The folks over at Google Places have invited us to participate in a contest to win entry to a snazzy relaunch party for Zagat.com's blog! Winners will attend a cocktail party in Catalyst's cozy Fireplace Room on Sunday, January 29th, at 7PM; there will be delicious drinks and tasty treats aplenty. Attendees will also receive a free 60-day subscription to Zagat.com.
There's only room for 15 attendees, so you have to win your way in by doing what you do best - writing about food! Check out the details and official rules here. Housemade charcuterie, curried grilled shrimp, and parmesan truffle fries? Hard to resist.
A resource for food and drink bloggers in and around Boston, Massachusetts.
Showing posts with label events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label events. Show all posts
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Boston Food Bloggers Mini Tweetup at Mega Tweetup #3
A tweetup within a tweetup = inception tweetup?
This coming Tuesday, January 24th, from 6pm until 11pm at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge, I'll be hosting a Boston Food Bloggers mini tweetup...can we call it an eetup?...within the epically large 3rd Annual #MegaTweetup.
Over in our little corner, we'll be discussing Boston, food, and blogging. And nerding out about social media.
Tickets are available for $8 over here, but I also have three free tickets to give to members of BFB. Just tweet about the event as many times as you'd like between now and Sunday at 10pm, and I'll randomly select the winners from the tweeters. More tweets = more entries. Be sure to include the hashtags #BFBeetup and #MegaTweetup, as well as a link to this post.
Follow @BostonFoodBlogs on Twitter for up-to-date information about the event, including where exactly we'll be meeting. Hope you can make it!
This coming Tuesday, January 24th, from 6pm until 11pm at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge, I'll be hosting a Boston Food Bloggers mini tweetup...can we call it an eetup?...within the epically large 3rd Annual #MegaTweetup.
Over in our little corner, we'll be discussing Boston, food, and blogging. And nerding out about social media.
Tickets are available for $8 over here, but I also have three free tickets to give to members of BFB. Just tweet about the event as many times as you'd like between now and Sunday at 10pm, and I'll randomly select the winners from the tweeters. More tweets = more entries. Be sure to include the hashtags #BFBeetup and #MegaTweetup, as well as a link to this post.
Follow @BostonFoodBlogs on Twitter for up-to-date information about the event, including where exactly we'll be meeting. Hope you can make it!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Sponsored Post: Help Your Favorite Charity Win $1000 from ableBanking
As a food writer, I often feel guilty that this thing that I treat as a luxury, an adventure, and a novelty is something that others have to treat as a need that is barely met. While I write fluff pieces on food, others are barely managing to get the sustenance they need to survive. When ableBanking contacted me about promoting their charitable giving contest to support Massachusetts organizations, I thought it would be a great way for the food blogging community to throw support behind fighting hunger by nominating one of Massachusetts' worthy food-related causes.
ableBanking, an online-only savings bank with a huge interest in charitable giving, is launching soon. In the meantime, they're running a contest through January 31: anyone can nominate any Massachusetts nonprofit, and the top five nominated groups will each receive $1000, an amount that can do a huge amount of good for a small organization. Nominate your favorite Massachusetts nonprofit here. I'm nominating Project Bread - the Walk for Hunger Inc., because while I'm grateful to be enjoying the luxury of food from a food blogger's perspective, I want to do what I can to ensure that others are not going hungry.
More about ableBanking:
Launching as an online-only bank gets rid of a lot of the overhead that brick-and-mortar banks deal with, freeing up funds for better things, like great rates for customers and donations to charity. ableBanking is doing both of those things. When you sign up for an account, ableBanking gives $25 to a charity of your choice. Each year, ableBanking matches a portion of your savings with another charitable donation. Pretty neat, right? To learn more, check out their blog post on the topic, or take a look at this October 2011 article in The Boston Globe.
Connect with ableBanking on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The Twitter hashtag for this contest is #ablegiving.
More about Project Bread:
"Project Bread is dedicated to alleviating, preventing, and ultimately ending hunger in Massachusetts." It's an important mission, considering that over 250,000 Massachusetts households are at risk for hunger. Project Bread strives to be a thought leader, coming up with scalable solutions towards ending hunger, and raises millions of dollars through its yearly Walk for Hunger, the oldest continual pledge walk in the country. The organization supports 400 emergency food programs in Massachusetts (such as soup kitchens and food banks) and fields a hotline, FoodSource, to help hungry people know where to turn.
Connect with Project Bread on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
More food-related charity opportunities:
One of ableBanking's featured partners, the Greater Boston Food Bank, has declared every January "Super Hunger Month," and it's filled with opportunities for giving. For example, on Wednesday, January 25th, the Four Seasons is hosting the Super Hunger Chef fundraiser for the sixth year in a row; local chefs including Jody Adams, Brooke Vosika, Michael Schlow, and Tim Cushman will treat attendees to an "international culinary tour." Tickets are $125; proceeds benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank. Additionally, Super Hunger Brunch takes place on Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th.
In addition to Project Bread and the Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston has many other food-related organizations that could use our support, such as Future Chefs, The Women's Lunch Place, The Friday Night Supper Program, and The Food Project.
I hope you'll take a minute - that's all it'll take - to nominate your favorite local charity for this contest. $1000 can make a big difference. And I'd love to hear about which charity you're nominating; please feel free to share your thoughts and stories in the comments below, and please share this information with the rest of the Massachusetts blogosphere and general community.
Disclosure: I am receiving monetary compensation from ableBanking to promote this contest.
ableBanking, an online-only savings bank with a huge interest in charitable giving, is launching soon. In the meantime, they're running a contest through January 31: anyone can nominate any Massachusetts nonprofit, and the top five nominated groups will each receive $1000, an amount that can do a huge amount of good for a small organization. Nominate your favorite Massachusetts nonprofit here. I'm nominating Project Bread - the Walk for Hunger Inc., because while I'm grateful to be enjoying the luxury of food from a food blogger's perspective, I want to do what I can to ensure that others are not going hungry.
More about ableBanking:
Launching as an online-only bank gets rid of a lot of the overhead that brick-and-mortar banks deal with, freeing up funds for better things, like great rates for customers and donations to charity. ableBanking is doing both of those things. When you sign up for an account, ableBanking gives $25 to a charity of your choice. Each year, ableBanking matches a portion of your savings with another charitable donation. Pretty neat, right? To learn more, check out their blog post on the topic, or take a look at this October 2011 article in The Boston Globe.
Connect with ableBanking on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The Twitter hashtag for this contest is #ablegiving.
More about Project Bread:
"Project Bread is dedicated to alleviating, preventing, and ultimately ending hunger in Massachusetts." It's an important mission, considering that over 250,000 Massachusetts households are at risk for hunger. Project Bread strives to be a thought leader, coming up with scalable solutions towards ending hunger, and raises millions of dollars through its yearly Walk for Hunger, the oldest continual pledge walk in the country. The organization supports 400 emergency food programs in Massachusetts (such as soup kitchens and food banks) and fields a hotline, FoodSource, to help hungry people know where to turn.
Connect with Project Bread on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
More food-related charity opportunities:
One of ableBanking's featured partners, the Greater Boston Food Bank, has declared every January "Super Hunger Month," and it's filled with opportunities for giving. For example, on Wednesday, January 25th, the Four Seasons is hosting the Super Hunger Chef fundraiser for the sixth year in a row; local chefs including Jody Adams, Brooke Vosika, Michael Schlow, and Tim Cushman will treat attendees to an "international culinary tour." Tickets are $125; proceeds benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank. Additionally, Super Hunger Brunch takes place on Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th.
In addition to Project Bread and the Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston has many other food-related organizations that could use our support, such as Future Chefs, The Women's Lunch Place, The Friday Night Supper Program, and The Food Project.
I hope you'll take a minute - that's all it'll take - to nominate your favorite local charity for this contest. $1000 can make a big difference. And I'd love to hear about which charity you're nominating; please feel free to share your thoughts and stories in the comments below, and please share this information with the rest of the Massachusetts blogosphere and general community.
Disclosure: I am receiving monetary compensation from ableBanking to promote this contest.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Guest Post: It’s time for America to Eat Real and for Boston Food Bloggers to ring the dinner bell
This is a guest post by Lyn Huckabee. By day, Lyn is a sustainable energy geek for the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. By night, she’s an avid home cook who tested recipes for Boston UnCommon, the Junior League of Boston cookbook, co-founded The Boston Food Swap, and helps organize events for the Boston chapter of Green Drinks. Would YOU like to write a guest post for BostonFoodBloggers.com? Email Rachel. Now, here's Lyn:
Why did you start blogging about food?
Did you do it because you loved to eat, cook, and write? Maybe as a way to make the very personal experience of food more social? Or do you love to tell compelling stories with beautiful pictures?
Now that you have started down this path, whatever your reason for starting, that reason has now brought you to a higher calling.
This October 24th, the Center for Science in the Public Interest will launch the first ever Food Day. They hope to build Food Day in to an analogue to the 40 year old Earth Day, helping people relate to the often complicated policy issues that affect their daily lives and those of countless others in our economy.
Food Day aims to promote six principles:
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Being dedicated to making real food fun every month, the Boston Food Swap decided to host a special event in honor of Food Day. We are holding a Community Sourced Potluck (CSP) on October 24th. At this event, attendees will be encouraged to submit their own dish at the event and document that dish’s journey before the event online. The best dishes with the best Food Day stories will win prizes while the stories will be held up as an example that making sustainable choices about food can be a fun adventure.
We cordially invite you, Boston Food Bloggers, to help write (photograph, illustrate, create the soundtrack to, etc.) Boston’s Eating Real story. We have set up a Tumblr site for multimedia submissions from non-bloggers, but we would also like to see your own Food Day story posted on your own blog and linked to the microsite. We would also like to invite you to attend the event to share your dish and your story. The invitation will be posted via our Facebook page, Twitter feed, and the Eventbrite host feed when it has been finalized.
The CSPI and the Food Day Massachusetts organizing committee have plans to aggressively promote the launch of Food Day and expect the interest to be wide. Because participating in the CSP real-life /online project is a great cause, we expect the buzz level to be high leading up to the 24th and expect that a lot of people in Boston and beyond will want to hear your stories.
If you are scratching your head trying to understand how you will be able to write about your Food Day experience even if you’re not a food policy geek, every Monday leading up to Food Day, the Boston Food Swap will feature a guest blog post on one of these Food Day principles. Our goal is to explain to people why these principles are important to them in their lives and how they can take action on each principle to make their food system more sustainable. We also hope these posts will offer guidelines for people who would like to submit to the project by explaining, for example, how they can tell if their food was made or grown by farm workers working under fair conditions. These posts should help you craft your message.
So please participate. If you can’t participate by submitting a dish and/or sharing a story, please help in any way you can. Here are some other great ways to help make Food Day and the CSP better whether you choose to submit to the project or not:
Thanks for your time and I can’t wait to start reading your stories of Eating Real!
-Lyn Huckabee
Why did you start blogging about food?
Did you do it because you loved to eat, cook, and write? Maybe as a way to make the very personal experience of food more social? Or do you love to tell compelling stories with beautiful pictures?
Now that you have started down this path, whatever your reason for starting, that reason has now brought you to a higher calling.
This October 24th, the Center for Science in the Public Interest will launch the first ever Food Day. They hope to build Food Day in to an analogue to the 40 year old Earth Day, helping people relate to the often complicated policy issues that affect their daily lives and those of countless others in our economy.
Food Day aims to promote six principles:
Being dedicated to making real food fun every month, the Boston Food Swap decided to host a special event in honor of Food Day. We are holding a Community Sourced Potluck (CSP) on October 24th. At this event, attendees will be encouraged to submit their own dish at the event and document that dish’s journey before the event online. The best dishes with the best Food Day stories will win prizes while the stories will be held up as an example that making sustainable choices about food can be a fun adventure.
We cordially invite you, Boston Food Bloggers, to help write (photograph, illustrate, create the soundtrack to, etc.) Boston’s Eating Real story. We have set up a Tumblr site for multimedia submissions from non-bloggers, but we would also like to see your own Food Day story posted on your own blog and linked to the microsite. We would also like to invite you to attend the event to share your dish and your story. The invitation will be posted via our Facebook page, Twitter feed, and the Eventbrite host feed when it has been finalized.
The CSPI and the Food Day Massachusetts organizing committee have plans to aggressively promote the launch of Food Day and expect the interest to be wide. Because participating in the CSP real-life /online project is a great cause, we expect the buzz level to be high leading up to the 24th and expect that a lot of people in Boston and beyond will want to hear your stories.
If you are scratching your head trying to understand how you will be able to write about your Food Day experience even if you’re not a food policy geek, every Monday leading up to Food Day, the Boston Food Swap will feature a guest blog post on one of these Food Day principles. Our goal is to explain to people why these principles are important to them in their lives and how they can take action on each principle to make their food system more sustainable. We also hope these posts will offer guidelines for people who would like to submit to the project by explaining, for example, how they can tell if their food was made or grown by farm workers working under fair conditions. These posts should help you craft your message.
So please participate. If you can’t participate by submitting a dish and/or sharing a story, please help in any way you can. Here are some other great ways to help make Food Day and the CSP better whether you choose to submit to the project or not:
- Suggest Food Day appropriate sponsors for the CSP
- Spread the word about Food Day via your social media channels and encourage people to submit dishes and stories
- Suggest appropriate prizes for winning submissions
- Suggest local food luminaries to judge the submissions
Thanks for your time and I can’t wait to start reading your stories of Eating Real!
-Lyn Huckabee
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Upcoming Event: Twisted Tea Tweetup at the Lansdowne Pub
All throughout the summer, the Lansdowne Pub is hosting Twisted Tea Tweetup Tuesdays, a chance for online networks to do some real-life networking - and next Tuesday (July 12) is Boston Food Bloggers' turn to invade the Pub!
Come by between 7pm and 10pm to enjoy appetizers and to hang out with your blogger friends. There will also be a giveaway sponsored by Twisted Tea. (This is a 21+ event.)
The event is free, but please register here. The hashtag for the event is #TTTT if you feel like tweeting. (Please do!)
Will I see you there?
