In case you were hibernating all winter like we were (I don't do that well in the cold), it's time to get out and meet new friends at a Foodspotting eatup near you!

New to eatups? Eatups are hosted every week by foodspotters in cities around the world. Sometimes they're happy hours; sometimes it's a food truck crawl. More often it's a lunch or dinner organized by a Foodspotting user at his or her favorite local restaurant. Eatup hosts work with restaurant staff and chefs to come up with a set menu at a fixed group price or go a la carte. Often restaurants will offer a food or drink special so you can try their signature or seasonal offerings. Everyone has a blast, you get to sample new dishes and meet nice people. Sounds awesome, right? Check out our pro tips to join or host an eatup in your city.

Eatups coming up next week...

South Philly Taco Crawl Sunday April 22, 5pm

Sydney April Foodspotting Eatup Tuesday April 24, 7:30pm

LA April Foodspotting Eatup Tuesday April 24, 7:30pm

Seattle April Eatup at The Saint Wed April 25, 5pm

Orlando April Foodspotting Eatup Thurs April 26, 7:30pm

JUST ADDED NYC Great Chicken Wing Hunt Eatup Saturday April 28, 6pm

St. Louis Foodspotting Brunch Sunday April 29, 11am

Don't see your city on the list? Pick a restaurant, create an invitation and start telling friends, friends of friends and fellow food lovers. Share your invite with us too so we can help get the word out. Happy Foodspotting!

Photo by Randy F. at the Silicon Valley Foodspotting Eatup in early April.

Editor's Note: Today we welcome DC-based Foodspotting Ambassador Lisa Mathias to our blog! See below for five intriguing cherry blossom dishes she recommends in the capital city.

Spring is underway and one of the most popular cities to visit this time of year is Washington, DC during the annual Cherry Blossom Festival! This is the festival’s 100th year, commemorating Japan’s gift of cherry trees to the District of Columbia. Until the end of April, the city will host events to celebrate cherry blossom season and many DC-area restaurants have whipped up cherry-themed drinks and dishes to put both residents and tourists in the cheery - or should I say cherry? - mood.

The Festival’s official website provides an excellent rundown of restaurants offering these dishes in their “Cherry Picks Restaurants” list. I found a few delicious entrees, desserts and cocktails that highlight the ingredient nicely...

Cherry Blossom Cupcake @ Hello Cupcake This local cupcake shop is currently featuring a cupcake made of a Meyer lemon cake filled with French cherry preserves, topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting and includes a fondant cherry blossom. The combination of lemon with cherry gives the dessert a nice balance of sweet and tart.

Duck Breast with Belgian Beer @ Belga Cafe This popular Barracks Row eatery combines Kriek beer with both sour and sweet cherries to create a Belgian-influenced, cherry-themed sauce for roasted duck breast.

Cherry Blossom Rickey @ Chef Geoff's This cherry blossom-inspired concoction is comprised of maraschino cherry liqueur, cherry puree, gin, almond syrup and lemon juice. The cherry and lemon in this drink give it a fruity taste and invokes the feel of a springtime sangria, perfect for a warm day.

Sour Cherry Pavlova @ The Hamilton This dessert is big enough to share, yet light enough to make you feel satisfied without getting cherry overload. It includes a pistachio meringue with almond cream topped with amaretto-soaked cherries. The crisp, outer shell breaks into a softer interior that, with the cherries and pistachio crumble, has just the right amount of sweet, sour, crunchy and smooth.

Cherry Blossom Menu @ The Federalist This three-course menu features Atlantic flounder with pickled cherries, cherry balsamic, candied orange and chocolate mint. Next, there’s the duck breast with duck confit agnolotti, salsify and a jus of Kirchwasser (a cherry brandy). Their cherry-inspired dessert is cherries jubilee with cherry compote, pistachio cake and Tahitian vanilla ice cream. You can order each as a standalone dish or all three as a prix fixe meal for $42.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lisa Mathias likes to tell stories, written or visualized, through blogging, photography and videography. She's a digital design continuing-ed student and Foodspotting's DC Ambassador. Follow Lisa on Foodspotting and Twitter!

Top and bottom photos via Peter Lee and Juehua Yin on Flickr

Editor's Note: Today's post is by Foodspotting Seattle Ambassador and professional travel photographer Valentina Vitols.

Seattle Restaurant Week just began and Foodspotting is having a contest! Not only will restaurants be serving up three-course dinners for $28 (many are also offering $15 three-course lunches), spot any dish at the 150+ participating Seattle restaurants from now until April 19th and you could win one of four $50 restaurant gift cards for more foodspotting opportunities.

Not sure where to start? Here are five of my favorite dishes to spot this Restaurant Week...

Sockeye Salmon Crostini @ Spur Gastropub (pictured above) Beautifully presented, plump Sockeye salmon rests on a lush bed of mascarpone topped with capers and pickled shallot. This dish will redefine the way you think of the term "melts in your mouth."

Lanzo Cured Pork Loin @ Art of the Table The menu at this tiny yet beloved restaurant features local ingredients prepared using traditional (and not so traditional) techniques. The owners believe that an ever changing, dynamic menu offers diners the real experience of eating locally so you may or may not get this exact dish. But one thing is for certain at Art of the Table: their pork dishes are magic.

Coconut Cream Pie @ Dahlia Lounge Many foodspotters have a sweet tooth and for that in Seattle we have Tom Douglas' famous coconut cream pie! Dhalia Lounge has included this spectacular dessert on its Restaurant Week menu and, trust me, we're doing a happy dance for you. This decadent dish is made with white chocolate and toasted coconut and, as you can see, it's highly photogenic.

Spiced Duck Leg with Chestnuts and Cherries @ Poppy This Capitol Hill restaurant finds inspiration for their dishes from the “thali,” a platter served to each guest holding a variety of small dishes. The Duck Leg is accompanied by beet yogurt soup with avocado cream, moroccan carrot salad with preserved lemon, vanilla parsnips with black pepper, savoy cabbage and oyster mushroom gratin, rhubarb pickle and nigella-poppy naan. Run, don't walk, for this dish. It's that delicious.

Halibut @ Rover's A Seattle favorite, Thierry Rautureau is the James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of Rover’s and Luc restaurants, both participating in Restaurant Week. Known as the "Chef in The Hat," his dishes have wowed locals and visitors alike. If you are a fish connoisseur waiting to be impressed, this particular dish will have you singing its praises.

Happy Restaurant Week to all Seattle foodspotters! Remember: the more you spot, the more chances you have to win. Detailed rules here. — Valentina

Follow Valentina on Foodspotting and Twitter.

Spring is here and we're so happy to see seasonal dishes popping up in our Foodspotting feeds!

Whether you love crispy fish tacos in Dallas, fresh fruit tarts in NYC, breakfast sandwiches topped with Spring veggies in SF or ice cream cones from Mister Softee, share your favorites in our Springtime Foodspotting guide and get our lemonade-sipping Spot badge while you're at it... Happy Spring, everybody!

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See the delicious things our team recommends on Foodspotting

Seattle Restaurant Week begins on April 8th through 19th. Of course, Foodspotting is here with a contest for all you Restaurant Week goers.

Simply spot any dish at the 150+ local restaurants for the chance to win one of four $50 gift cards to a participating Restaurant Week restaurant. For a full list of locations, visit the Seattle Restaurant Week website. The restaurants are all serving up three-course dinners for $28 - and many of them are offering three-course lunch for $15.

Remember the more you spot, the more chances you have to win! Go get 'em. Detailed rules here.

Team Foodspotting at our SXSW Street Food Fest 2012

Once again, the Foodspotting team took SXSW by storm! With our friends CHOW.com, we threw our 3rd annual SXSW Street Food Fest during the rainiest day we've experienced in Austin yet. Despite the downpour, our event attracted the masses, drawing 5,000 food lovers with our Golden Ticket giveaway, big tents, the chance to meet our friend, champion eater Takeru Kobayashi, and the promise of delicious street eats by Austin's beloved food trucks.

Rain, rain go away...

Luckily, the rain let up after 20 minutes into our 6-hour outdoor event so attendees were free to wander from truck to truck sans umbrellas and ponchos to try Austin street food specialities like chicken & waffle tacos, burgers topped with fried eggs and onion strings, kimchi fries and refreshing fruity ice pops.

Huge thanks to Arancini, Chi'Lantro, Good Pops, Hey Cupcake, Lucky J's, One Taco and Peached Tortilla for being the stars of our food truck extravaganza, which also featured the RVIP Lounge & Karaoke Cabaret for entertainment and an eating contest with Kobayashi.

Champion eater Kobayashi tries Texas barbecue for the first time.

Our Golden Ticket giveaway was a hit thanks to our partners Southwest Airlines who were on hand to award winners with roundtrip plane tickets. We're also grateful to Lytro and Torani for sponsoring awesome prizes, and On the Flipside for bringing their mobile flipbook experience to our Street Food Fest. We're already looking forward to Foodspotting at SXSW 2013!

Attendees lined up for delicious hot food on a chilly day in Austin.

Foodspotting table with our new shirts and CHOW.com gifts for Golden Ticket winners.

Check out our Facebook album for more pics from our weekend at SXSW 2012.

Editor's Note: Huge thanks to Seattle-based Foodspotting Ambassador Valentina Vitols for helping us host our first ever eatup in Venezuela! Check out her recap below...

Photo by Valentina Vitols

Our first eatup in Venezuela was a success! We gathered at Franca Coffeecakes, a restaurant and bakery specializing in coffee cakes and pastries made with 100% natural ingredients. Franca Coffeecakes is located in the heart of Las Mercedes, one of the most vibrant food districts in Caracas and is owned by Foodspotter Carlos Cesar Avila. Carlos Cesar warmly welcomed Caracas' foodspotters to enjoy six different kinds of coffee cakes — walnuts, sweet squash (auyama), banana and Nutella, chocolate, chocolate and nuts, and apple!

It was a wonderful opportunity to talk about the Foodspotting app and discuss how Foodspotting can help spread the word about Venezuelan food worldwide. At the same time, Venezuelans are excited to use Foodspotting as a way of enriching the city lifestyle by recommending dishes around their towns.

Thank you Franca Coffeecakes for hosting us!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Valentina is originally from Venezuela, but now lives in Seattle. She was one of the first foodspotters to weave her professional life as a food photographer into Foodspotting. You can follow her on Foodspotting and on her blog, Valentina Loves Food.