Here is a list of my 15 favourite things from Eat Drink Blog 6. This is the best food blogger conference I’ve ever attended. It’s the only food blogger conference I’ve attended (so far).
The food
The quality and quantity of food was exceptional. My only concern about quantity was at The Hamlet on Friday night when it just kept on coming and for the first time in my life I said no to schnitzel. I just hope none of the lovely food was wasted. I know the CEO sleep out was on that night. I hope Canberra’s homeless people had an opportunity to enjoy our bounty.
The Hamlet
Who knew there was so much on offer at The Hamlet. I’ve walked past a few times and looked in but didn’t realise just how many vendors are there and how vibrant the place is.
I’m thinking on Fridays as I leave work at the hospital, I might have to swing past and pick up something from the Spit Shack. I managed to snare a lovely big piece of roasted lamb fat as well as a delicious rolled roast pork sandwich.
Sitting on the grass at the Capital Regional Farmers Market meeting bloggers
On the Saturday morning we went to the Capital Regional Farmers Market for a cooking demonstration and breakfast. I had a cheese and spinach gözleme. As it got closer to bus pick up time, a bunch of us wandered outside and sat on the grass. It was good to meet many of the bloggers I’ve been following on social media but have never met in person.
Matthew Evans and his stories about Canberra in the 1970s
I never realised the Gourmet Farmer grew up in Canberra and completed his chef apprenticeship here. Matthew shared stories of the Canberra food scene in the 1970s and how he went from chef to writer and reviewer. He also shared some stories about litigation and then his transition to the Gourmet Farmer.
Food photography and video tips from Tess Godkin and Alice Lau
Both Tess and Alice were awesome sharing some of their knowledge on photography and videography. Some Canberra food bloggers are keen to learn more from Alice about her smartphone photography and videography skills. Alice also has her own Girl in a Food Frenzy YouTube channel which I highly recommend you subscribe to.
Dinner at A. Baker and the lamb neck
The A. Baker dinner was a gala event so instead of shorts I wore jeans (because I’m classy lol). I was fortunate to be at a table with bloggers who didn’t consume vast quantities of food which meant I was in a fantastic position to enjoy not just the impeccable quality but a good quantity of glorious locally produced food to sate my appetite. It was great to be at a dinner and see everyone bring out their cameras to shoot food. I think all bloggers have family and friends who query the need to shoot a photograph of every dish at a dinner, but at A. Baker there were no qualms. The wait staff were amazing and happily enabled the food photography frenzy that went on.
As much as I love shooting RAW, I have discovered for social media purposes the JPEG photographs I wirelessly transferred at the time to share on Instagram and Twitter were less noisy than the RAW images I’ve processed and shared here.
I’ll be writing and sharing a separate post on this session later.
Brathaus spicy pork and Moroccan lamb bangers with egg roll for breakfast
Given my eating faux pas from the Friday night when I said no to some Brathaus schnitzel I made up for it with a Brathaus spicy pork and Moroccan lamb roll with a fried egg for breakfast on Sunday at the Nishi Gallery.
A. Baker almond and custard pastry
After a savoury breakfast you need coffee and cake. The almond and custard croissant from A. Baker was a perfect sweet balance. The coffee from six8 coffee roasters was also pretty good and helped stimulate my neural networks which were craving sleep after a late night out. I needed stimulating because the Merry Maker Sisters are just so perky.
Listening to Tara’s deep husky voice after a late night at A. Baker
It would be inappropriate for me to comment on Tara’s partying at A. Baker. Suffice to say on Sunday morning as master of ceremonies and panel facilitator, Tara sounded a little tired. At one point she was trying to get bloggers back to their seats and I think she would have preferred mind control over raising her voice.
It’s always nice to hear a story about Cooper her loyal and trusty whippet.
Cooking demonstration and lunch at The Boathouse by the Lake
The Boathouse by the Lake is one of my favourite Canberra restaurants. I’d eaten there twice prior to Eat Drink Blog 6. It was great to meet the owner, James Souter; two of the chefs, John Leverink and Alex O’Brien; and the sommelier, Kate Hibberson. I’ll be writing and sharing a separate post on this session later.
The hospitality
It was overwhelming. I often caveat my comments about Canberra along the lines that except for the horrid dry weather, I love the people, I love that it’s a small town with no traffic and that it’s spread out so I can enjoy driving my car (I’m a proud owner of diesel VW lol I wonder when the recall will occur!). The friendliness, helpfulness and generosity of local Canberra business people couldn’t be better exemplified than by the demonstration of generosity they made to everyone who participated in Eat Drink Blog 6. The hospitality was tremendous. Please visit the sponsors page at the Eat Drink Blog website for more information on these generous Canberra business people.