Come by between 7pm and 10pm to enjoy appetizers and to hang out with your blogger friends. There will also be a giveaway sponsored by Twisted Tea. (This is a 21+ event.)
The event is free, but please register here. The hashtag for the event is #TTTT if you feel like tweeting. (Please do!)
Will I see you there?
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
TECHmunch Boston 2011 - Food Blogger Conference!
What are you doing Sunday, July 24?
Correct answer: attending TECHmunch, Boston's first-ever (right?) food blogger conference!
Find all the details on the event page, and get your ticket today! The early bird blogger special is available until July 1 - $125 instead of $175. Not bad.
Your ticket includes a whole day of fun and interesting panels about blogging, with a focus on concrete tips to improve your content, visibility, and more. Lunch and snacks will be provided, and there's a mixer at the end.
Plus...I'm on one of the panels! Come listen to memake a fool of myself talk about interesting stuff at my first-ever conference appearance.
Bonus: 24 KitchenAid appliances will be given away during the event.
Bonus #2: I guess I really buried the lead here. Check it out:
The next 10 bloggers who buy a ticket for the conference will be invited to attend a private tour of the America's Test Kitchen studio on Monday, July 26, at 2:30pm.
The event is produced by Babette Pepaj (@BakeSpace), founder of BakeSpace.com, and co-produced locally by Hilary Allard (@hallard) of The Castle Group.
Get your ticket today.
Correct answer: attending TECHmunch, Boston's first-ever (right?) food blogger conference!
Find all the details on the event page, and get your ticket today! The early bird blogger special is available until July 1 - $125 instead of $175. Not bad.
Your ticket includes a whole day of fun and interesting panels about blogging, with a focus on concrete tips to improve your content, visibility, and more. Lunch and snacks will be provided, and there's a mixer at the end.
Plus...I'm on one of the panels! Come listen to me
Bonus: 24 KitchenAid appliances will be given away during the event.
Bonus #2: I guess I really buried the lead here. Check it out:
The next 10 bloggers who buy a ticket for the conference will be invited to attend a private tour of the America's Test Kitchen studio on Monday, July 26, at 2:30pm.
The event is produced by Babette Pepaj (@BakeSpace), founder of BakeSpace.com, and co-produced locally by Hilary Allard (@hallard) of The Castle Group.
Get your ticket today.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Two Bake Sales For Breast Cancer
This year, Bostonians are using baked goods to battle breast cancer. You can help by baking, eating, or both! There are (at least) two events coming up around Mother's Day:
Boston Bakes for Breast Cancer
May 2-8, 2011
All proceeds of this fundraiser (now in its twelfth year!) benefit breast cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over $500,000 has been raised since 2000. During the week leading up to Mother's Day, more than 250 restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and chocolate shops around the state will be offering unique desserts ($3 and up).
To see a full list of participating restaurants and shops, go here.
Bloggers Bake for Hope
May 4-6
This one's a virtual bake sale (well, kind of virtual - the sale is online but the food is real!) organized by Jen of Beantown Baker and Cara of Cara's Cravings as part of the national fundraiser, Bake for Hope. Bloggers and bakers are invited to register to bake items for the sale, and buyers will bid online between May 4 and May 6. Then, the bakers will ship their items to the winning bidders. Proceeds benefit the Massachusetts chapter of breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Keep an eye on the website and Twitter for more information.
May 2-8, 2011
All proceeds of this fundraiser (now in its twelfth year!) benefit breast cancer research and care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Over $500,000 has been raised since 2000. During the week leading up to Mother's Day, more than 250 restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and chocolate shops around the state will be offering unique desserts ($3 and up).
To see a full list of participating restaurants and shops, go here.
May 4-6
This one's a virtual bake sale (well, kind of virtual - the sale is online but the food is real!) organized by Jen of Beantown Baker and Cara of Cara's Cravings as part of the national fundraiser, Bake for Hope. Bloggers and bakers are invited to register to bake items for the sale, and buyers will bid online between May 4 and May 6. Then, the bakers will ship their items to the winning bidders. Proceeds benefit the Massachusetts chapter of breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Keep an eye on the website and Twitter for more information.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Event Recap: Boston Food Bloggers at UFood Grill
On Monday, March 28, a couple dozen Boston food bloggers descended on the Fenway location of UFood Grill to sample the menu and learn about the company's goal of providing (relatively) healthy fast food that tastes great. There are several locations elsewhere in the country, but UFood Grill actually began in Massachusetts. If you were in the area in the early 2000s, you might remember it as Lo Fat No Fat, originally in Watertown.
Treated to an open bar and a seemingly never-ending stream of food and smoothie samples, bloggers mingled and ate...and ate some more...while listening to Tom Mackey, Senior VP of Operations, explain the history and philosophy of UFood Grill.
It was a pleasure, as always, to spend time with such a wonderful group of bloggers, and it was great to see several new faces! I know this was the very first blogger event for some of you; welcome to the community and I hope to see you again soon!
I'll leave the detailed food reviews to the other attendees - check out the list of links at the bottom of this post - but here are some photos that I took at the event:
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| UFood Grill's motto: feel great |
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| Kathy (Kathy Can Cook), Katy (Recipe Can), Amanda (Tales From A Kitchen Misfit), Megan (Cooking Whims), Elizabeth (Don't (White) Sugar-Coat It), and Nicole (I am a honey bee) |
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| UnFries |
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| UFood Bistro Salad |
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| Fire-Grilled Sirloin Tips (my personal favorite!) |
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| Turkey Sausage Pizza |
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| Better Bacon Cheeseburger with UnFries |
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| Fire-Roasted Turkey & Swiss |
- Boston Restaurant: UFood Grill (happy hour honeys) - "UFood bakes their fries ("unfries"-get it?) so you don't have to feel bad when you're stuffing them in your mouth one after another like I was. They were nice and crispy (not soggy like the baked fries I've tried to make at home) and not at all greasy. Definitely my favorite food of the night."
- An Evening at UFood Grill (Indulge Inspire Imbibe) - "Make no mistake, I'm not about to forgo some greasy McDonald's as my fast and cheap go-to hangover cure; but for a healthy alternative on the go, the folks at UFood Grill are definitely onto something."
- An Evening with U....food Grill (BeantownEats) - "When you choose UFood Grill, will you pay more than McDonalds? Yes. Will you get higher-quality, more nutritious meal? Definitely."
- Healthy food, fast, and surprisingly delicious! (frugal foodista) - "I am happy to say that I advocate this restaurant for all its fastness, freshness and well...tastiness!"
- He Said, She Said: The Skinny on UFood Grill (WineDineWith.us) - "UFood’s menu is diverse for a “fast food” type of restaurant and has something for almost everybody."
- A Night Out At UFood Grill (Cooking Whims) - "One thing I liked about UFood Grill was the sheer variety of food they offer on their menu."
- Sampling the Menu at UFood Grill (The Foodies At Work) - "Ufood does not claim to be the healthiest choice in town; they do claim to be healthier than most other fast food chains, to taste great, and to have your order ready in 3.5 minutes. The Boston Food Bloggers were lucky to experience all three of these claims."
