I also plan on doing some major relaxing this weekend, might sneak in a trip to the new Bliss spa in Boston, will do some volunteer dog walking, and will hopefully end the weekend with the final Boston Wine Week event at Bin 26 Enoteca. Interested? You can sign up here: http://redwhitebostonbin26.eventbrite.com/

Today’s Friday Foodie Feature is Emily from A Cambridge Story. I love reading Emily’s blog, which I found when she commented on mine. I am glad she did because she has some great photos and food adventures. Since she lives in nearby Cambridge, we have a lot in common and both love to explore our area. Whether you live in the Boston area or not, her blog is a delightful read, and you will definitely enjoy it.

And if you are a blogger who hasn’t commented, I want to read your blog, so say hi!

How long have you been blogging?
I started a blog last summer, but a year later, I changed the entire thing, adopting a new layout, a new URL and a new focus – FOOD. A Cambridge Story is relatively new, but I am hooked! The other bloggers that I interact with on a daily basis assure me that this is definitely the right blog for my personality, skills and interests. So far, I am having a great time doing it!

What is your favorite thing about blogging?
Preparing a meal (and eating it!) is immensely satisfying. Because my blog focuses greatly on food – in and around the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts – I not only get to enjoy trying new recipes (and reinventing old ones), but I also have the opportunity to tell a story through words and photos. There’s nothing better than a great meal followed by a blog post that successfully captures its essence and allows others to experience the same joy in the kitchen!

Least favorite?
It sounds silly, but blogging can be a lot of work! Bloggers never seem to tire, and it can feel tough to  “keep up.” I try to remind myself that it’s ok to be too busy – or lazy – to cook after work or photograph the scone you had one morning. Not every meal can be a masterpiece and you have to blog at a pace that works for you and your life!

What has been your most fun blog post to write?
It’s hard to choose just one but, if I *had* to decide, it would be Adventures in Pasta Making. One Sunday night, my husband and I dusted off the KitchenAid and accompanying pasta extension and made a great fettuccine and bolognese sauce. It was definitely a multi-hour project but eating an entirely home made pasta dish was soooo rewarding!

Where do you see your blog this time next year?
I hope to be writing just as frequently and discovering new culinary and photography skills. I also hope to become more comfortable with - and good at – baking. With cooking, I can add a little of this and a little of that, and it will still turn out just fine… but the precision to baking is something I strive to master. Maybe next year!

Is there anything else about your blogging experience you would like to share?
Blogging has been such a great creative outlet for me, and I can only hope that my recipes and stories have the ability to pass along the fun that I experience in the kitchen to other readers. I love to hear from other cooks and photographers. You make blogging feel REAL, and I hope to see some old and new “faces” at a A Cambridge Story soon! 

Thanks so much Emily! I hope to meet you soon, and I look forward to continuing to follow your blog.

If you are a blogger, what has been your favorite post to write? