Food Blog South

Had so much fun at Food Blog South this weekend! It is the second largest food blogging conference in the United States, and there were people there from California, New York, Chicago, and Massachusetts.




Just a warning- this post is going to be very very long.

Brittany came down on Friday, and we went to the pre-party at Jim N Nick's. I have dined at Jim 'N Nick's on many occasions in my lifetime, but I'd never eaten at the 5 Points location. It was completely different than any of the other locations I've been to before- it definitely had a more urban, downtown feel.

I ordered a glass of the Liberty School Chardonnay- aromas of green apple, caramel and pie spice, followed by notes of pear and honey- and munched on some appetizers when we first arrived.

Later, I ended up ordering the Pig in the Garden Salad with BBQ chicken and vinaigrette dressing. We also got a complimentary basket of their famous cheese biscuits.

On Saturday morning, the conference officially started. The event was held in Old Car Heaven, a really cool warehouse with antique cars on display.

The first session I attended was about camera phone photography. The speaker was Colleen Duffley, the owner of Studio b. in Alys Beach, Florida. I really want to go now. I thought this session was really interesting because I use my camera phone to document all the food I post. I learned that "iPhoneography" is a real branded term and found some really cool apps for my phone. No expensive equipment necessary!

The second session was about blog design. Basically, what I took away is that my blog design could be a lot better, but I don't really have the time or money to do anything about it right now.

After the second session, it was lunch time! Lunch was catered from Shindigs, a local food truck that goes to a different location in Birmingham each day of the week. Go check out their website- their menu is amazing!

I filled my plate with spinach salad with pom seeds, oranges, and fried goat cheese, broccoli rabe, spaghetti squash, some kind of grain with mushrooms and butternut squash, and short ribs. Dessert was tiramisu with hazelnuts and lemon whipped cream. Everything was fabulous!!

After lunch, we walked around the vendors and stocked up on lots of cool stuff, such as Jim 'N Nick's Cheese Biscuit Mix, Roland Black Bean Quinoa, and Zatarain's Jambalaya.

The most exciting part of my day? I had a foodie celeb sighting.

Justin from the Next Food Network Star was working one of the vendors! We chatted. I told him I loved the show. It was great. I was still too scared to ask him for a picture, so I just took some creepy shots from across the room instead.

We also got samples of the most amazing craft ice cream from High Road. I tried the Bourbon Brown Sugar ice cream, and it rocked my world.

The third session was about recipe development. The speaker was Virginia Willis, who is a very big deal in the culinary world. She has inspired me to cook a real meal using a real recipe- not just throw every veggie in my kitchen into a bowl and call it "dinner."

The fourth session was a beer tasting featuring beer from Good People Brewery, Birmingham's own local brewery! We sampled 3 different beers, Good People Brown Ale, Good People I.P.A. and Snake Handler. I only had a few sips of each, but I think I liked the Good People Brown Ale the best. I learned all about food pairings and that sometimes beer tastes better at room temperature.

The last session was about creating and marketing your own brand. The owner of Indie Candy talked to us and made me really want to go get some organic all-natural chocolate that's free of artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.

Then it was snack time. What's a food blogger conference without snack time? Our snack was the most delicious sugared pecans ever from Pecans! I would highly recommend ordering some from their website. I also got a few samples of their pecan butter, which I tested in my overnight oats this morning. It was amazing, but then again, I haven't met a nut butter I don't like.

After the conference was over, Brittany and I went to dinner at La Paz. I ordered a Skinny Girl Margarita and half of a Mexican quesadilla- served on a tomato basil tortilla and filled with all kinds of veggies. Using all of the knowledge we gained at the conference, we put our dim lighting photography skills into practice.

Then we went to the after-party at Good People Brewery, but I'll save that for my next post!