- UFood Grill Event (Recipe Can) - "Ufood grill offers healthy fast food. They realize that nobody wants to give up their pizza and cheeseburgers so they try to make them better for you. I love that they acknowledge that eating fries will not help you lose weight, but if you are going to eat them anyway, this is your healthiest option."
- UFood Grill with Boston Food Bloggers (Tales From A Kitchen Misfit) - "Overall I really enjoyed UFood Grill. There are definitely some hit and misses on the menu, but it’s nice to be able to find some good and healthy food that’s fast."
Thursday, March 17, 2011
CupcakeCamp Boston
"CupcakeCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and eat cupcakes in an open environment."Last summer, I had a special fondness for cupcakes. It started with a random afternoon craving at work, and it was all downhill from there. If you follow my personal blog, you may have read some posts from my Cupcake Quest. That's just the tip of the iceberg; I got lazy about updates along the way, and there are many undocumented cupcake tastings. Spoiler alert: I declared The Chocolate Tarte the winner and moved within walking distance this fall (the move was unrelated to the cupcakes...I promise.) I still occasionally buy cupcakes there, but anywhere else, the sight of a cupcake makes me feel a little sick. I'm kind of cupcaked out.
~CupcakeCamp.org
But if you have not yet reached my level of cupcake sickness, you have not yet eaten enough cupcakes. That's why you should attend CupcakeCamp Boston.
The details:
Wednesday, April 13th 2011 at 7:00pm
The Center for Arts at the Armory
191 Highland Ave, Somerville
Do you like to bake cupcakes? Bakers - both professional and amateur - are welcome to register to feed the masses! Find registration details here. For cupcake queries, contact the event organizers at cupcakecampboston at gmail dot com. Registration closes March 28, 2011.
You can also get more information on Facebook and Twitter, and be sure to keep an eye on the CupcakeCamp Boston blog for interviews with the bakers and more.
(FYI, Boston Food Bloggers is not involved in this event in any way, so please direct your questions via the routes noted above! I'm just posting about it because it is sure to be an awesome food event for eaters and bakers alike.)
Confirmed bakers so far:
Babycakes
Cakeology
...Cakes Bakery
The Chocolate Tarte
Cupcakory
cupcake MoJo
C-Cups Cupcakes
Mix Bakery
O'Sugar! Cakery
Petsi Pies
Sweet
Sugar Bakery
Treat Cupcake Bar
We Make Cupcakes
I'm ashamed to admit that I've only tried five of those. Maybe my Cupcake Quest isn't over after all.
Will you be attending? Baking, eating, both?
On a related note, a cupcake recipe index is in the works for BFB (much like the existing cookie and mac & cheese indexes). Do you have a cupcake recipe (or ten) on your blog? If you add your links to this recipe submission form, you will definitely get listed in the index. Otherwise, I might come across your recipes eventually, or I might not! Your link submission makes my life easier and gets traffic to your awesome recipes faster :) Feel free to fill out or ignore any of the other categories on the form as well.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Event Recap: SeamlessWeb and Boston Food Bloggers Happy Hour at The Lansdowne
If you ask 99% of New Yorkers if they've ever heard of SeamlessWeb, they'll probably start salivating. It's a well-established online food ordering and delivery service in New York and some other cities, and as it turns out, it's also in Boston! Some SeamlessWebbers were in town this week (sorry about the weather, folks!) handing out free coffee to promote the brand. You can read more about it in the event preview here.
SeamlessWeb reached out to me to see if I'd help put together a blogger happy hour while the team was in town, and I happily obliged. I was disappointed to have to shut out so many enthusiastic people from last month's launch party, so I figured this would be a good second chance for blogger mingling (and of course eating and drinking!)
We chose The Lansdowne due to its convenient location (alongside Fenway Park) and nice private room, and SeamlessWeb sponsored the appetizers and drinks.
SeamlessWeb provided everyone with gift cards - hello dinner next week! - and some giveaways. (I'll admit, my favorite part of the night was probably the moment when I won a $100 gift card!) Special congratulations to Kathy from Kathy Can Cook - she won the grand prize, an iPad!
I recently found out that one of my band-mates, Holly Collins, is into food and seemed receptive to the idea of starting a blog, so I invited her along. Turns out she is a mingling champion and got plenty of photos of everyone! (I always miss out on the people photos; I interact better with inanimate objects! If you see me at events, please come up and say hello, because I'm actually on the shy side and don't usually approach people, unless I've had a few sips of beer. Yep, that's about all it takes.) Anyway, the rest of these photos are all from Holly (who, by the way, plays a mean kalimba!)
Thanks for coming, everyone! Thanks SeamlessWeb for feeding us and giving us fun goodies! And thanks Lansdowne for hosting us!
One more thing...giveaway winners!
The following two winners will each receive a $25 SeamlessWeb gift card:
SeamlessWeb reached out to me to see if I'd help put together a blogger happy hour while the team was in town, and I happily obliged. I was disappointed to have to shut out so many enthusiastic people from last month's launch party, so I figured this would be a good second chance for blogger mingling (and of course eating and drinking!)
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| Megan (Cooking Whims), Kathy (Kathy Can Cook), and Tania (The Musing Bouche) |
SeamlessWeb provided everyone with gift cards - hello dinner next week! - and some giveaways. (I'll admit, my favorite part of the night was probably the moment when I won a $100 gift card!) Special congratulations to Kathy from Kathy Can Cook - she won the grand prize, an iPad!
I recently found out that one of my band-mates, Holly Collins, is into food and seemed receptive to the idea of starting a blog, so I invited her along. Turns out she is a mingling champion and got plenty of photos of everyone! (I always miss out on the people photos; I interact better with inanimate objects! If you see me at events, please come up and say hello, because I'm actually on the shy side and don't usually approach people, unless I've had a few sips of beer. Yep, that's about all it takes.) Anyway, the rest of these photos are all from Holly (who, by the way, plays a mean kalimba!)
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| Kathy won an iPad! |
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| I won $100!! Not gonna lie. This was my favorite moment of the night. I NEVER win raffles. |
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| Raffle time! |
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| Mario and Matt |
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| SeamlessWebbers |
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| Meghann and Megan |
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| Dale and Tania |
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| A bunny-ear-free, tongue-free photo of Joel and me. This is unusual, and I should probably frame it. |
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| Left to right: Katie, Fiona, Aimee, Meesh, Dan |
One more thing...giveaway winners!
The following two winners will each receive a $25 SeamlessWeb gift card:
- Melissa (The Foodies at Work)
- Megan (Cooking Whims)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
A Cooking Channel Casting Call for Food Enthusiasts!
First, a few reminders unrelated to the subject of this post:
I'm not really a fan of regurgitating press releases and similar emails that I get, but I think this one might actually interest some of you! This comes from Hana, a NYC-based producer working on a project for the Cooking Channel.
Hana writes:
- Happy hour tonight at The Lansdowne! Free! Please join us! Register here so we know you're coming. Each blogger can bring a guest. There'll be free apps, drinks, and giveaways from our sponsor, SeamlessWeb. After several days of snowy "fun", wouldn't you like to get out and celebrate the fact that the roads are no longer a giant sheet of solid ice?
- On the topic of SeamlessWeb, have you entered the giveaway yet? We've got two $25 SeamlessWeb gift cards up for grabs over here. The giveaway ends tonight at 6:30pm, so enter now! (And because of all of this SeamlessWeb stuff I've been pimping...err, posting, they've named me the SeamlessWebber of the Week! Fun! Check out my interview here.)
- And speaking of giveaways, have you entered our other current giveaway? Cookies and brownies from Geoff and Drew's! Yum!
- One more unrelated note! Did you see yesterday's post about the soon-to-launch BFB store and your chance to get your photos in the BFB postcard and poster collection? Check out this post for details about this revenue-sharing opportunity.
I'm not really a fan of regurgitating press releases and similar emails that I get, but I think this one might actually interest some of you! This comes from Hana, a NYC-based producer working on a project for the Cooking Channel.
Hana writes:
I think there are many people in the Boston area who would be a great fit for this, don't you? Hana would like to move quickly on this, so your best bet is to email her in the next couple of days. Please pass this information along to anyone who might be interested - let's get Boston represented :)We’re a creative studio working on some fresh campaigns with the Cooking Channel. Last year, we launched their network with some amazing profile pieces and we are back for some more. Here is a link to last year's campaign.Food people lead with their taste buds and love to travel the world from their table. Food people hunger for rich information about what they eat and make. Most importantly food makes them happy and they can’t stop thinking about it.We are looking for people who have something to say about their food passion. People who love and live food and would like to be part of this project. You can be tastemakers, artisans, cooks, gardeners, bloggers, farmers, makers, food historians, and last but not least eaters. We want to talk to people who share a deep connection to food and all others who bask in the glory of exploring good food.Does this sound like you? Or do you have even better stories to share with us? If you are please get in touch. Send us a picture and quick description of who you are and what makes you a Food Person. We'll be interviewing the chosen few where they work, grow, cook, create, or get inspired, and using that footage for an upcoming campaign for the network.
Please email here and include in subject: Casting call for Cooking channel.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Event (and recipe round-up): OMG Red Velvet!
If you attended the Signpost Launch Party in December, then you probably already know that Signpost is a website where you can post and share deals in your city. Know of a $1 oyster night at your favorite local spot? 2-for-1 dinner deal? Post it and spread the word!
Anyway, it appears that Signpost is using its deal power for good, planning a sweet benefit. On February 8th, from 8pm to 9:30pm, the Fort Point location of Flour Bakery will be overrun by Boston chefs serving up spectacular red velvet treats (and hungry red velvet lovers eating the treats!). The event benefits Lovin’ Spoonfuls, a non-profit organization that facilitates the recovery and distribution of perishable and un-served foods that would otherwise be thrown away and wasted.
(Note: This isn't a BFB event, but it seems like something food bloggers would be interested in, so I wanted to share it with you! Also, Boston food blogger Elizabeth of Free Food Boston is a community manager for Signpost.)
Your $30 ticket (or $40 if you buy at the door) gains you access to red velvet edibles from the following businesses and chefs:
Sounds pretty irresistible to me! I will sadly not be able to attend, but I look forward to drooling over all your photos and recaps!
In honor of this delicious benefit, here's a round-up of red velvet recipes from the Boston food blogosphere!
Cakes
Red Velvet Cake (picky eatings)
Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake (Beantown Baker)
Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake Truffles (Beantown Baker)
Rose Red Velvet Cake (Delicious Dishings)
Cupcakes
Bethenny Frankel's Not-So-Red Velvet Cupcakes (We are not Martha)
Cullen-Cakes (Art is the Handmaid of Human Good)
Minty Velvet Cupcakes (OMG, Awesome!)
Red Velvet Cupcakes (Beantown Baker)
Red Velvet Cupcakes (Boston Chomper)
Red Velvet Cupcakes (Gourmet Recipes For One)
Red Velvet Cupcakes (picky eatings)
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (Cooking Whims)
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Luscious Cream Cheese Frosting (Kathy Can Cook)
Whoopie Pies
Red Velvet Heart-Shaped Whoopie Pies (Make-Ahead Meals For Busy Moms)
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (Apples and Twinkies)
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (mango missives)
Cookies
Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies (FĕDish)
Trifle
Red Velvet Raspberry Cheesecake Trifle (Starving Artist)
Fried Chicken!?!?
Red Velvet Fried Chicken (Two Coast Table)
Anyway, it appears that Signpost is using its deal power for good, planning a sweet benefit. On February 8th, from 8pm to 9:30pm, the Fort Point location of Flour Bakery will be overrun by Boston chefs serving up spectacular red velvet treats (and hungry red velvet lovers eating the treats!). The event benefits Lovin’ Spoonfuls, a non-profit organization that facilitates the recovery and distribution of perishable and un-served foods that would otherwise be thrown away and wasted.
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| Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake by Jen (Beantown Baker) |
Your $30 ticket (or $40 if you buy at the door) gains you access to red velvet edibles from the following businesses and chefs:
The Chocolate Tarte (If you've met me in person, you've probably already heard me raving about how The Chocolate Tarte makes the best cupcakes in the world.)
Flour Bakery
Hungry Mother
Poe's Kitchen
SoCo Creamery (You might remember their delicious ice cream from the BFB launch party!)
Sportello
Susu Bakery
Sweet Cupcakes
Union Bar + Grille
Will Gilson
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| Cullen-Cakes by Marianne Gries (Art is the Handmaid of Human Good) |
In honor of this delicious benefit, here's a round-up of red velvet recipes from the Boston food blogosphere!
Cakes
Red Velvet Cake (picky eatings)
Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake (Beantown Baker)
Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake Truffles (Beantown Baker)
Rose Red Velvet Cake (Delicious Dishings)
 |
| Red Velvet Cake by Lindsey (picky eatings) |
Bethenny Frankel's Not-So-Red Velvet Cupcakes (We are not Martha)
Cullen-Cakes (Art is the Handmaid of Human Good)
Minty Velvet Cupcakes (OMG, Awesome!)
Red Velvet Cupcakes (Beantown Baker)
Red Velvet Cupcakes (Boston Chomper)
Red Velvet Cupcakes (Gourmet Recipes For One)
Red Velvet Cupcakes (picky eatings)
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (Cooking Whims)
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Luscious Cream Cheese Frosting (Kathy Can Cook)
Whoopie Pies
Red Velvet Heart-Shaped Whoopie Pies (Make-Ahead Meals For Busy Moms)
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (Apples and Twinkies)
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (mango missives)
 |
| Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake Truffles by Jen (Beantown Baker) |
Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies (FĕDish)
Trifle
Red Velvet Raspberry Cheesecake Trifle (Starving Artist)
Fried Chicken!?!?
Red Velvet Fried Chicken (Two Coast Table)
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Event (and Giveaway!): SeamlessWeb and Boston Food Bloggers Happy Hour
Couldn't make it to the launch party? Well, here's your second chance to mingle with countless numbers of your newest blogger buddies! This time, we'll be enjoying free apps and drinks at The Lansdowne, courtesy of SeamlessWeb, online food ordering/delivery site extraordinaire. SeamlessWebbers will also be on hand with giveaways. Woohoo!
I'm not sure exactly what The Lansdowne will be offering as far as apps go, but you can take a peek at their menu here. Crispy potato skins! Blue cheese potato cakes! Chicken bites!
So, the details:
Whew, I think that's everything. Party - register here. Free coffee + sweepstakes - info here. Giveaway - info above.
Hope to see you at the event!
I'm not sure exactly what The Lansdowne will be offering as far as apps go, but you can take a peek at their menu here. Crispy potato skins! Blue cheese potato cakes! Chicken bites!
So, the details:
When: This Thursday, February 3, 2011, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.Wait, there's more! Free coffee! A contest! A giveaway! Read on:
Where: The Lansdowne, 9 Lansdowne St, Boston, MA 02215 (along one edge of Fenway Park, just past the House of Blues. Your best bet public transportation-wise is to take the T to Kenmore and walk 10 minutes. The Fenway T stop is actually a bit further away - about a 15 minute walk.)
Who: Food/drink bloggers, plus one guest per blogger!
How much: Free! (Thanks, SeamlessWeb!)
How: Please register here, and be sure to put '2' as the quantity if you plan on bringing a guest.
After two successful years in New York City, SeamlessWeb is bringing its Free Coffee Days promotion to Boston! From February 1st – 4th, the online food delivery and takeout ordering service will hand out over 10,000 free cups of coffee all around the city from a SeamlessWeb branded truck:
To coincide with this promotion, SeamlessWeb is launching a social media photo sweepstakes where people can Tweet or post to Facebook a photo of their free coffee to win $100 in food. In addition, SeamlessWeb is offering new customers $5 off by using the code FREECOFFEE ($10 minimum purchase). Visit the Free Coffee Days site to find the locations to receive your complimentary cup of joe and the full details about the photo sweepstakes:We're also running a giveaway right here on BostonFoodBloggers.com. Two of you will win $25 online gift cards to SeamlessWeb! Ways to enter (the first is required; the rest are for optional additional entries):
Besides handing out free coffee, SeamlessWeb is always available for people to order delivery and takeout from over 380 restaurants in the Boston metro area.
- Required: Browse SeamlessWeb and leave a comment on this post about which restaurant you'd order from first.
- Tweet (or retweet my tweet or someone else's) about this giveaway and/or the happy hour. Please make sure to include @BostonFoodBlogs and @SeamlessWeb in your tweet. One entry per tweet; maximum three.
- Enter the SeamlessWeb photo sweepstakes described above. (Please leave a comment here with a link to your tweet, or tell me if you entered on the SeamlessWeb Facebook page.)
Whew, I think that's everything. Party - register here. Free coffee + sweepstakes - info here. Giveaway - info above.
Hope to see you at the event!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Join us for a 5K!
Wait, don't food bloggers just sit around and eat all day?
Of course not!
Join us as we RUN! (Or, in the case of several of us, crawl/trudge/plod.)
A few days ago, I guess I was feeling lazy. On a whim, I decided to sign up for a 5K to force myself to get moving again. I tweeted in search of a local, fun race in March or April, and Tina of Carrots 'N' Cake quickly drew my attention to Ras na hEireann, a St. Patty's Day 5K in Davis Square. (Isn't Gaelic such a cool/strange language? What's with that capital E? I'm intrigued!)
As often happens in the magical world of Twitter, more people chimed in. All of a sudden, a whole group of us realized that we all wanted to run this 5K!
Join us! Out of the people who have expressed interest so far, we have a range of abilities and fitness levels...mostly a low and slow range :) If you stick with us, it'll most likely be a very relaxed pace - we're doing this for fun, not for gold, and we're going to brunch and pub it up afterward! (It'll be St. Patty's Day, after all!)
We're even going to get some snazzy t-shirts (or aprons?) made up so we can run in a fearsome, matching pack of hungry bloggers.
As for the t-shirts, we're going to have a little contest. The t-shirts are going to sport the lovely logos of Boston Food Bloggers AND Boston Brunchers (we'll be brunching, oh yes!)...and possibly the logos of all the bloggers on the team?...but we need something more. We need an amazing slogan, something catchy and silly, something about running AND eating. What can you think of?
Leave your slogan ideas as comments on this post - no limit to entries! - and in a couple weeks, I'll set up a poll so we can choose the winner. The winner will get a free t-shirt! Woohoo!
If there's enough interest, we could even set up a few group training jogs. What do you think?
Register for the race here. ($31, plus a few dollars of additional fees.)
Who's already planning on being a part of Team Boston Food Bloggers/Boston Brunchers?
(I think we also need a legit team name that's not so hard to say!)
Leave comments on this post regarding team names, team slogans, brunch/drinking suggestions, whether you're joining us, when you'd like to go on team training runs, etc.!
Of course not!
Join us as we RUN! (Or, in the case of several of us, crawl/trudge/plod.)
A few days ago, I guess I was feeling lazy. On a whim, I decided to sign up for a 5K to force myself to get moving again. I tweeted in search of a local, fun race in March or April, and Tina of Carrots 'N' Cake quickly drew my attention to Ras na hEireann, a St. Patty's Day 5K in Davis Square. (Isn't Gaelic such a cool/strange language? What's with that capital E? I'm intrigued!)
As often happens in the magical world of Twitter, more people chimed in. All of a sudden, a whole group of us realized that we all wanted to run this 5K!
Join us! Out of the people who have expressed interest so far, we have a range of abilities and fitness levels...mostly a low and slow range :) If you stick with us, it'll most likely be a very relaxed pace - we're doing this for fun, not for gold, and we're going to brunch and pub it up afterward! (It'll be St. Patty's Day, after all!)
We're even going to get some snazzy t-shirts (or aprons?) made up so we can run in a fearsome, matching pack of hungry bloggers.
As for the t-shirts, we're going to have a little contest. The t-shirts are going to sport the lovely logos of Boston Food Bloggers AND Boston Brunchers (we'll be brunching, oh yes!)...and possibly the logos of all the bloggers on the team?...but we need something more. We need an amazing slogan, something catchy and silly, something about running AND eating. What can you think of?
Leave your slogan ideas as comments on this post - no limit to entries! - and in a couple weeks, I'll set up a poll so we can choose the winner. The winner will get a free t-shirt! Woohoo!
If there's enough interest, we could even set up a few group training jogs. What do you think?
Register for the race here. ($31, plus a few dollars of additional fees.)
Who's already planning on being a part of Team Boston Food Bloggers/Boston Brunchers?
(I think we also need a legit team name that's not so hard to say!)
- Rachel (Fork it over, Boston!/Boston Food Bloggers)
- Renee (Eat.Live.Blog/Boston Brunchers)
- Tania (The Musing Bouche)
- Megan (Cooking Whims)
- Amanda (Tales From A Kitchen Misfit)
- Lara (Good Cook Doris)
- Taryn ({Sweetly} Serendipity)
- Ashleigh (Cooking For One)
- Bianca (Confessions of a Chocoholic)
- Lizzy (Food To Run For)
- Elina (Healthy and Sane)
- Kat (Eating the Week)
- Kerstin (Cake, Batter, and Bowl)
Leave comments on this post regarding team names, team slogans, brunch/drinking suggestions, whether you're joining us, when you'd like to go on team training runs, etc.!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Boston Food Bloggers Launch Party Recap!
First, thank yous. Then, things learned. Then, photos. Finally, links to your recaps and more!
