Well, we’ve got a workshop just for you! Join us for an informative and hands-on workshop focusing on the art of food styling with professional food stylist
Teresa Blackburn.

During this 3-hour-long workshop, Teresa will discuss tips and tricks for bloggers to improve their food styling techniques and develop their own personal style, as well as present a live demo and a hands-on learning experience.

This workshop will focus on what happens before the shutter, however participants are welcome to bring their cameras if they’d like to document their creations.

Also! If you’d like to bring a breakfast pot-luck item or snack to share with the group, feel free, since we are very likely to get hungry staring at so much delicious-looking food all day.

Cost is $25 for registered members, $35 for non-members. This workshop is limited to 20 spots, so act fast to reserve your spot!

Register Now on EventBrite »

Hope this finds you well and thoroughly enjoying our Tennessee spring time!

I wanted to invite you to a fun little “Happy Hour on the Farm”, if you will, at Green Door Gourmet. Thursday, May 30, 5:00-7:00PM.

Sylvia Ganier has graciously invited us to participate and we have graciously accepted! Kenny will be there talking cheese and shaking hands and I’ll be there……well……staining my teeth and lips with red wine.

Some of you I’ve seen recently and some…well, it’s been too long. Hope you can make it out, we’d love to see you!

Have a good day!
- Jennifer Starks
Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese
www.kennyscheese.com

More information »

A neighborhood is defined by the community within it, so, for one afternoon, we will be inviting your neighbors to live it, love it, and eat in it, because as Virginia Woolf said “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”

On June 15th, We will be dining at 6 different restaurants in a local neighborhood, all within walking distance. Your ticket will include food at each participating location, with drink specials to be offered.

Enter the code foodblog for a $5 discount!!

Visit www.dishcrawl.com/nashville for more info.

If you come to the Staff Crankin and blog about it by May 29, you may be one of two bloggers who will join the judging panel at the main event: Purity Miss Martha’s Ice Cream Crankin’, 3-5 p.m. June 9 at First Presbyterian Church. Just send us a link to your post. We will draw the two names on May 30.

Even if you aren’t drawn, you will still be able to have some great ice cream and great fun. The staff competition encourages team songs, costumes, cheers, signs, and healthy, um, banter. The winning team will see their ice cream sold at Pied Piper Creamery in Five Points. And Jenny Piper graciously makes several gallons of the first, second and third place staff winners for the June public event.

We hope you can make it! Please contact Edwin Acevedo (eacevedo@marthaobryan.org or 615-254-1791) at Martha O’Bryan Center to RSVP or to ask questions.

The first email just went out this morning, and should have (hopefully) included a summary of this very news post right here, along with other new content.

If you’d prefer not to receive these weekly emails, do not unsubscribe (as that will remove you from our list entirely), but rather click on the “Update Subscription Preferences” link. This page will allow you to update your profile within mailchimp, and you can simply uncheck the “Weekly Digest” box if you so choose.

However, I do think these emails will be very helpful to all of us as far as staying up to date!

As always, if you have any suggestions for how we could improve these, please share!

Did you miss our Urban & Upscale Dishcrawl debut in The Gulch? No worries, we’re crawling again! This time we’re “moving on up to the East Side”. Join us on Tuesday, April 23rd as we enjoy samplings from four East Nashville eateries that are sure to satisfy your foodie cravings!

It’s a guessing game! We’re keeping the names of the restaurants we will be visiting a secret for now, but here and there we’ll give you some hints. Like Dishcrawl Nashville on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @DishcrawlNash and be the first to know!

Where to Meet Us: All ticket holders will be notified of meeting location via email, 48 hours prior to the event.

Tickets are $45 and all the food is included in the ticket cost. Enter the code foodblog for a $5 discount!

See you there!

They’re also having a special VIP reception for previous members of the Big River frequent drinkers club, or whatever they called it, on Wednesday April 3 from 5:00 until 7:00. They’ll be offering free tastes from the new menu and tours of the facility including what promises to be the best public rooftop bar in town. Alcoholic beverages will also be available for purchase with sales benefiting Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.

