Last weekend, I had the pleasure of spending my time with Betty and Meg for their very first table sharing workshop up in an idyllic New Hampshire town called Tamworth. We got to enjoy the beautiful scenery, forage for mushrooms, and make sourdough bread with all the other lovely people who made the trip—Stephanie, Zoe, Sara, Jess, Robin, Liz, and Katie (miss you guys already!). I can't begin to describe how much fun it was being in such a creative environment and talking shop for hours and hours until we turned in for the night.
For me, spending time with the food blogging/photography community has always been this self contained microcosm of my real life. I have to make a dedicated effort to go all in for a few days, to put my "real life" on hold while I get to enjoy face to face, the people who I normally only talk to online. I want that to change though, and going to events like this gives me the kick in the butt I need to better merge my workaday life with my blogging life.
On Thursday we had a small dinner for those of us who arrived a day early. Meg made an amazing galette with apples and leeks for dinner. We were all super tired and went to sleep soon after. Friday I had way too much cheese and crackers while waiting for everyone else to arrive. We had our first dinner with the whole crew and chatted like old friends. Saturday we spent a good chunk of the day learning how to make sourdough bread from Allie, who is the sweetest person alive. We each made two loaves that we got to take home the next day. For lunch we had an amazing meal of chicken soup with potatoes and kale which we ate with some freshly baked olive sourdough. I spent the rest of the day helping prep for a dinner then stuffing my face with it. Sunday we went mushroom foraging. Which is actually really difficult with all the leaves on the ground. Most of what we found were these mushrooms kindly named waxy caps; they should have really been named slimy caps as they bore a layer of clear mucus/slime, shiver. Betty cooked them and was the only one with the balls to eat one, the rest of us were chickens. Later that afternoon, we hauled the dining table outside and had our last dinner in the barn across from the house. It was a wonderful way to end the weekend.
Every night after dinner we had a lesson on photography, styling, and post processing. We all sat around the living room, some of us huddled by the heat of the fireplace, and Betty propped up her tiny little projector on a cardboard box and gave a presentation. Among all of the fun activities and great food we had that weekend, some of my favorite moments were the small ones. Like the conversations we had at night, after the lessons, where we all drank tea or wine and just talked. Or washing the dishes while listening to Britney or the Backstreet Boys, some of us singing and doing a little jig every now and then. Those are the moments that make me most nostalgic, even though it's only been a week.
If you guys ever have the opportunity to go to a table sharing or food photography workshop, I highly recommend it. If not for the learning opportunity, then for the wonderful people you'll meet. For now, enjoy the rest of the photos!