Thank you #1: All of you! Thank you thank you thank you to every single one of you who attended the party, tweeted about it, blogged about it, told your friends about it, etc. The turn-out was huge, and I also got a giant batch of new sign-ups for the blog list after the party. I especially want to thank all of the 'early adopters' of the site - some of you I already knew; some of you I did not. A number of you were listed on the site (whether or not you liked it) when I initially created it, just because I already knew of your blog, and I sent out a mass email that probably looked like spam, telling you to come check it out, update your listing, etc. So many of you responded quickly and enthusiastically, and that is when I realized that maybe this whole site wasn't such a bad idea, even though it threatened to be pretty time-consuming.
Thank you #2: All of the sponsors who provided party space, drinks, food, grab bag goodies, and giveaway stuff! (Also, thanks to all of the wonderful PR folks who connected me with these sponsors!) Here's a full list of sponsors - please visit their sites, tweet about them, like them on Facebook - let them know how you feel about them!
Stuff that could have been improved: I feel so bad that people were waiting out in the cold for so long. The sign-in table had too many things going on. Since Christine handled the Eventbrite stuff and I handled who would get the gift bags (the first 50 RSVPers), we had two separate lists that I wish I could have consolidated into one. Christine had a snazzy iPad app with the Eventbrite list, so my plan to hurriedly star the gift bag recipients on the check-in list was thwarted by awesome technology. In the future: One list.
Also, the guestbook was a flop. I intended for people to write a sentence or two about why they blog, but it devolved into a quick scribbling of their name and blog name, which was totally redundant since we had a check-in list. Oh well. In the future: Guestbook, maybe, but somewhere other than the sign-in table.
Gift bags. I felt bad that not everyone got one, but early on, I decided to cap it at 50, which seemed like a good number that would allow sponsors to provide pretty awesome swag. Quality would have decreased had I begged people for 100 samples, I think. What do you think? Should gift bags be an all or none type of thing? Or is it legit to offer a limited number as an early RSVP bonus?
Capacity. Unfortunately, we just didn't have room for every blogger that wanted to attend. Perhaps it would have been better to limit the event to bloggers only - no guests. However, I think it's nice to have the +1 option when possible, particularly for events that aren't very T accessible. Allowing guests helps eliminate people traipsing around by themselves in unfamiliar areas without easy transportation.
Photos! I took the first few; Joel took all the ones with people. I'm just going to leave these without captions for now since there are a few people here and there whose names I unfortunately don't know and can't read from the name-tags...
Giveaway winners:
Your awesome recaps - let me know if I missed any!
And here are some posts talking about eating/using swag bag goodies! (Let me know if you blog about anything from the bag and I'll add it here!)
Also be sure to check out the tweets about the event, tag yourself in the photos on our Facebook page, and join the Flickr group and add photos!
Thanks so much, everybody! More events coming soon!
Thank you #1: All of you! Thank you thank you thank you to every single one of you who attended the party, tweeted about it, blogged about it, told your friends about it, etc. The turn-out was huge, and I also got a giant batch of new sign-ups for the blog list after the party. I especially want to thank all of the 'early adopters' of the site - some of you I already knew; some of you I did not. A number of you were listed on the site (whether or not you liked it) when I initially created it, just because I already knew of your blog, and I sent out a mass email that probably looked like spam, telling you to come check it out, update your listing, etc. So many of you responded quickly and enthusiastically, and that is when I realized that maybe this whole site wasn't such a bad idea, even though it threatened to be pretty time-consuming.
Thank you #2: All of the sponsors who provided party space, drinks, food, grab bag goodies, and giveaway stuff! (Also, thanks to all of the wonderful PR folks who connected me with these sponsors!) Here's a full list of sponsors - please visit their sites, tweet about them, like them on Facebook - let them know how you feel about them!
- Urbanspoon (extra special thanks to Christine Liu for helping with everything) was our main party sponsor. In addition to hooking us up with great food at The Gallows, they also gave us fabulous reusable bags (to put all the swag in) and a t-shirt for the giveaway. (Find Urbanspoon on Twitter and Facebook.)
- The Gallows closed down the whole place for the night just so that we could invade, and the fabulous waitstaff somehow made their way through the huge blogger crowd to serve everyone poutine, cheeseburgers, and other treats. (Find The Gallows on Twitter and Facebook.)
- Pretty Things, our amazing beer sponsor, made sure everyone was tipsy enough to mingle with 100 new best blogger buddies. (Find Pretty Things on Twitter and Facebook.)
- SoCo Creamery brought over insanely delicious ice cream all the way from the Berkshires AND awarded one lucky winner a year's supply! (Find SoCo Creamery on Twitter and Facebook.)
- Smiling reps from Geoff and Drew's (cookies!) and Pretzel Crisps were on hand with delicious goodies and giveaways! (Find Geoff and Drew's on Twitter and Facebook; find Pretzel Crisps on Twitter and Facebook.)
- And everyone else, in alphabetical order (I really hope I haven't forgotten anybody!): American Provisions, Anna's Taqueria, Aquitaine French Bistro, Basho Sushi, b. good, Boston Center for Adult Education, Chocolee Chocolates, Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen, Eastern Standard, Friendly's, Grafton Street, Island Creek Oyster Bar, Kings, Legacy Place, The Met Bar & Grill, Morton's, National Amusements, Russell House Tavern, Temple Bar, Treat Cupcake Bar, UFood Grill, Union Bar and Grille, Victoria Gourmet, Whole Foods Dedham, Whole Foods River Street, Yard House, Wagamama, Wicked Fire Kissed Pizza.
Stuff that could have been improved: I feel so bad that people were waiting out in the cold for so long. The sign-in table had too many things going on. Since Christine handled the Eventbrite stuff and I handled who would get the gift bags (the first 50 RSVPers), we had two separate lists that I wish I could have consolidated into one. Christine had a snazzy iPad app with the Eventbrite list, so my plan to hurriedly star the gift bag recipients on the check-in list was thwarted by awesome technology. In the future: One list.
Also, the guestbook was a flop. I intended for people to write a sentence or two about why they blog, but it devolved into a quick scribbling of their name and blog name, which was totally redundant since we had a check-in list. Oh well. In the future: Guestbook, maybe, but somewhere other than the sign-in table.
Gift bags. I felt bad that not everyone got one, but early on, I decided to cap it at 50, which seemed like a good number that would allow sponsors to provide pretty awesome swag. Quality would have decreased had I begged people for 100 samples, I think. What do you think? Should gift bags be an all or none type of thing? Or is it legit to offer a limited number as an early RSVP bonus?
Capacity. Unfortunately, we just didn't have room for every blogger that wanted to attend. Perhaps it would have been better to limit the event to bloggers only - no guests. However, I think it's nice to have the +1 option when possible, particularly for events that aren't very T accessible. Allowing guests helps eliminate people traipsing around by themselves in unfamiliar areas without easy transportation.
Photos! I took the first few; Joel took all the ones with people. I'm just going to leave these without captions for now since there are a few people here and there whose names I unfortunately don't know and can't read from the name-tags...
 |
| Bacon popcorn! |
 |
| The entrance to The Gallows is guarded by a dinosaur and bats. |
 |
| Poutine! |
Giveaway winners:
Your awesome recaps - let me know if I missed any!
- bacon caramel chex mix. (Gourmet Recipes for One) - "One little bite of this mix was all it took. I was hooked. Light and fluffy and popped in bacon fat, this super smoky-flavored popcorn was the perfect base for the salty caramel, goldfish and pretzels that surrounded it. Crunchy, salty sweet goodness, all in one bite. No wonder it’s on their menu…it’s perfection."
- BFB Launch Party! (The Sailing Foodie) - "I am so happy that I put my stranger danger aside for a night and went out to meet some new and wonderful people!"
- BFB Launch Party and SoCo Creamery (Free Food Boston) - "The thing that really struck me about SoCo’s ice cream was how full-bodied the flavors were. It didn’t taste like sweetened and mildly-flavored cream. You put a spoonful of the dirty chocolate on your tongue and there was no doubt that it was full-on chocolate."
- BFB Launch | The OG Mushroom Recipe (Just Add Cheese!) - "Jacki and I sipped on Chupacabra martinis, which were made with tequila and elderflower (and a lot of other stuff I can’t remember). The martini was much better than the pickle juice cocktail I had the first time I ate at The Gallows."
- Blast Off: Boston Food Bloggers Launch! (Travel, Wine, and Dine) - "I also enjoyed a cone of poutine, fries with rich gravy and cheese curds. They were messy, but delicious. As a fry-lover, I approve!"
- Blogger Event and Lessons on Food (in the office!) (My Kitchen, My Sanctuary) - "One of my goals in 2011 is to expand my circle and get to know others who share a love for being in the kitchen and food in general. This was clearly the perfect event to do so."
- Boston Food Blogger Launch Party (Cooking Whims) - "All of the food was supremely delicious, but even better were the people there eating the food. I must admit, I was a bit intimidated going to this launch party. I follow a lot of Boston bloggers, but I’ve never met any of them in person before. But once I got in there and introduced myself to a few bloggers, I realized that since we’re all connected virtually, it was so natural to talk in person!"
- Boston Food Blogger Launch Party (i am a honeybee) - "Besides the food, The Gallows provided an amazing setting for the launch party. The Gallows is a beautiful restaurant complete with barn wood ceiling and long fully stocked bar. You def can’t miss the opportunity to saunter up to the bar to get creative drinks like the Missionary’s Downfall and Bear Hunter."
- Boston Food Blogger Launch Party (The Small Boston Kitchen) - "It was absolutely amazing to see so many foodie folks that braved the bitterly cold temperatures to talk about food. While trays of cheeseburgers (a review on them to follow, as soon as I can get back to give them a real try) and Poutine (gravy drenched French fries with cheese curds sprinkled on top) floated past, over 150 (!!!) bloggers chatted, laughed and of course, ate. It was half reunion and half, "Oh my god it's so nice to finally meet you!""
- Boston Food Bloggers (Recipe Can Blog) - "I can’t wait to attend future events and meet some more foodies."
- Boston Food Bloggers Launch Party (Delicious Dishings) - "The event was well put-together and well run. The only drawback is that there were just so many people it was hard to meet and chat with everyone. I think there were more than 150 people in attendance!"
- Boston Food Blogger's Launch Party (Fun and Fearless in Beantown) - "There was plenty of food, drinks, and fabulous food bloggers."
- Boston Food Bloggers Launch Party (Tales From A Kitchen Misfit) - "Now, I am used to going to events that have free food and booze, but I was REALLY impressed with the food selection here. BACON CARAMEL CORN!?! It’s a good thing I didn’t know there was bacon in it until later on in the night otherwise I would had to have been rolled home."
- Boston Food Bloggers Launch Party (The Boston Foodie) - "I was joking with people that only two years ago a Boston food blogger event would have been about six people. And many of those veterans were there to meet and mingle with all of the newbies."
- Boston Food Bloggers Launch Party: A look at the Boston Scene (A Boston Food Diary) - "When I wrote my first post I never dreamed of the places it would take me, or of the amazing people I would meet along the way. I am constantly astounded by some of the incredible food bloggers, all over the country, but especially here in Boston."
- Cocktails For Carnivores At The Gallows (The Passionate Foodie) - "Last evening, I attended the Boston Food Bloggers Launch Party at The Gallows, which has a list of some innovative concoctions. What immediately caught my eye was their Abbatoir, which is composed of Batavia Arrack, Lillet, Tawny Port, Veal Stock, and Caramelized Onions."
- Monday Funday (The Clean Plate Club) - "The food at the Gallows was great, and I'd love to try it next time I'm in town."
- A Night with the Boston Food Bloggers (Losing the Shadow Behind Me) - "A high class restaurant with Boones Farm on the menu! That brings back memories of basement dorm rooms and games of quarters. It made me smile."
- Resolution Follow Through: The Boston Food Bloggers Launch (Semi-Sweet) - "So let me paint the picture for you – 150 or so enthusiastic, vibrant and literate folks crammed into a small space, clamoring for delicious vittles cheerfully supplied by The Gallows (poutine?! crazy bacon caramel Chex mix?!), Geoff & Drew’s Cookies, SoCo Creamery and more . . . and all so freakin’ friendly!"
- Oh hello! (Girls' Pint Out - Massachusetts) - "At one point the three of us were standing in there, an ice cream cone in one hand, a beer in the other. Heaven, right?"
- Sprinkles vs Jimmies Food Conversation (BostonZest) - "With food folks, every aspect of the learning experience is fun. Opinions are exchanged, shared favorites are celebrated, and agreements to disagree are made."
- A Successful Launch for Boston Food Bloggers.com! (Indulge Inspire Imbibe) - "Bowls of Bacon Caramel Chex Mix (popcorn and pretzels popped in bacon fat and covered in a bacon cream and sugar caramel) were an addiction waiting to happen. I'm pretty sure The Gallows have invented the ultimate party snack."
- A Tale of Two Launch Parties & Finding Myself as a Blogger (umommy) - "I would describe the Boston food blog scene as a young, fun, supportive community. Yeah, this was my kind of scene."
And here are some posts talking about eating/using swag bag goodies! (Let me know if you blog about anything from the bag and I'll add it here!)
- Cookies for you!!! (The Sailing Foodie) - "Another perk that came from the BFB Launch Party on Monday was meeting Carol from Geoff & Drews Cookies."
- Mustard Glazed Mahi Mahi and Roasted Broccoli (Fun and Fearless in Beantown) - "I also added a heaping tablespoon of Victoria Taylor's toasted sesame ginger seasoning that was part of the Boston Food Bloggers launch party swag bag. This seasoning had an awesome presence of ground ginger and toasted sesame seeds. I know that this will definitely be used again in my kitchen!"
- who doesn't love @gdcookies?! ((b)log.) - "...if you have a special valentine in mind or just loveee sugar like me- i totally recommend ordering up a batch of these delicious treats! (and dont just take my word for it- gourmet magazine, the phantom gourmet, rachel ray and many others are all huge fans!)"
Also be sure to check out the tweets about the event, tag yourself in the photos on our Facebook page, and join the Flickr group and add photos!
Thanks so much, everybody! More events coming soon!
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