the dining room that come out for photo shoots. Normal people absolutely do not live like this.
Hilarious. Love it.
Especially the smack down comment.
Mary
For some reason our food blogger get togethers tend to inspire me.
OH damn! I live way too far away! this would be crazy fun! All that gourmet stuff at one location?
Maybe i can start a blof around here HMMMMMMM!
Hey! got my own lightbox now.. what do you mean? Normal people don’t live like this????? Doesn’t everyone have a lightbox in their closet? Come out of the closet now! You KNOW who you are!
Emily, do tell why you have a lightbox. I’m all kinds of curious. And why shouldn’t you blog?
I took pictures of my very own home made gourmet dinner and it looked like the inside of my kitchen. Not good!
I was wondering what to do about lighting since “those student days” are gone and so is my access to professional lighting.
It never would have occurred to me to do it this way Can;’t think outside the box? LOL
Also, Photo contest weekly entries sometimes lend themselves to inside photography and I now have a neutral background.
I think it would be divine to haave a blogfest of wonderful gourmet and home made meals……..sounds like and excuse for a party to me…….. maybe if I apply mysself I can make it so ….here
Emily, unleash your inner blogger.
And become friends with the Macro setting on your camera for food shots.
That sounds so fun! And yum to your tart recipe. Did everyone else post their recipes from the night? I hope so!
Laura, I know Beth at 990 Square posted the savory biscotti. You can find it here http://www.990square.com/2009/11/parmesan-black-pepper-biscotti/. And John from The Baltimore Snacker links to this http://www.bigoven.com/175515-Nataing-%28Boom%29-recipe.html recipe for the Nataing. It was some seriously good stuff.
I’m hoping that someone managed to get Dara’s recipe for the shrimp. Anyone…anyone…Bueller?
Oh my gosh, I’m guilty of just about every one of those.
My family groans when they see me artfully arranging the ingredients on the counter and grabbing the camera before I start to cook.
“You’re shooting this for the blog? But I’m hungry NOW!”
Karen, I really think there ought to be a support group for the family of food bloggers. Lord knows they put up with their share of crazy in our world.
I’m so making that mustard pork roast that was on Refrigerator Soup.
Wendi….tomorrow, my list will be out, in celebration of the fact that saturday morning sees me in London….for a Food Bloggers conference.Excitement is my middle name.
Well,when I get my camera out here, and start taking food profile photos….people look at me as though I were MAD.
And then I calmly (when I have some on me), bring out a card, explain that I write about food…and have a blog…and then they’re usually quite keen to see the photos and prove themselves right or wrong about my mental state!
Kitchen Butterfly, I’m totally envying the fact that you’re at a food blogger event in London right now.
Can’t wait to see the pictures of your adventure.
And on the issue of support groups….doesn’t the fact that they’re beneficariess negate the need for support 🙂
i have become adept at one handed photography and adding a full hour for the photos….
They do seem to overlook the fact that they directly benefit from all our madness.