On Sunday, Eric and I attended our first Boston Brunchers event, which was hosted by Harvard Common Press in their spectacular 5th floor office in the South End. When we first walked into the building, I was amazed by the ancient elevator and the fact that I had no idea anything worth visiting actually existed in this part of my neighborhood.
We were greeted warmly with drinks, smiles and lots of Mexican art. Everyone was extremely friendly, especially the HCP staff, who had whipped up some delicious treats based off of recipes in some of the cookbooks they'd published.
Nancy, HCP's head of marketing, took me around and answered all of my questions about the company, their office space (an old piano factory, now covered in gorgeous rugs that the company's president, Bruce, brought back from Mexico) and the books they publish (mostly cookbooks, but some parenting books as well).
Brunch included lots of yummy muffins and cakes (I'm assuming they were all yummy, most contained nuts so I stayed away) and some sort of egg/cheese/spinach bake. Oh, and there was wine, lots of wine.
It was nice to meet so many of the local foodies (like Beth, Liz, Taryn and Audrey) whom I've been emailing with on behalf of HipHost and to finally put faces to email addresses and Twitter handles.
One of the coolest parts of the experience was the discussion about how to go from blog to book, specifically in the cooking world. Apparently, most publishers require you to come up with 100% original recipes, meaning you can't use anything you've already posted on your blog. So, in addition to having a real job and maintaining a blog, you also have to come up with 100-150 completely new recipes. It sounds like a ton of work and I applaud any food blogger who takes on the challenge.
A special thank you to the Boston Brunchers (Renee specifically) for putting together this event, and to all of the amazing staff at HCP who made us feel at home. Also, thanks to HCP for sending us home with lots of fun cookbooks. I can't wait to make a bunch of things in Gourmet Gifts!