The organising committee
The organising committee of Eat Drink Blog 6 did a fantastic job of developing a program that showcased part of the burgeoning Canberra food scene along with sessions that were important for bloggers to develop their craft. We heard about search engine optimisation, food photography, videography, restaurant review writing and blogging to earn money and for some, make a living.
I cannot imagine how much time and effort went into meeting with potential sponsors, securing sponsors and venues and then nailing it all down. applause for the organising committee.
The bloggers I met
It goes without saying part of the reason for attending a bloggers’ conference is to meet people we only know virtually. It was really good to meet people in real life. Many of the interactions were fleeting but it’s nice to have that little connection. It’ll make commenting on posts a little more meaningful having met the person behind the keyboard.
The freedom to pull out my camera and shoot food carefree and happy
I’ve sort of already alluded to this but I’m a bit of a gear nerd and part of why I like blogging is the photography. I just like the idea that with a twist of a lens, a thought to the exposure triangle, a press of a shutter button, with a little processing and uploading of electrons we can share our photographs with each other. Add a few words and click publish and we have shared something of ourselves.
I really liked seeing what everyone was shooting with. It ranged from smartphones to small point and shoots to mirrorless systems to big arsed DSLR cameras. One blogger had a D700 with a battery grip. That says commitment!
My first ACTION bus ride
If it wasn’t for Eat Drink Blog 6 I would still have never caught an ACTION bus. The big bendy bus and others we rode were all comfortable and clean.
Things I didn’t like
- The end was too soon. I’m sure I could have eaten more if I had bigger trousers.
- Saying goodbye to new friends. Not to worry, I’ll continue to follow them online.
- Reaching a new belt hole milestone. This isn’t good. I’m planning a summer holiday.
- Having to say no to schnitzel on Friday night. First time. Never again.
If you attended Eat Drink Blog 6 what were your favourite things?
If you want to see the photographs as a gallery click here. Click on one image to see it full size. To see the EXIF data (including a map if the photograph was geotagged) click on the information (i) icon in the top right corner. You can navigate through the gallery using the arrow keys or by swiping if you’re using a tablet or smartphone.
Link love for Eat Drink Blog 6
One of the things we learnt from Todd was how link love can help.
I’ll build on this list as I get more links from Canberra Food Bloggers.
Serina Eat Drink Blog – a frugalista overview
Erin Want to know where to eat in Canberra? Follow the food bloggers: Eat Drink Blog 2015
Rose Eat Drink Blog 6 – Australian Food and Drink Bloggers Conference Canberra
Serena Eat Drink Blog 2015
Flore My first Eat Drink Blog
Chrissy Eat Drink Blog Repeat
Sandra EDB 15 Canberra, a food bloggers conference
Fiona The wine of Eat Drink Blog 6
Jodie EDB, a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach
Anisa Eat Drink Blog 6, A wrap up
Michele EXPLORING SOME OF CANBERRA’S BEST FOODIE HAUNTS PART 1 – AT THE HAMLET WITH EAT DRINK BLOG 2015
Michele EXPLORING SOME OF CANBERRA’S BEST FOODIE HAUNTS PART 2 – AT WESTSIDE WITH EAT DRINK BLOG 2015
Michele EXPLORING SOME OF CANBERRA’S BEST PART 4 – LOCAL FOODS AND DRINKS WITH EAT DRINK BLOG 2015
Shari LIFE: EAT.DRINK.BLOG – MY 5 FAVOURITE PARTS OF THE CONFERENCE
Alex Eat Drink Blog 2015… Food, fun and photo freedom
Ang EDB15 – One Month On: Eat Drink Blog Canberra and What I Learned
Alice Eat drink blog 2015
Nicole EAT DRINK BLOG LEARN
Fran Eat Drink Blog 15 – A Post in Pictures (1 of 3)
Liz Eat Drink Blog 2015 – Postcards and morsels and a little slice of history
What a thorough writeup, Gary! I feel like I was there right with you all! Sounds like a great event, well planned and well executed. Thanks for sharing your overview – it was great to read about such an amazing event!
Thank you very much Marly. It would be great to one day visit a Chopped Conference 😃😋
Wow! Such an excellent post & write up Gary. I can see it was a brilliant weekend had by all. I feel quite lucky to have met so many like minded foodies in such a short time here. Thank you for the warmest welcome & I hope I can contribute to the community and build on what is an already fabulous group of folk!
Thank you very much Alice. I really enjoyed your session on photography and videography. It was such a fun event overall. Hopefully there will be an Eat Drink Blog in 2016 to attend. It was also good seeing you at Dream Cuisine last weekend.
I know I’m a bit late joining the party…but still enjoying the EDB memories, that you’ve captured so well Gary! And how lovely it was to be so proud of what Canberra offers and to fall in love with all the great spots all over again!
Thanks Michele. I enjoyed it so much I just want to do it all again and visit the places we enjoyed.
Ha ha Gary, I certainly enjoyed all that whisky too! What an awesome weekend and bravo to you, keeping your post succinct and perfectly interesting with thousands of picture perfect memories occurring over the weekend, would’ve been so hard to choose. I’m dreading doing a post as I know it’ll be long and tiresome.
Thanks Fran. I’m sure it’ll be a great read and funny as 🙂
Great memories Gary, sorry we didn’t meet at EDB, wasn’t it a terrific eventx, so much to take in,. Thanks for the link-love
Thanks very much Sandra. I just loved it. There’s always EDB16 to catch up 😃
I really enjoyed this round-up Gary. Sorry I didn’t get to meet you at EDB. I was there, but a bit of a phantom because I had to miss some bits of it. Have just subscribed to your blog. I so related to enjoying being able to photograph food with abandon! Your photos are really good. PS I had the schnitzel on Friday night! About three different types. You have to have it next chance you get.
Thank you so much Alex. I wish that I had met you too. I reckon I’m going to have to get me some more schnitzel down at The Hamlet. Hopefully we can catch up at EDB16 😃
Awesome recap, I just relived the weekend! There are some brilliant shots there 🙂
Thank you very much Sarah, it was such a good time
Looks like you were in Food Blogger’s Heaven.
Great post! I feel like I somehow got to be there!
Thanks Mj. It was great. Being around other bloggers was a lot of fun.
Great photos!
So many unbelievable things: you said no to schnitzel? You were with bloggers that didn’t eat much? (What kind of bloggers are they?!) you said no to schnitzel?!
Hahahaha
Great recap, it was sort of like I was there without the eating, so I guess it was like I wasn’t there at all 😔
Thank you TOAC. I know, I said to schnitzel. It’s never happened before. Wish you had been there.
Awesome photos Gary!!! Little envious of your Boathouse experience!
Thanks Rose. The Boathouse was a really good experience, especially meeting the owner and a couple of the chefs.
I saw lots of pics on social media! The food looked so wonderful although I’d expect so being a food blogging conference 😀
It was spectacular Lorraine. I hope to attend more of them.
Great write up Gary. I too was upset that it had to come to an end {and that there wasn’t a coffee van in my front yard the next morning}. So many amazing people to meet – I just wished that I had met a few more in person – but there is always next year {and continuing to catch up online}.
Oh Shari wouldn’t be great to have a coffee van outside your home every morning. Hopefully we can all attend EDB16 🙂
Good one Gary! Great photos ☺️👏🏻
My six favourite things were:
1. The speakers and locations – all a AMAZE
2. Lunch at The Boathouse. Everything about it.
3. Midnight martinis with The Martini Whisperer on Saturday
4. All the cool new friends I made (and the ones I’m still making friends with online)
5. The random QT foyer swing!
Thanks Chrissy. You sound like you had a full on time and made the most of it 😃
Good one Gary! Great pics ☺️ my six favourite things were:
1. The speakers and venues/locations – all amazing.
2. Bespoke midnight martini session with The Martini Whisperer
3. Lunch at The Boathouse (EVERYTHING about it)
4. All the cool people I met (and the ones I’m still meeting online)
5. The foyer swing at QT!
Oh Gary, you took some amazing photos! Thanks for such a great write up, it makes us so happy that you all enjoyed yourselves and that there was plenty of food to eat. BTW, I had to wear my stretchy dresses, I’ve probably put on 5 kg! Hugs Gxx
Thank you Giulia. It was the best time ever. I can’t wait for our next get together 😃
Great post, Gary, and outstanding photographs! I, too, need bigger pants now. But wasn’t EDB fab.
Thanks Liz. Grateful for your kind words especially on the photography. It’ll take me a year to recover I think 😃 I wonder where EDB16 will be.
LIVED reading that post Gary. You captured the weekend very well and have a terrific writing style. Great photos too!
*loved 😉
Thank you very much Elias. I had the best time. It was great meeting you in person too.
LOL love your comment about Tara’s husky voice!!!
Great recap! So awesome to have finally met you in person!!!!!!!
Thank you Fiona. It was great meeting you too 😃