Bite n' Write: Poetry and Chocolate
Now here's a twist: I went to a convention and it was absolutely nothing to do with science fiction!
No - it was a bloggers' convention. A foodie blogger's convention at that.
The Bite n' Write con was put together by my brother James Bolton and my sister-in-law Annie Ko who are specialists in web media and baking lovely things respectively. It was a project they'd had in mind a while ago, but they've been working on it really hard and yesterday's event was the culmination of that effort. Honestly, if people knew the issues they have had to work through to get this con off the ground... they are the veritable swan's legs that pair. Considering the heartache we've all had as a family lately with mom's death, well, I can only repeat what I've told them already and will keep telling them. They have done a blinding job, and she would be so utterly proud of them.
Hats off too to the friends who assisted behind the scenes. I'm sorry I didn't catch everyone's names, but hello to Emma-Jane who I saw running round and helping lots.
N also helped with some much needed tech backup and I opened and closed the event with some food-based poetry. I had lots of lovely comments about the poems, which made me very happy.
So what can you expect from a food bloggers' convention? Well, some of the ingredients included...
Custard
The event was held in the Old Library at the Custard Factory in Digbeth.To begin with it was a bit of a cold custard, but it warmed up - thankfully.
Chocolate
One of the key sessions was a chocolate tasting from Artisan du Chocolat. Think gorgeous chocolate quality with a touch of Heston Blumenthal madness: green Matcha white chocolate; lemon and thyme; thyme and sage; balsamic vinegar; Mole chilli; tobacco. Some combinations sounded great but were very strange on the palate and I discovered after thirty years of believing otherwise that there is such a thing as too bitter a chocolate for me - 100% chocolate might be all right for cooking, but a chunk of it is not nice for snacking. Love love love the Masala chai, Passion fruit discs, salted caramel pearls and sparkling British wine truffles, though.
Margarine
We had an excellent talk on food photography from Frasershot. Craig Fraser has worked with some impressive names in food, from J D Wetherspoons to Waitrose, and from Gary Rhodes to Marcus Wareing. For an example of how to do it badly on a smartphone, just look below, but Craig gave us some fabulous insights and tips. Did you know that margarine is often used instead of ice cream on shoots as it doesn't melt? Don't think food photography is all fakery and high tech, though. A lot of it is just getting the light right, and some of his spontaneous shots were just gorgeous.
More Chocolate
Another fascinating and very useful talk on SEO from Judith Lewis - an SEO specialist, who is the brain behind the very popular Mostly About Chocolate blog. I've tried to incorporate some of her tips on my website today, although that combined with James's talk on Wordpress makes me think I'm getting Wordpress envy. Luckily there's a cake for that (see below).
Icing
There was a flurry of excitement on the #bitenwrite Twitter feed as Great British Bake Off's Ben Frazer made an appearance to speak about video blogging. No pink cake from him... though some of us were still eating the red velvet cupcakes we'd got from Fallen Angel Bakery earlier in the day. Dee-lish!
Salmon
Let's just say, the buffet lunch was amazing - smoked salmon, spinach, green bean salad, new potatoes. Oh, and yet more cake!
Samosas
And just when we didn't think we could squeeze in another mouthful, the Bay Leaf restaurant invited everyone next door for some luscious samosas, pakora and bhajis, served with raita and tamarind sauce. Flavourful rather than spicy, with some unusual veg-filling choices, like artichoke (???) - very nice indeed.
All in all a great day, and if this is the kind of thing you can participate in as a poet, rest assured I'm going to be writing a lot more foodie poetry from now on!
Some of the gorgeous eats on offer. Mini Wordpress cupcakes from Kiss Me Cupcakes - yum!
No - it was a bloggers' convention. A foodie blogger's convention at that.
The Bite n' Write con was put together by my brother James Bolton and my sister-in-law Annie Ko who are specialists in web media and baking lovely things respectively. It was a project they'd had in mind a while ago, but they've been working on it really hard and yesterday's event was the culmination of that effort. Honestly, if people knew the issues they have had to work through to get this con off the ground... they are the veritable swan's legs that pair. Considering the heartache we've all had as a family lately with mom's death, well, I can only repeat what I've told them already and will keep telling them. They have done a blinding job, and she would be so utterly proud of them.
Hats off too to the friends who assisted behind the scenes. I'm sorry I didn't catch everyone's names, but hello to Emma-Jane who I saw running round and helping lots.
N also helped with some much needed tech backup and I opened and closed the event with some food-based poetry. I had lots of lovely comments about the poems, which made me very happy.
So what can you expect from a food bloggers' convention? Well, some of the ingredients included...
Custard
The event was held in the Old Library at the Custard Factory in Digbeth.To begin with it was a bit of a cold custard, but it warmed up - thankfully.
Chocolate
One of the key sessions was a chocolate tasting from Artisan du Chocolat. Think gorgeous chocolate quality with a touch of Heston Blumenthal madness: green Matcha white chocolate; lemon and thyme; thyme and sage; balsamic vinegar; Mole chilli; tobacco. Some combinations sounded great but were very strange on the palate and I discovered after thirty years of believing otherwise that there is such a thing as too bitter a chocolate for me - 100% chocolate might be all right for cooking, but a chunk of it is not nice for snacking. Love love love the Masala chai, Passion fruit discs, salted caramel pearls and sparkling British wine truffles, though.
Margarine
We had an excellent talk on food photography from Frasershot. Craig Fraser has worked with some impressive names in food, from J D Wetherspoons to Waitrose, and from Gary Rhodes to Marcus Wareing. For an example of how to do it badly on a smartphone, just look below, but Craig gave us some fabulous insights and tips. Did you know that margarine is often used instead of ice cream on shoots as it doesn't melt? Don't think food photography is all fakery and high tech, though. A lot of it is just getting the light right, and some of his spontaneous shots were just gorgeous.
More Chocolate
Another fascinating and very useful talk on SEO from Judith Lewis - an SEO specialist, who is the brain behind the very popular Mostly About Chocolate blog. I've tried to incorporate some of her tips on my website today, although that combined with James's talk on Wordpress makes me think I'm getting Wordpress envy. Luckily there's a cake for that (see below).
Icing
There was a flurry of excitement on the #bitenwrite Twitter feed as Great British Bake Off's Ben Frazer made an appearance to speak about video blogging. No pink cake from him... though some of us were still eating the red velvet cupcakes we'd got from Fallen Angel Bakery earlier in the day. Dee-lish!
Salmon
Let's just say, the buffet lunch was amazing - smoked salmon, spinach, green bean salad, new potatoes. Oh, and yet more cake!
Samosas
And just when we didn't think we could squeeze in another mouthful, the Bay Leaf restaurant invited everyone next door for some luscious samosas, pakora and bhajis, served with raita and tamarind sauce. Flavourful rather than spicy, with some unusual veg-filling choices, like artichoke (???) - very nice indeed.
All in all a great day, and if this is the kind of thing you can participate in as a poet, rest assured I'm going to be writing a lot more foodie poetry from now on!
Some of the gorgeous eats on offer. Mini Wordpress cupcakes from Kiss Me Cupcakes - yum!