Bay Area Blogger's Picnic

Monday, August 28, 2006

Yeah, I'm not in the bay area. Sue me. Still, it was nice to finally get down there and meet the truly wicked shibby people I heart so much! Owen, was kind enough to host and allow us all to party. I finally got to put some face and voices with people I now e-mail and comment with on a practically weekly, and in some cases daily, basis. We'll try to sum things up in a few quick and easy blurbs because my tendonitis is kicking in really hard tonight, and I'm still coming in and out of my food coma after filling both of my stomachs.

FOOD!
The food was totally freakin rock my socks awesome. I made a tasty little olive loaf, or well, it's normally tastier, but my new apartment's oven is what I would describe as a sketchy easy-bake built into the wall. Nothing rises, so it was a dense loaf, but good none the less. Recipe to follow in a later post.

Now, when you get 50+ food bloggers together you can guarantee some pretty awesome food is gonna happen. Penny took some shibby photos that you should check out! Joy, my favorite restaurant whore, brought an excellent fruit salad with ginger and mint syrup. Elise brought a stash of wine like she was opening a speakeasy. Quality too, I generally hate wine *gasp!* but I finished about 3 different glasses. (Look mom, I'm a lush!) Though my ability to describe them wasn't so much "oaky" or "a chocolate finish" but rather, "Damn, that's some wicked tasty wine." Shuna also made prolly some of the best dessert ever in existence. There were also some excellent toastettes with cheese and figs... like a party in my mouth and everybody was invited. Basically, it was like christmas, my birthday, and the day I got my Kitchen Aid all wrapped into one.

PHOTOS!
Everyone was armed with a camera; it was like a red carpet photo shoot. Heidi of 101 Cookbooks also gave me some camera advice. Who knew my costco camera could take quality pictures? For example, here is my bread when I photographed it with my camera:









Here is heidi's pic:
Yeeeeeeeeah. A bit below is my first pic with her advice. The shot could be a better angle, and more close up, but at least it's not all grainy and gross my pics usually are. Dramatic improvement, so thanks a ton Heidi! Ya'll should expect more pics here now from various recipes and restaurant adventures. I have to say, I am really excited!


ROB!
I got him to socialize. He actually had fun. He even got some inspiration to contribute a bit to this blog with his granny's recipes from Lebanon! Yayness!

PEOPLE!
I don't think I can say anything that would do them justice. Like I said, I heart these people. You guys are awesome and incredibly shibby! *huggles to you all*

You can see a few more pics here! Few because my camera battery died. :(

12 comments:

  1. Just thought you should know that I initially mistook your bread for A GIANT COOKIE.

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  2. Garrett - it was totally awesome to meet you - I have liked your blog right from the get go. Glad Rob had a good time - I'm afraid my sig other lurked and didn't really come out of hiding until the very end.

    You should know that your yummy bread is still being enjoyed and that it makes a great late evening sandwich when combined with smoked pork and fresh tomato.

    As for the speakeasy...I left some of the opened bottles of wine out on the patio overnight in the hopes that the raccoons would take a hint and help us out - but they didn't - guess I'm going to be doing a lot of cooking with wine (we've been doign our best but I cannot possibly drink that much). And that is after trying to foist bottles off on all the late leavers!

    We had a great time and a HUGE thank you goes out to Guy for doing all the hard work. He's a rock.

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  3. Hi Garrett -

    It was a pure delight to meet you at last! Hope Rob wasn't too bored by all the foodie talk. How lucky for you to get such great photo advice from the photo queen herself, Heidi. There's so much one can do with a digital camera.

    xo

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  4. Robyn - Ha ha, shut up. ;-)

    Willa - I agree, I am pretty lucky to know awesome people like them and you!

    Owen - Glad you liked the bread! It is pretty snazzy for sammiches, and is GREAT as toast in the morning.

    Elise - It was wonderful meeting you too! Rob was actually pretty entertained the whole time, and Heidi seriously was a wicked cool teacher! Everyone was a blast to be around!

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  5. Garrett it was GREAT to put a face to your blog, so to speak. Thanks for leaving your neck of the woods for the picnic. Let me know when you make it in to the city and we'll you know, eat.

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  6. That bread was yours? That bread was yours? It was ossum! Awesome.
    Don't worry about Rob. He and I had a great chat for quite a while or two, tucked into chairs against the fence. Super fellow. Gallant, too, when I needed to sit and had to kick him out of his chair. Oh, we talked. (And it wasn't all about food, though I believe "Garlic Festival" came up. Is there a vanilla festival? I'm so there.)
    I'm glad you came to the party.
    Now I'm going to look go up "shibby" in the Middle-Aged-Ladies' Dictionary.

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  7. cookie crumb - when you find out what shibby means, please can you let all the other middle-aged ladies know. I believe I recently qualified (for 'middle-aged, that is, not sure about 'shibby').

    garrett - it was great to meet you for the first time. Hope it won't be the last!

    sam

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  8. It was really wonderful to meet you garrett. Glad you came out of the boonies to meet other bay area folks. HE HE... Yes, even I had to look up this word shibby, does this mean cool? :) penny

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  9. Amy, Penny, Cookie and Sam: T'was awesome to meet you! Hope we can get together and eat again!

    SHIBBY:
    1) Affirmative statement.
    "Want to get a bite to eat?"
    "Shibby with me."

    2) Cool
    That meal was so shibby!

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  10. Wow looks like a blast! Glad you went down for the party. :)

    Do you have the recipe for the olive loaf posted anywhere?

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  11. Garrett - you're just as charming in person as you are on your blog. And look! You've started something with "shibby"...

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  12. Where's the recipe?? looks too good to just view! i must eat it!!!

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Hey, you're leaving a comment! That's pretty darn cool, so thanks. If you have any questions or have found an error on the site or with a recipe, please e-mail me and I will reply as soon as possible.
~Garrett

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