Zahtar buttermilk biscuit and my first days in London

It takes some time to recover from bad experiences and it takes even longer to get back to or daily life after a short parenthesis of happiness.

Almost one week has passed since my visit to London. As I am sure I have already mentioned in previous posts (here and here) London for me is synonymous of friendships. Nothing better of a vibrant metropolis filled with friendly faces and great food to ease the mind from a life of routine boredom.
This time around though the friendly call was accompanied by a call to action. It was the Food Bloggers Connect weekend and I was asked by the organizer Bethany to present few talks on food science.

Lotta-Garlic chicken and a Conference

July is here.
With its finnicky mood this summer feels more like an early autumn. Sunny and melting days are followed by gloomy gray mornings. Every now and then though, there are days with a perfect balmy temperature; the sun shines through the patches of puffy clouds swimming in an ultramarine sky and the sparrows are chirping.
Autumn can be the best season of the year when it wants.

This year I am quite looking forward to the actual autumn since this year I will finally manage to attend again the Food Bloggers Connect conference in London.

Tagliatelle with Walnuts and Pork sauce Sicilian style

Free food... What is the power of food offered as a gift? Does it depends on the subtlety of the offer or is just linked with the food itself? Is our ability of evaluating a meal influenced when it is offered to us? Naturally it is different if a sibling, friend, colleague offers us a morsel of his/her sandwich as answer to our starving-puppy eyes or if the meal is offered by complete stranger. In this case, do we always approach food guided by our instinct of self-preservation? Food has deep power toward any living being. As rooted into our DNA, food inherently means life and we will always be grateful to anybody who offers us some (that doesn't make us sick). I have just finished to listen to an episode of the "Crimes Against Food" podcast on "Free Food" and it just resonated with me. As blogger, we are often offered goodies to sample or to review. Rare are the occasions nowadays when this offer comes honestly without any analytic or critical duty attached.

Food Bloggers Connect 09: Huggs and kisses in red, blue and piggy slippers

After few days spent digesting and reminiscing the events of last week, now it is time for me to finalize and consolidate memories that will be cherished forever.

It was more or less 2 weeks ago when I started my trip to London for the first ever European based Food Bloggers Connect conference.
When I stepped out of my bed, the day was clear, dark as a chocolate ganache but getting brighter as time went by prepping my suitcase and gathering the last pieces of equipment; making myself ready for the first train. As it is typical for these latitudes (and my luck) on the way to the station it started drizzling. What do you know, in 5 minutes the light drizzle became a huge storm! I have never experienced such a strong wind; I am not a lightweight but it felt definitely hard to walk straight (I even slipped on the sidewalk and had my light beige trousers bare the marks of the accident for the whole weekend). But I was determined; all the weather difficulties of this world couldn’t stop me from reaching my friends in London I had to swim through the Channel!