Fortunately, whether you were a regular at Big River or not, Rock Bottom wants you to be a frequent flyer at their new incarnation, and we’ve wangled access to their VIP party for any member of the Nashville Food Bloggers and a guest. All you have to do is rsvp via email to rsvp@reedpublicrelations.com before the end of the day next Tuesday March 26. (Lauren Reed said if you really need an extra day to decide, she’d make it work.)

So if you want a sneak peek at the new space, head on down and join some of your NFB friends. See you there!

With its industrial background and modern contemporary style, the historic Gulch is developing into a hotspot for Nashville’s urbanites. Join us on Tuesday, March 19, as Dishcrawl make its Nashville debut & explores four of the culinary delights that call this trendy area home. This is sure to be a crowd pleaser so don’t miss out, get your ticket now!

It’s a guessing game! We’re keeping the names of the restaurants we will be visiting a secret for now, but here and there we’ll give you some hints. Like Dishcrawl Nashville on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @DishcrawlNash and be the first to know!

I’m more than happy to answer any questions you guys may have. Please feel free to email me at CaceyL@dishcrawl.com

Hope to see you all there!

CHEERS!!

First off is an exclusive event for Nashville Food Bloggers, but you have to act fast. The Nashville Wine Auction is throwing a new event called Pairings on March 8. Not as fancy-schmancy as their big summer wine auction, l’Ete du Vin, Pairings is much more laid back and focused on food. Eight wineries from the Stags Leap district of Napa will be showcasing their wines and local chefs will be teaming up with invited guests to present a four-course dinner for the assembled guests. The chefs involved are New York chef and James Beard Award winner Nate Appleman; Roderick Bailey of Nashville’s Silly Goose, Tyler Brown of the Capitol Grille at the Hermitage Hotel; the tandem pair of Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman of Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen and Hog and Hominy in Memphis; Will Uhlhorn of Table 3 in Nashville; Tandra Watkins of Capital Hotel Little Rock Tandy Wilson of City House Nashville and John Fleer of Canyon Kitchen in Cashiers, NC.

The bad news is that the event sold out almost as soon as tickets went on sale. The good news is that the wine auction recognizes the value of our local food blogger community and wants to meet us and teach us more about their organization. Certainly they hope we’ll help them publicize the grand auction in July, but mainly they know that this group of bloggers are some of the most food-obsessed folks in town.

So I talked them into allowing members of the NFB to attend the reception before the dinner where we can meet the vintners and the chefs and enjoy wine tasting, hors d’oeuvres and a silent wine auction from 6:00 until 7:30 at the Noah Liff Opera Center at 3266 Redmond Street, Nashville, TN 37209 before all the folks who jumped on the tickets head in to sit down for dinner.

Best of all, it’s FREE for NFB members! If this sounds like something that would interest you, just RSVP ASAP to Holly Whaley  at (615) 329-1760 or Holly@NashvilleWineAuction.com and tell her that I sent you and that you’re a member of the Nashville Food Bloggers. If you do post a recap of the event, please forward a link to that same email address.

The second event to plan for is the Nashville Scene’s annual Iron Fork competition to be held on April 10 at Rocketown. (Yeah, I know that the Scene is all over that venue for firing an employee for wearing a shirt that supported same-sex marriage. They already signed the contract…) I’ve heard the list of chefs that they are considering and they are some of your favorites. A little birdie also told me that there might actually be some food bloggers on the judging panel this year, so plan to join the fun and buy your tickets early.

The last event I wanted to share with you is the 11th annual Dining Out for Life, a benefit I’m co-chairing for Nashville Cares to help support their assistance of the HIV-affected community of Middle Tennessee. On April 23, many of Nashville’s restaurants will share a portion of their daily proceeds for breakfast, lunch and dinner with the organization. How can you help? First of all, make plans to eat out as many meals as you can that day. Watch the event website for a continually updated list of participating restaurants. We should end up with at least 60 participating venues donating from 30-100% of their receipts that day.

