International Food Bloggers’ Conference Seattle: Doristas

Patty (Tricia), me, Ro (Nana), Michelle, and Mary enjoying sparkling wine at the Chateau Ste Michelle Winery

This journey to Seattle began three years ago when John & I joined French Fridays with Dorie, an exclusive on-line group, self-dubbed “Doristas,” that is working our way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table one recipe at a time.  There are over 300 recipes in the book, so at the rate of one a week, we are halfway through.  Our very first recipe was Gougeres and optional Kir Royale.  Of course, we made both.  As expected, the group has swelled and shrunken over time, but a core group of die-hard Doristas remains.

I have learned and grown so much from this experience, but do you want to know the very best part?  I’ve made friends all over the world!  Real friends.  We communicate with each other weekly through mutual comments on our blog posts.  We share a passion for fine dining, cooking, and baking, and have formed a virtual community.

You can only begin to imagine our collective excitement when Michelle posted on the FFWD FaceBook page that Dorie was slated to be the keynote speaker at IFBC 2013 in Seattle!  It caught on like wildfire!  First Mary, then me – we kept hearing about more and more Doristas who would come to Seattle from as far away as Puerto Rico!  For John and me, it was a short flight within the same time zone.

Everyone could identify us from our pins!  Image courtesy of Trevor Kensey

The absolute highlight of IFBC 2013 for us Doristas was to meet Dorie Greenspan and be acknowledged during her Keynote address.  Thanks to Alice, we had two tables reserved, just for us, front and center!  For the very first time, 16 of us would meet each other, and meet Dorie!  We looked forward to this event, e-mailed, and called each other, and even created a newsletter so we would all know who was coming and going when and where.

Trevor, of Sis.Boom.Blog! fame, created a special bag for us to carry and sign, and he & I collaborated on two different pins to hand out to everyone.  We were each asked where we’d gotten our great bags.

Doristas had a few chances to meet on another as we began arriving in Seattle, some of us met on the bus to the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery, others, at a happy hour on Thursday night.  But the first major gathering of Doristas was breakfast on Friday morning before the conference started.  Dorie, and her husband, Michael, are the kindest, gentlest, and most humble people you could ever wish to meet.  Dorie does what she loves, says she’s very lucky, apparently with no idea what an icon she is.

Dorie surrounded by Doristas! (That’s me on the far left – third from the front)

We sent photos, tweeted, instagrammed, and posted on FaceBook love to our fellow Doristas who were here with us in spirit.  Here are the Doristas we had the absolute pleasure of meeting:

Dorie & me!