Foodblogging – the Dinner last night

The highlight of this week’s foodblogging event must have been last night’s dinner at Piedmont restaurant in Durham.
Anton has several posts about the events of the past couple of days, including a detailed description (including the menu, and exactly who was there – about 30 people) of the dinner itself. I came a little late (because I always get lost in Durham as the layout of that city always stumps Google Maps), but as soon as I started chatting with the wonderful people there and eating the wonderful food, my mood changed for the better and I really enjoyed the evening (yes, while someone was taking a hub cap off of the wheel of my new car outside).
Michael Ruhlman is a great guy – ha taught me exactly how to serve myself the head cheese, and here is the photographic evidence:

While Anton’s post lists all the people present, I’ll just mention those I know from before, including Anna Kushnir, my fellow science blogger (and Scifoo camper) who came down from Boston for the occasion, old friends Ruby Sinreich and Brian Russell (happy birthday Brian!) and Rob Zelt. A new friend – Dean McCord!
There are more pictures on Flickr (add your own if you were there and took pictures). But, what do I say about the food? How does one use language to describe taste? I can describe the jovial atmosphere, or hope that someone took pictures of the food as it was presented, but the gustatory experience? That is tough! All I can say is that every bite was a special experience and a special treat to my taste-buds. I ate slowly, paying attention to the taste and texture of the food. Anton has posted the entire menu, and everything was delicious, but the dessert was just amazing – at first sight, it was just a cup filled with crushed ice, mildly colored. But each bite of it took 20 seconds to experience fully, as one taste followed another which followed another, revealing themselves sequentially as the ice melted in the mouth! Totally amazing!
But probably the best part of the evening was seeing Anton fully in his element, savouring every bite, loving every person there, and just being super happy every single moment of the evening! It was worth being there just to see that! Cheers, Anton! And thank you for doing this for all of us!