Even better, you can sign up to be a restaurant host. I’ve done this for several years (which is how I got roped into being a co-chair) and it’s a whole lot of fun. Basically, you just throw a party that someone else pays for and does all the cooking and clean-up. Your responsibility is to invite your friends and business associates to join you for a meal and then make sure that they all show up. I’ve found Evites and OpenTable.com to be very helpful for this, and we always have a great time.

Don’t be intimidated by having to fill up a fancy joint; we’ll have lots of more affordable options and I’ll make sure that my friends get good ones! If you’re interested, email me at cchamberlain@gmail.com and we’ll start the process. Or if you;d rather just put together a couple of tables of foodblogger friends at a favorite restaurant, that would be cool too. You know you gotta eat, right? So why not help out a very worthy cause at the same time?

First things first, if you were registered on the old website you will need to register again. You may do so using the handy register link up in the upper right corner. We do have a few basic requirements this time around, and will be approving applications based on this criteria. Please fill out all the fields, if you can, though you will be able to edit your profile information again later after your membership has been approved.

A few of the new/improved features you should make note of:

Events - We’re super excited about our new event calendar. We hope that it becomes the single best resource for food-related events in the area. Once your account has been approved, you may add events to the calendar (Under My Account > New Event). Simply fill out the necessary fields and update. A moderator will have to approve your event before it is published to the calendar.

Member Directory – Our member directory is better than ever, offering a stylish and easy-to-search listing of all our members. Be sure you fill out all your profile fields to make the most of this feature! Eventually we’d like to highlight “Featured Members” which will also pull from this information.

Private Forum – Unlike before, when the forum was visible for every Joe Shmoe who stumbled across the site, the new forums feature private boards for approved members only. There is also a public board, which can be used for things you want the public to see, as well as a PR/Media board, which approved PR folks and brands will have access to. If you have ideas for additional board categories feel free to let us know!

News – Our news/blog feed is the same as it was, but now it is very easy for approved members to add news posts (under My Account > New Post). Like events, news posts will need to be approved by a moderator before they are published. You are welcome to post anything here you feel would be of value to our members, including local events, opportunities, and items of interest. We also have a special “Members Only” news category for which full posts will only be visible to approved members.

We’ve got plans for additional features down the road, including:

Resources – We hope to add a section for helpful links to external resources to help you become a better blogger.

Best Of – Because I’m sure I’m not the only one that regularly gets asked where to eat in Nashville, we thought we’d put together our own “Best of Nashville” list of our favorite restaurants and foodie destinations around the city, as voted on by our members.

Member Spotlight – We hope to be able to eventually highlight a featured member here and there, sending a little traffic and love right back at you.

More Events! – We’ve got some great ideas for future NFB events, including more educational and charitable events in addition to our usual potlucks and happy hours. Once you register you’ll be automatically signed up for our mailing list, so you’ll be notified of official events as we plan them. And please, this is YOUR group too. If you have an idea for an event or want to take the lead and organize one, by all means go for it!

Don’t forget to re-register, complete your profile information, and pick up a badge for your site while you’re at it!

We hope you like the new digs! And please, get in touch should you discover any issues (because there are bound to be some) or have any questions or suggestions.

From the agency:

StreetSmart is a fundraising effort that encourages restaurant diners to put $1 on their checks to benefit the homeless. In full swing now, this year’s campaign runs from November 23 to December 31. The program is based out of the UK and has a huge following there — they have been generous enough to allow Room In The Inn run a “sister campaign” in the US and the Nashville one is the only one outside of the UK that exists.

In its second year, Room In The Inn has received many generous donations to help spread the word about the campaign: giftcards from restaurants, concert tickets, event passes, etc. We are interested in finding 3-4 more food blogger partners to give away some items and spread the word about StreetSmart. Any interested bloggers should email Andrea Pinkard (andrea@delevantecreative.com) no later than Thursday, December 13 to express interest. Thanks and happy holidays!

For a great article on the campaign, see Gail Kerr’s article in the Tennessean.

Additional information on Room In The Inn and StreetSmart can be found at http://www.roomintheinn.org

Unfortunately the new Frothy Monkey Franklin location is not ready yet, and we have moved the party to their original 12 South location. We’ll have the whole side room to ourselves, so plenty of space for us, our food, and our dishes. :)

Once again, tonight’s holiday shindig will still be happening at 5:30pm at Frothy Monkey, 2509 12th Avenue South  Nashville, TN 37204.

While the RSVP form automatically closes the day of the event, we have PLENTY of space and would still love for you to attend even if you didn’t RSVP. More info for what you should bring is available here: http://nashvillefoodbloggers.com/events/20/holiday-shindig-dish-exchange/

Sunday, December 9, 2012
5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Frothy Monkey Franklin
125 5th Ave South
Franklin, TN 37064

Please RSVP for this event here.

Celebrate the season with good food, good foodie friends, and delicious conversation! Join us for a festive potluck as well as the food bloggers version of a gift exchange: the white elephant dish exchange. Because you can never have too many dishes!

If you can make it, please RSVP as soon as you can, as we do have limited space at the venue and have to cap the number who can attend. We’d like to thank Frothy Monkey for agreeing to host our little (big!) event at their new Franklin location!

What to Bring:

- TWO DISHES. Plates, bowls, mugs, serving pieces, etc., each wrapped separately, for the white elephant dish exchange. They don’t have to be new dishes, they could be pieces you have multiples of or have simply photographed one too many times and are bored with. As long as they are in good condition and are something someone else would appreciate. As far as wrapping goes, pretty isn’t important (use a plastic bag if you have to – we all know a plate is a tricky thing to wrap), just so long as it’s hidden from immediate view. If you are bringing a significant other to the event, unless they want to go home with two dishes of their own, it’s really only necessary to bring two total.

- ONE DISH. Food dish, that is. We’re talking appetizers, bite sized treats, finger food, and also beverages (alcoholic or not). Plan on bringing enough for 30 or so people. Please leave a comment at the bottom of this page saying what you will be bringing. I know last year we had an, um, abundance of sweets and so we want to make sure we have plenty of savory as well.

Food Blogger Happy Hour @ Flyte

Tuesday, December 4, 2012
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Flyte World Dining & Wine
718 Division Street

Please RSVP for this event here.

$25 per person, inclusive
This includes an array of bites from Flyte and samples of spirits, as well as an informal, behind-the-scenes conversation with the culinary and spirits & wine team at Flyte. Anyone who decides to stay for dinner that night will receive a 25% discount on their bill. More at www.flytenashville.com
Note that this event is limited to 20 people, so please RSVP if you are planning to attend!

From Hunter:

I am currently working for the Author and New York Times best seller Alice Randall who has been appointed Jamie Oliver’s Food Ambassador for Nashville. Food Revolution Day this coming May is one of her primary responsibilities. I will be serving as her Deputy Chief of Mission for the duration of this program. The purpose of this e-mail is to announce the date of Food Revolution Day May 17th, 2013. We are having a planning day in January and we want to include our local food bloggers! Jamie Oliver is all about homemade, real food for real people. We are primarily focused on farm to table real food and outreach to minority communities but we are interested in everyone reaching out and taking part in Food Revolution Day 2013! There are two foods that we are focusing on: peanuts and sweet potatoes. We also want to raise the idea of a joint project between Nashville food bloggers and the Go Red for Women program affiliated with the American Heart Association, possibly a bake sale or food sale featuring healthy real foods, what ever brilliant ones you all can dream of in advance of Food Revolution Day 2013. [Any interested bloggers] will receive an invitation to Alice Randall’s house in January. Involvement in the program will not be a lot of work on your part and we’d love to make you all a primary part of Food Revolution Day 2013.