Monday, September 15, 2008

Why I LOVE Foodbuzz...

Our menu for the evening at Todd English's Blue Zoo

They bought me dinner! And I don't mean just any dinner. They bought me and about 20 of my nearest and dearest Florida food bloggers a really, really nice dinner with cocktails and wine as well!!!

This happened on Saturday night. The planning for this has been a long time coming. I think it was around the middle of June when Jenn the Left Over Queen and I first started talking about getting together with a bunch of other bloggers. About this same time Foodbuzz, being the incredible people that they are implemented a program called Dine on Us that is available to all of their featured publishers!!! We jumped right on it and Jenn took the bull by the horns and pulled this thing all together. We were even fortunate enough to have Ryan from Foodbuzz fly all the way from San Francisco to hang out with us!!!

Jenn was able to get us an incredible private room for dinner at Todd English's Blue Zoo in the Swan and Dolphin Hotel in Orlando. Good thing too...we were really loud. Everyone talking about food and then the food came and boy was it incredible!

Amuse - Clam...bacon ragout

Second Course - beet salad...candied walnuts, goat cheese fondue

Third Course - spice route char...curried beluga lentils, zhataar carrot, yogurt spill

Fourth Course - sous vide amish chicken...parmessan polenta, picholine olive, deconstructed tomato sauce

Dessert - warm chocolate cake with liquid ganache center.....maracaibo chocolate cream pudding, peanut ice cream

Bloggers in attendance:

Jenn The Left Over Queen
Lys from Cooking in Stilettos
Christey and Peter from Foto Cuisine
Rachel from My Little Marshmallow
Chris from Pickles and Cake
Susan from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy
Ingar from Taste Memory
Erin and Chris from The Olive Notes
Bryan from The Tattooed Gourmet

Take a minute and see what they have to say!

This photo here shows the huge difference between the way a photographer sees things and the way the rest of us do. This photo was taken on my camera by Christey from FotoCuisine. The way the light is shining through the wine and causing that incredible shadow on the table. Thanks Christey!!!

What a great night and I really hope we can do it again! You guys are incredible and reaffirmed my theory...food bloggers are some of the best people anywhere!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

34 comments:

Peter M said...

I really hope Foodbuzz makes it north of the border. Toronto needs a dinner like this (wink-wink Ryan).

Brittany said...

Jealousy and hunger is all I am feeling:)

Núria said...

Aaaaaaahhhh I saw you all at Jenn's and now again these awesome dishes and you tell me it's all for free!!!!! Having a good time, good friends and good food for FREE!!!! Foodbuzz people, what about Spain?

He, he :D So happy you had a great time Judy :D

Anonymous said...

It was fun, fun, fun, wasn't it? Great meeting you, and what a meal!

Jen said...

It sounds like such a lovely evening!

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Ah Peter-I will be flying up there for a TO one!!!

Oh Brittany-Join us next time!

Hey Nuria-Come to Orlando for the next one!!!

Hi Peter-It really was fun, fun, fun...so glad you guys went out with us later! See that great picture Christey took of the wine on my crappy camera? I need to crop it but it still turned out great!!!

Hi Jen-If you ever get a chance to meet up with other food bloggers...jump fast. They are a great bunch!

Thistlemoon said...

YAY! So much fun indeed! What a cool photo Christey took! Judy - I think we are going to have to make this a yearly thing!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

British Columbia needs a dinner like this too:D

Heather said...

I missed the Portland one! I never got a reminder, and I plumb forgot. :(

Glad you had a great time!

Mike of Mike's Table said...

AH it looks like I missed a great time. :-/ I wanted to join in and finally meet the familiar faces in real life...next time! We'll need more FL get togethers.

Bentoist said...

Now I'm just green with envy. You guys looked like you had a lovely time.

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Hey Jenn-I think everyone would be up for a yearly thing!!! That picture was great wasn't it?

Hey Val- Foodbuz has the Dine on Us program. This was really great!

Hey Heather-I wondered why you didn't go to the Portland one. Be sure to make it if they do it again!

Hey Mike-I was surprised that you weren't there! Next time!

Hi bentoist-we really did!

taste memory said...

Hi Judy!
so glad to finally meetcha/yea incredibly time with great food, people and great times!

Definitely Definitely must do again - glad the lime went over well with Marg ;-)

Nate @ House of Annie said...

It was the Dine on Us program that allowed Hawaii FPs to get together at Tokkuri Tei in Honolulu for sushi last month. We didn't have as many in attendance as you all did but hopefully next year's dinner will be bigger.

