This was us six years ago today. Happy Anniversary to The Mistah.
Category: Random
Flashback Friday – Recipe for Disappointment
The following originally appeared on 7/21/08 at Exit 51.
Recipe for Disappointment
Ingredients:
1 broken gas clothes dryer
1 automated appointment service
1 outsourced call center
4 phone calls
1 Friday afternoon
Take the product manual from the broken gas dryer in your basement and locate the toll free service number. Start with one phone call to the automated appointment scheduler. Make an appointment for that afternoon. Wait three hours to rise. Add remaining phone calls to outsourced call center, one at a time, until frothy. Be sure to mix in a generous pinch of language barrier. Stir well.
Tasting Note: A side of bitter resentment makes a wonderful finishing touch.
Office Hours
I’ve been toying with the notion of changing the hours I keep here at BAH. Something about my experiment with posting Monday through Friday has made my hobby feel more like an obligation. Much like I can walk past a sink full of dirty dishes and tell myself the dishes don’t exist, I’ve been mentally ignoring the blog, pretending I don’t see the empty spaces that need to be filled.
So instead of a new offering being served up M-F, the BAH kitchen will be open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It feels like I’m back in college, trying to find the perfect scheduling combination that will let me avoid 8am anything and still get done by 2pm so I can get back to my apartment to watch the As The World Turns.
Don’t want to miss a single pithy offering here at BAH? Subscribe to the rss feed or sign up for email delivery of new posts. It’s as close as you want to get to me actually showing up on your doorstep in my robe and fuzzy slippers.
IFBC 2010 – Seattle
This year I have been asking myself one question over and over – why do I blog. I know why I started the blog but what keeps me doing it three years later? What is my ultimate goal for this and how do I define my success as a blogger? Ok, so maybe not just one question. But all the same, I’ve been looking for answers. I went to Big Summer Potluck looking for answers, and instead found a community. And when I went to IFBC, not knowing what to expect, I found ways to define myself by what I am not.
I am not looking for a book deal. I am not interested in playing the SEO game. I am not a recipe developer. I am not educated on the needs of specialized diets. I am not interested in paying to attend a conference and sitting through infomercials for websites or cooking encyclopedias. Ultimately, the message I took away from the Big Summer Potluck was indirectly reinforced at IFBC – blog for myself, be authentic, and define my own success.
There were good moments at IFBC. There were bad moments. There were events I was excited about which provided huge disappointments. And there were unexpected moments of powerful validation. So instead of focusing on the parts of IFBC that made me question whether it was the best use of my time and money, the message I have decided to hold onto is that I decide my legitimacy as a blogger.
So, what did I learn at IFBC 2010? I learned that I really don’t need to spend $$$ to attend a blogging conference. Many of the best moments, the ones that really resonated with me, mostly occurred outside of the conference. To me, the journey is where I get my inspiration and excitement. The opportunity to meet new people and expand my food world can happen anytime, anywhere. Next year, instead of sitting in a venue for 8 to 12 hours a day over the course of a weekend, I can pack up the car and see where the road takes me. Someone else can have my seat at IFBC 2011.
Wordle
While I’m away on my imaginary vacation, I’m leaving the pantry stocked with posts from Exit 51 that would have been part of the Flashback Friday series. The following originally appeared on 6/17/09 at Exit 51.
Wordle
For the life of me, I cannot remember how the world used to burn up billable work time before the Internet. I mean, you can only make so many “cheeky” xerox copies. Now, there’s Facebook and Youtube and Hulu. And don’t forget about Wordle.
What’s Wordle, you ask? See that picture? That’s my very own Exit 51 translated into Wordle. Mosey on over to wordle, enter text or provide a link to a blog site, and create a Wordle of your very own. The possibilities are endless.
You can thank me later, when you should be updating some TPS Report.
Flashback Friday – Now You See It, Now You Don’t
The following originally appeared on 6/8/08 at Exit 51.
Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Not even two days after I was drooling over the prospect of a great new eatery here in Charm City, I am sad. Sad because one of my favorite special occasion restaurants is gone. Poof. Continue reading “Flashback Friday – Now You See It, Now You Don’t”
Want
While I’m away on my imaginary vacation, I’m leaving the pantry stocked with posts from Exit 51 that would have been part of the Flashback Friday series. The following originally appeared on 7/9/09 at Exit 51.
Want
Will somone please tell me which kitchen god I need to pray to in order to make these beauties my own? For the life of me, I cannot explain why I am obsessed with these mini-cocottes. Lord knows I don’t have anywhere to store them, and there are much larger items on the priority list right now. But these just look so damn happy.
In a perfect world, both my kitchen and my bank account could accommodate this. For the time being, they are just one more item on my wish list.
Blog Roll
While I’m away on my imaginary vacation, I’m leaving the pantry stocked with posts from Exit 51 that would have been part of the Flashback Friday series. The following originally appeared on 7/10/09 at Exit 51.
Blog Roll
As if there were a shortage of websites to consume my daytime productivity, I had to stumble across this post on Bitten where Mr. Bittman opened Pandora’s Box. It was a simple enough question, what food blogs are people reading. In the seven days between when this post went up and when I read it, 619 comments had accumulated. Want to guess how long it took me to take a look at the sites that people recommended? Go ahead, guess.
An entire day. That’s right, approximately eight hours of my life was spent cutting and pasting and clicking on http links. If it weren’t for the fact that some of the recs are blogs I already read, and others were duplicates, lord knows how long it would have taken. In the end, I only bookmarked a few sites but I printed out recipes from some others that I may go back to in the future.
Who knows, some of them may just end up on the blog roll here at Exit 51 for your enjoyment. Time will tell.
But it got me wondering, what food blogs are you reading? I’d love to know.
Julie & Julia
While I’m away on my imaginary vacation, I’m leaving the pantry stocked with posts from Exit 51 that would have been part of the Flashback Friday series. The following originally appeared on 7/15/09 at Exit 51, where I promise, it was completely topical at the time. Now, not so much.
Julie & Julia
Did you think that I would not eventually get around to talking about this? The movie trailer has made its way across the Internet and the movie opens soon. So I guess it’s about time for my two cents on the whole Julie/Julia thing. Continue reading “Julie & Julia”
Big Summer Potluck
I’m not a gambler by nature. The risks I take are calculated, not reckless. However, there are moments when I throw caution to the wind, say what the hell, and let the chips fall where they may. These moments are few and far between, but they do happen. My most recent spontaneous, caution thrown to the wind decision involved me, one untested cookie recipe, a set of Mapquest directions, six hours of driving, 39 food bloggers, several food professionals, and three deer.
The destination was called the Big Summer Potluck. Organized by women who know food, blogging, and photography – Maggy Keet and Sharon Anderson of Three Many Cooks and Erika Pineda of Ivory Hut – this was a day to come together with other food bloggers to talk about the challenges we all face. It was an opportunity to build our food blogging community, to support and encourage one another, to learn more about our craft, and to eat some amazing food.
These ladies pulled out all the stops. On the agenda:
Pam Anderson (food columnist, cookbook author, Three Many Cooks food blogger, and former executive editor of Cook’s Illustrated) shared her thoughts on recipe development and recipe writing, in addition to graciously hosting us at her home.
Abby Dodge (food writer and instructor, cookbook author, and contributing editor to Fine Cooking magazine) demoed a dessert from her upcoming Desserts 4 Today cookbook (brilliant concept y’all…a cookbook full of desserts that utilize four ingredients), and shared some of her tips and tricks (stabilize whipped cream by replacing half the heavy cream with marscapone…yum).
Melissa DeMayo (food stylist extraordinaire) shared her food styling expertise and tips (texture, height, ingredient shots), demoed building the picture perfect sandwich, and told us the best way to do {fill in the blank with your question of choice} is whatever results in the prettiest shot.
Erika Pineda (photojournalist, sports photographer, and Ivory Hut blogger) spoke about the Holy Trinity of photography (Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO), point and shoot vs. dslr, and processing.
We had a lively discussion about video content and media campaigns with Auritt Communications.
And then there was Alice. Alice Currah of Savory Sweet Life and Everyday Alice. Alice Currah who was named one of Forbes.com’s “Eight of The Very Best Food Bloggers” and Saveur’s food photography “Cover Contest” winner. Maybe you’ve heard of her? She’s the bomb. Alice spoke to us about the importance of being authentic in our craft, speaking (and blogging) from the heart and from what we know, carving our own niche out of the blogosphere while also supporting and encouraging and honoring other food bloggers.
I go on and on about The Universe this and The Universe that and it may sound trite but hear me out. I was originally supposed to be in New York city for BlogHer this summer. My plans changed and I didn’t have the opportunity to attend and to finally meet in person some of the people that I have grown to think of as part of my extended family. And I was disappointed about that. But The Universe more than made up for it by getting me to Big Summer Potluck. BlogHer is mega big. It’s huge. Which for my socially awkward self is completely overwhelming. Big Summer Potluck was intimate. It was warm and welcoming. It was a conversation among old friends who may have just met each other that morning. It was exactly where I needed to be.
Remember my post You Might Be A Food Blogger If… That’s how Big Summer Potluck made me feel. I was anxious about walking into a room with an untested recipe (and we know I have strict rules about untested recipes) where I didn’t know a soul. My lack of navigational skills resulted in me getting lost in rural Pennsylvania and being the very last person to arrive 30 minutes late. Hello, I consider showing up on time being late. And yet, once I set foot in the door all of that melted away. I was embraced by these people. I was part of their tribe. I belonged. And isn’t that what we all want? To be accepted. To be validated. To be inspired.
There was laughter. Warm sun, clear skies, and cool breezes. Amazing products supplied from KitchenAid, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New West Knifeworks, The Spice House, Fine Cooking, Green Valley Organics, Green Mountain Coffee, Cypress Grove Chevre, Naturally Nora, and Lindsay Olives. And incredible food. Because you have to know that at a food blogger get together we’re going to nosh on good eats. To see people who know and make good food eat my potluck contribution and have their faces light up was priceless. In my head, I sounded like an insecure adolescent saying OMG, Alice Currah is eating my cookie and she LIKES it!!! There may have also been jazz hands and the Peanuts dance going on in my head as well. I was too excited in the moment to accurately recall now.
So I’ve been quietly sending my thanks back to The Universe for giving me the opportunity to be part of Big Summer Potluck. For the people who made it all possible and the people whose presence made it what it was.
I’ve also been thanking The Universe for allowing me to come to a complete stop on that winding back road in time not to hit the deer that decided to pop out of nowhere and lazily cross the road. I don’t know if there is any symbolic meaning to seeing three massive bucks other than the obvious – slow down. But that is one of the small moments from the weekend I hope to hang on to. Yes Universe, sometimes I hear what you’re trying to tell me loud and clear.
Hungry for more Big Summer Potluck? Check out:
What’s Kookin’ In Kara’s Kitchen
Do you wonder what a Big Summer Potluck looks like? Check out Erika’s lovely photos of the day.
And stay tuned for the Peanut Butterfinger cookie recipe that I took a gamble on being Big Summer Potluck worthy.
Bon Appetit Hon 