Food Blogger Bash at Whole Foods

Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to the Austin360 Food Blogger Bash co-sponsored by Whole Foods (seriously - did I really need to link that? Has anyone not heard of Whole Foods?) and Go Texan. (Big thanks to Addie Broyles!)

There is a very active food blogging community in Austin - Addie says there are 60-70 of us writing about our culinary adventures. Amazing! And we all keep at it just for the fun of it, for the most part. (Well, that and the promise of events like this. *wink wink*) The crowd was entertaining and vibrant and the food...amazing. I saw some old friends and met a host of new ones. It was good to chat with Jenna Noel, of Edible Austin, and Cathy Erway from Not Eating Out in New York. I glimpsed the gals behind Cupcakes Take the Cake and countless other bloggers, from here and away. It was really a pleasure being surrounded by people who are as equally passionate about food, especially local food, as I am. And for once, I didn't feel like a crazy person for getting down on my knees to get the perfect shot of a fork or some tomatoes.

Besides the amazing people, there was food. Oh, was there ever food! The edibles were spread throughout the culinary center and the patio area, leaving all of us food geeks plenty of space and light to take some delightful photos. Which, of course, we did...in spades. Despite my professed hatred of cold tomatoes, the tomato tatins were my favorite - "Sliced Texas hot house tomatoes atop country-style bread spread with fresh Texas basil pesto and drizzled with olive oil." The combination was amazing and I couldn't help but return for seconds. (And maybe thirds...and fourths...shh...)

In addition to pre-made food that tempted our tastebuds, there were cooking demonstrations by Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due and Tyson Cole from Uchi who cooked herb-stuffed flounder and grilled trout in crispy rice balls, respectively. What a treat!