Do you go to this restaurant often, or was this your first time?

Danni said...

Wow - oh - wow...what an amazing evening that must've been. Your pictures are incredible...the attention to detail on those dishes was amazing. I'm a bit embarrassed to ask, but...what are beluga lentils? Certainly nothing to do with the whale, right? (Now I've got that darn Raffi song in my head "Baby beluga in the deep blue sea...")

Anonymous said...

hmmm...may have to rethink this whole "not joining foodbuzz" thing. cua blogher is nice, but they ain't taking me out to dinner.

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

Hi Ingar-It was so wonderful!!!

Hi nate-n-annie-It was my first time there but definitely not my last. I can only imagine how big this would be if we were able to do it again next year!!!

Hey Danni-They are black beluga lentils. Just a jet black lentil that tends to look like caviar (all black and shiny) on your plate. It really was a great evening!

Hey Michelle-I almost signed with blogher but I wanted something food geared and Foodbuzz has been incredible. Huge network, perks, etc. If you do sign up be sure to use me as a referral!!!

Elle said...

Ooooh, what an incredible evening! I'm so glad you guys got to do this and take full advantage of the the Foodbuzz program. Very cool!

Proud Italian Cook said...

How fun! Great food, great friends, what more could you ask for!

Stacey Snacks said...

Judy,
I would love to get together with foodbuzz bloggers from NYC NJ metro area?
How did you arrange this?
I am making your parsley potatoes tonight from July post.
Thanks<
Stacey Snacks

Anonymous said...

Judy, it was so nice to meet you along with everyone else. I had a great time and wish i could have gone out with everyone after dinner. Maybe next time I will be able to.

Esteban said...

Todd English--ahhh run for the hills!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun. The food looks scrumptious! I love Todd English. Haven't been able to drive to LA for the dinners hosted there -- I keep hoping for something not on a Thursday with LA traffic.

Judy@nofearentertaining said...

HI Elle-It really was very cool. DO it if you can!

Hi PIC-Absolutely nothing else in the world!

Hi Stacey-First I hope you enjoy the potatoes. Second we just got all of the people living in Florida together and got with the Foodbuzz Dine on Us program and finally agreed on a place and price and sent out emails to all involved and they could opt in or not. Ryan was an absolute dream to work with at Foodbuzz!

Hi Bryan-Too bad you couldn't go. We had a bunch more fun!!! Hopefully next time!

Hi Kelly-We actually stayed over night in Orlando. It was a 3 hour drive and had no intentions of driving home after. We rented a great condo with another couple and got to keep the festivities going on longer than they should have!!!

Dharm said...

Yowzer! That looks like a great feast! Why cant foodbuzz come over to Asia. This is discrimination I say!! LOL

glamah16 said...

Oh how fun. I wish there were enough Chicago Food Buzz bloggers to get something like this going. You would think there would be.

Aggie said...

Hi Judy! I thought of you when I was down in Sanibel...I absolutely loved it down there.

Great pictures of the event, I'm so disappointed I missed it. It would have been so nice to meet everyone.

Melissa said...

Glad you guys had a wonderful evening. I didn't get to go to my FoodBuzz dinner due to overtime work commitments.

I have to admit, I'm rather jealous that other people got to meet you and Jenn. ;)

Mandy said...

This is amazing! Wow, what a dinner. I really enjoy your blog, I will definitely be back!

erin said...

We had such a GREAT time that night...and it was wonderful getting to sit by you guys and chat! I look forward to meeting again sometime (and of course, over a tasty dinner) :)

Susan @ SGCC said...

It was so wonderful to finally meet you, Judy! I felt as though I'd known you for years! We will definitely have to get together at Fishermen's Village soon.

Laura Paterson said...

This sounds amazing - UK dinner please!!! ;)

I do have an amusing image of everyone falling silent when the food arrives... then 20 food bloggers scrabbling around taking pictures of all the grub! The servers would've been dumbfounded ;)

Anonymous said...

Holy Macaroni!
Good on you all!
Such affairs in Japan are either organized by expats or limited to small affairs!
Here in Shizuoka we are going to have an international Sake Bloggers enjoy a Japanese meal with Shizuoka Sake and Italian wine (I will have to apologize to my family in France!).
Four of us only, but our combined blogs at Tokyofoodcast, Urban Sake and Tokyodrikinglass should make for the lack of guests!
Anyway, great stuff!
I do envy you all!
Cheers,
Robert-Gilles

Anonymous said...

wow thats mighty nice of foodbuzz :D itll be a while b4 anyone treats me to dinner i think!

London foodblogger loving your webby!