Last month, Mike and I attended an Edmonton food bloggers tweetup hosted at The Common, organized by Maki and Marianne!
Maki had attended two other blogger tweetups prior to this one – way back in 2009. Surprisingly, there hadn’t really been a formalized food bloggers tweetup since then! This one at The Common was my very first time attending such an event. You certainly get to see a lot of familiar faces at various food-related events in Edmonton over the years, so it feels like we’re always “tweeting up” anyway, but this was a really fun opportunity to specifically mingle with a bunch of likeminded foodies in the city.
The Common was a great venue for the event! They had sectioned off their back room for us food bloggers (and spouses). There were just over 20 attendees, which I think is huge. Edmonton loves food and food lovers are loud and proud of what the city has to offer and we love sharing it online through our blogs and other social networks so it was nice to get so many people together for a delicious night, filled with food photos. One thing that’s great about dining with other food bloggers is that they understand when you can’t eat the dish right away because you need to take your food photo at just the right angle! Ha. As well, if you’re at a darker-lit restaurant, no one else truly understands the importance of using a second phone to light the food photo (and is most willing to offer up their phone for additional lighting!)
I didn’t get a good shot of the room/crowd so I’m borrowing Maki’s image (check out her review here):
A glimpse of #yegfoodblogs at The Common! Photo Credit: Maki (In My Element/http://inmy-element.blogspot.ca/)
Here’s what Mike and I ate:
Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps – Watermelon, peanuts, mint, trio of sauces – ginger, sriracha, mayo ($16)
House Pasta – (daily creation) – Bacon Fettuccine, Egg ($16)
Italian Poutine – Slow simmered meat sauce, kennebec fries, Quebec curds ($11)
I am obsessed with the Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps!! The heat from the jalapeno, the tasty pork belly, the refreshing watermelon, the texture, the flavours, it all worked! Having three different sauce options to complement the already delicious, flavour-packed bite/wrap, was the cherry on top. I can’t wait to get my mouth on these lettuce wraps again!
The House Pasta changes daily. The day we were there, they were offering a bacon fettuccine. Add an egg for $1. DEAL. I have also been obsessed with eggs on almost everything lately. (This was a month ago so it’s been a long “lately”) There’s also that taste about from-scratch pasta that you just can’t beat. Delicious.
The Italian Poutine wasn’t on the same level as the other two. It was my least favourite. There was just nothing particularly special or stand-out about it. Mike enjoyed it, but has also had better Italian poutines.
Check out some of the other dishes #yegfoodblog-gers shared on Twitter that night. You can also check out Carla’s review here.
I have been to The Common twice before. (Read my review of my first visit here. The second time I organized a Dishrawl and The Common was one of the stops. Read a recap of that here!) I recommend it to everyone! As I wrote in my past review, the place exudes cool. It’s got a very hip/hipster atmosphere. And the food is so good and creative! If there weren’t so many good restaurants to return to and so many new restaurants to try in Edmonton, I would be back here more often.
Two thumbs up to Maki and Marianne for organizing a wonderful tweetup! The chatter on social media that night also led to @LaRondeDining reaching out and seeing if I’d like to organize a #yegfoodblogs night at their restaurant! I’m excited to say that’s happening this month. Watch the #yegfoodblogs hashtag to follow the fun in the next couple weeks and find out what’s new and what some must-eat items at La Ronde are!
Linda
