Foodblogging goes to Twickenham...

... and so did masses of other people. But while the "Barbarians" headed right towards the Rugby Stadium, beer in one hand, pie in the other, the "Culinarians" took a swift turn to the left to enjoy the, I dare say, more sophisticated pleasures of tapas & antipasti alongside carefully selected matching wines.
For the first time in history, the foodbloggers of Great Britain were meeting up... in the broadest sense, since we were also joined by the only Irish blog I am aware of (Meg of the-blog-stubbornly-known as "Let's eat with Meg and Ted" flew in from Dublin for the occasion) and the only professional wine drinker (or should I say "taster"?) with a blog, Andrew of Spittoon.
I am, of course, aware that there must be more UK foodblogs out there - some were invited, but either couldn't make it or couldn't be bothered, some others we weren't aware of... this is not a closed circle of snobbish food fanatics - if you think you deserve a place at this table, please let me know. We'll be more than happy to welcome you at our next get-together!
Last Saturday's 5-hour get-together in our kitchen conservatory made for merry eating and wine tasting (courtesy of Andrew and some free samples provided by Decanter Wines). Cécile of english patis brought a goats cheese, sundried tomato and pesto terrine and empanadas with a meat-raisin-egg filling reminiscent of her native Philippines, co-host Jeanne of CookSister! supplied a fabulously refreshing zucchini carpaccio with pecorino and some duely garlicky marinated mushrooms and Jenni of Pertelote made a paprika-smokey chickpea salad with tuna and roast peppers - a stunning combination! All this was accompanied by an assortiment of artisanal breads, which Meg of Though small, it's tasty (aka LEwMaT) carefully selected and carried all the way up from Brighton. I had planned to make vitello tonnato, but bed-ridden as I was I could only drag myself out of sick ward for a few hours and only managed to put some caprese on toothpicks (great idea for finger food there) and wrap gorgeous green asparagus stalks (blanched, of course) in parma ham and sprinkle them with parmesan.
Desserts were supplied by Keiko of Nordljus - and oh! what desserts! Gooey and melt-in-the-mouth tiramisu, the best crème brulée I have eaten in years - not too eggy, not too runny, great vanilla taste and and utterly crunchy burnt sugar crust... and if you thought that couldn't be topped, then think again - Keiko's hazelnut mousse au chocolat on a bottom of the fluffiest chocolate sponge cake can only be described as divine!
Loose plans were made for a follow-up meeting, an informal picnic in the hope that more foodbloggers might join us - Jeanne and I are pencelling in the first weekend in July on board of the Thames in Henley. And if nobody turns up, the two of us will have a rather splendid time sipping Pimms (with cucumber? really?) and watching  the fittest men in the country walk by in their lycra suits - and for once, the food will have to take a back seat...

Comments

[schatzli]

saw your name at Cecile page... I wonder I get invited when I come back. Willbe back in UK soon...

[Sam]

sounds fabulous.
this post served to remind me I'd forgotten to include you in my Brit Blog roll. Apologies for that oversight which has now been rectified.

[Anne]

Oh, that sounds wonderful! I wish I could have been there - although the picknick sounds worth flying in for! :)

//Anne in Sweden

[Stephanie]

I am not, by nature, a jealous person. But...I want to do something like that! I just don't know *any* food bloggers in my area. Why do you all have to live so far away, anyhow?

Sounds like great fun!

[AugustusGloop]

Oh my goodness... I'm so jealous? And here I thought that Sydney foodbloggers did well by having yumcha. But homecooked food by foodbloggers? I guess that's one way to guarantee a good scrub up!

Great pics. Food looks sensational! Congrats all.

[johanna]

schatzli - just get in touch when you're back!

anne - (and all other European bloggers out there) this is, of course, open for all foodbloggers to join... and if you don't mind flying in from stockholm, then of course you are invited!!!

steph - where are you based? all roads lead to london, you know! (and so do most airlines, as i can testify, living so close to the world's busiest passenger airport!!!

[Stephanie]

I am, unfortunately, STUCK in Tennessee. And while Matt and I would love to travel to London, a toddler, two pups and a mortgage continually put the kibosh on the idea!

[Jeanne]

Hi Jo

Great write-up! Mine should be up sometime tonight (after the customary 5 days of procrastination...!) Your caprese skewers sure win the prize for being the most photogenic dish of the day - they look fab on all the write-ups so far. Will have to repeat them for the picnic!

[Amelia]

I thought I would stop by and say hello from the other side of the blogging world. Your pictures are very appetising indeed and it all sounds delicious to say the least - I shall have to remember never to pop in before dinner...

[Vivilicious]

Hi Jo!

Just found your site, it's fab! I am also a London-based foodie, so please let me know about the next foodblogger get together.
Cheers,
Vivian

[johanna]

Hi Vivian, great to hear that there are more London-based foodies... I'll definitely let you know about the next thing coming up, probably Henley in July, so keep your diary free! I'll be on touch soon!

[Pille]

Hi Johanna,
first of all, thank you for your lovely food parcel that came in post this morning! I will write about it at my blog very very soon.
Secondly I wanted to thank you for a lovely write-up about the Twickenham event - and for mentioning Pertelote's chickpea/tuna salad. I followed the link and replicated the salad and it was absolutely delicious! I wouldn't have known about it without your write-up..