No, I am not Hungover. I am just not 100%

While I have blogged for several years now. I have always felt like I was on the outside looking in when it came to the blogging community. I had my personal blog with the readership of 15 people and that was about it. My buddies at the Celtics Blog and the Jets Blog were building their empires. Other friends at Listening to the Sustain and Cinerant faded away. Of course, RoyaleRant always remained, but no one could compare to his greatness.

Last night, for a brief period of time, I felt like I was part of community. Graciously, Bookstore Piet invited me to a grill party/potluck that was comprised of other Richmond food bloggers. This is the kind of event that makes me a bit skiddish. I love to cook for other people. I love to cook for people who love food. I get nervous cooking for people who know food. So once I figured out what I was going to throw out there to serve, I began to enjoy the process.

For the evenings festivities, I decided to stay close to my roots. I prepared little meatball burgers, topped with basil and fresh mozzarella. I also brought a side dish of sauteed Swiss Chard with garlic, pine nuts, cheese and bread crumbs. Simple and hard to screw up.

The other food there was simply delightful. Bookstore Piet served up a simple Prime Rib with Au Jus and some Grava Lox. Sketchy made his legendary Dragonscale Fish and grown up Oreos. Both people provided me with way too much hard liquor. All this, made for a very pleasant evening.

So after I was good and mellow, I sat down to enjoy the rest of the evening. RVA foodie showed up and I was taught to ways of blogging in Richmond, VA. I learned about the RVA aggregate. I learned which bloggers were cool. I learned about some restaurateurs who do not appreciate the bloggers. It was a great crash course of what I can come to expect if I choose to continue to expand my blog readership. But the best part of the night was that I felt like I was part of something. I was the new guy, but that didn't matter because I could drink Akvavit with the rest of them. I think I am going to continue on this blogging journey for a while. Worse case scenario, is that I meet a few friends along the way and eat some good food.