Attending the BlogHer food bloggers' conference in San Francisco this past weekend was surreal. Maybe it's because in my own circle of friends I'm something of an oddity. People who don't spend their days photographing tuna or making oatmeal look not disgusting don't quite know what to make of me, a woman who walks her kids to school, then kneels in her yard with a camera and a bowl of spaghetti. Plenty of people think I'm a wackjob.
So to attend a meeting of 300 similar wackjobs was affirming, to say the least. These people get what I'm doing because they do it, too, and some of them have been doing it far longer than I have. I'd like to introduce you to a few people who wear their blogger badges proudly:
[Top photo, from left] David Lebovitz, blogger here and author of The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway Books, 2009) and several dessert cookbooks; Sarah Henry, quick-witted veteran journalist and blogger at Lettuce Eat Kale; and Jill Nussinow, registered dietitian, cookbook author, and self-proclaimed Veggie Queen.
[Center photo above, from left] Janice Ray, a new colleague, excellent lunch date, and author of the lovely blog Round the Table.
[Bottom photo above, from left] Jennifer Maiser, author of Life Begins at 30 and editor of the group blog Eat Local Challenge; Sam Breach of Becks & Posh; and Pim Techamuanvivit, author of the blog Chez Pim and the recently released The Foodie Handbook (Chronicle Books, 2009).
[Top photo] Here's the always bubbly and incredibly motivated Lia Huber of Nourish Network. Keep Lia in mind because you'll be hearing more about her, and NN, from me very soon. In the middle is Heidi Swanson of the gorgeous natural foods blog 101 Cookbooks and the books Cook 1.0 and Super Natural Cooking. I owe Heidi an enormous debt of gratitude for her kindness and advice over the past 2 years.
Pictured in the bottom photo is a celebrity whose name rhymes with Smocco DiSclirito. I'm wavering about whether to tell you about the train wreck that was the lunch he emceed. Let's just say if you like your celebrities with a side of sleazy and inappropriate sexual innuendo, you'd have loved the meal (of frozen food) over which he presided.
Finally, I don't have photos of Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen, Susan from Foodblogga, Zoe from Zoe Bakes, Dana from Dana Treat, Dianne from Will Write for Food, Jaden from Steamy Kitchen, Lara from Still Life With, Amy from Streaming Gourmet, Elise from Simply Recipes, Tara from Diva on a Diet (hi Diva!), Grace from State of Grace, Chuck from Foodgawker, or Amy from Cooking With Amy. But it was a pleasure to spend time with them all, and I hope you'll take a few minutes to dig through their sites.
The end.
