Foodblogging and the post-foodblogging science-blogging dinner

The three-day Foodblogging event has started, with a reading/booksigning by Michael Ruhlman at the Regulator bookshop in Durham.

Among those in the audience were Reynolds Price, local bloggers Anton Zuiker and Brian Russell, as well as Anna Kushnir, foodblogger who drove all the way from Boston (OK, via Virginia) to attend the event.

I bought The Reach of a Chef and asked him what is the best way to get a kid/teenager who is interested in cooking started. He said that hands-on experience is essential and that one should carefully pick a course that focuses on basics and not on fancy gimmicks to begin with. Then, asking to taste a dinner at home and praising the result is the next step. Anton wrote a more detailed account of the evening.

After the reading, a bunch of us went accross the street to Baba Ganoush for dinner (and even later to the sushi bar on the corner for some Guinness) - but this time we quickly switched the topic from food to science as everyone at the table was a science blogger! Anna Kushnir, who I mentioned above (and linked to her food blog) is also a science blogger on Nature Network, so check out her Lab Life blog. You also know the other locals, Sheril Kirshenbaum and Abel Pharmboy, but the special guest of the evening was Craig McClain who came all the way from California to do some work at NESCENT. Much marine science talk ensued, all interesting and I learned a lot of stuff I did not know before.

Here is one of the pictures from the dinner: