Memories of BlogHer Food 2009
September 29, 2009 by Andrea 
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Filed under Announcements
Before I go any further, I need to confess something. I was really bad last weekend.
I schlepped my camera all the way across the continent to the BlogHer Food Conference. Then I didn’t take a single picture. Nada.
There’s just something about actually having time for stimulating conversation with fascinating people that makes me forget I have a camera with me for a purpose, not just a weight to lug around. I kicked myself all the way home. If a blogging goddess exists, she would probably revoke my blogger credentials.
Fortunately at least one person has photographic evidence that I actually attended and had a grand time. Ree made me giggle when she put the camera up to my face then I couldn’t stop! Plus it was 2:00 A.M. East Coast time, I was tired and had no idea which way was up. Good thing I only sipped 1.5 glasses of wine at the Mushroom Channel party earlier.
My favorite memories from the weekend:
~Bumping into Elise, Jaden, and Jenny (party planner extraordinaire) at Tropisueno on Friday afternoon. Had a quick and delicious lunch together, loved talking with them, they are so friendly.
~Some fantastic conversation with Alanna, Sean and DPaul, Diane, Jori, Erin, and Stephanie at The Mushroom Channel party. I also got to meet Heidi, one of my heroes. (There are a few other people I chatted with at the party whose names I can’t remember—so sorry, was operating on only about three hours of sleep that day—so please jog my memory and I’ll add you here!)
~The walk back to the hotel with Alanna and just getting to chat quietly, like long lost friends. Then she invited me to join her for a swag bag stuffing party with Elise, Jaden, Jenny, and Ree, but we missed the stuffing part. However, the conversation was hilarious and I can’t remember the last time I laughed like that. These gals are so much fun to hang with! And to add something completely unrelated but somehow relevant, Ree has amazing ballerina flexibility! Don’t ask how we got on that topic, I can’t remember.
~Dinner at Contigo with Lydia, Kalyn, Susan, T.W., Val, and Rebecca. That was a truly memorable meal with great company. If I had taken my camera along (insert sounds of me thumping self on the head) I could have waxed poetic just on Contigo. If you go to San Francisco, it’s a must, and you absolutely should try the tripe with chorizo and chickpeas (loved the smoky paprika) and the patatas bravas with allioli and salsa brava. Well, you can skip the tripe if you are veg.
~Meeting and laughing with Denise and Lenny and meeting Lisa Stone. And filed under Strange Happenings: swapping stories of hilarious San Francisco street sightings with Carrie.
~Getting to meet/hug some of my favorite bloggers, even if we didn’t get to spend much time together: Helen, Jen, Lynda, Alice, Kristen, Hank.
~The food photography sessions. Such a short amount of time and loads of information shared. My fingers got a workout while typing! Thanks to Heidi, Matt, Diane and Todd, and Lara for sharing your knowledge and talent with us.
Then there were so many people I wanted to meet or talk with again and just missed them. Jennifer, Amy, and Biggie, I’m glad we at least got to say “Hi!” again. Others like Susan, Garrett, Nicole, and Zoe I saw from afar but never quite got to connect. Hopefully will have another opportunity soon.
And I missed meeting David, my ice cream hero, but I was just too darn shy to go up and stand in his adoring throng after the keynote, so that’s my fault.
It was a whirlwind weekend filled with wonderful people and experiences that moved me and left indelible memories and a desire for more. Perhaps a BlogHer Food Conference 2010? Even on the East Coast? Washington D.C. is a great food city (hint hint)!
P.S. Check out the Flickr photostream for pics from BlogHer Food ‘09.
Andrea,
Thanks for the kind mention in your post. I too wish we could have spent more time chatting and getting to know each other more. I hope our paths will cross again soon!
Alice
Oh nada… but you’re good at telling stories, glad you got to go Andrea, how fun!
I’d go back to Contigo any day — wasn’t that a wonderful way to end an energetic day at the conference?
It was so great to see you this weekend Andrea!
We’ll be sending out our usual a post-conference survey link to every attendee in the next couple of days. In addition to this post, I hope you will take 15 minutes to help us quantify your responses (they can be anonymous btw
We’ll send you the survey link in our final BlogHer Food ’09 attendee newsletter. We’re excited to read your suggestions to make BlogHer Food ’10 even better! And yes, that means there will be a “next year”…although I can’t speak to location quite yet!
Best,
Elisa, for the BlogHer Team
Alice, yes, I hope we get to meet up again soon!
Cris, it was a lot of fun. Maybe you’ll get to join us sometime?
Lydia, I could eat at Contigo every week, but the airfare would rack up very quickly.
Elisa, thank you it was so good to see you again! And yes, I will of course do the survey.
Man, I wish I was there. You would be on my short list of bloggers to meet
Nate, I wish you and Annie could have been there. It would have been so fun to finally meet you!
If ever I had an “And wnen we meet, we’re already friends” moment at BlogHer Food, it was seeing you across the room, coming over to say hello, feeling like we were long-time friends reconnecting after too long. Quite uncanny! So lovely to meet you and to hear about your “busy boys” — I’ll follow your site even more closely, now!
I enjoyed meeting you, too, and hope we have more time at the next conference. I would happily attend a D.C. BlogHer food conference!
It was an honor meeting you Andrea! You are so cute I wanted to keep on hugging you!
Andrea, it was GREAT to meet you, fun to talk about my old stomping grounds in the DC area, and hilarious to compare SF “sightings.” Kristen at Dine & Dish added to the fun when she reported seeing a naked guy just casually walking down the street. And this was before the Folsom fair
I’m now casting around for an opportunity to get back to DC and an excuse to see you again.
Ok, so I have a confession to make. You know how you say you were too shy to say hi to David Lebovitz? Well, I felt the same way about you! Saw you across the room and wanted to come say hi, then my dork meter went up. I love and admire what you do. Here’s to not being so shy next time.
Jennie
It was fun meeting you in person. It really was a great conference, huh?
It was such a pleasure to meet you Andrea and share the Contigo experience. It is such a gem:D
Alanna, likewise.
Lynda, I hope the conference will move around. There are a number of great food cities around the country that we should all be introduced to.
Tartelette, I had a brief attack of shyness meeting you, but you made me feel completely comfortable.
Carrie, I hope you can make it out to this coast some time.
Jennifer, how funny! Next time we just walk right up and say Hi!
Maria, yes I wish we could have had a little more time to chat!
Val, so great to have dinner with you and the rest. I have wonderful memories of that evening.
Andrea! It was so great to finally meet you. I also brought my camera and took not a single photo. I suppose that means I was too busy participating instead of hiding behind the lens.
Thank heaven I’m not the only one who toted the camera and neglected to take pictures! And I’m relieved to hear it.
Wonderful re-cap of the event and I’ll look forward to meeting you next year. I had such fun, I can hardly wait!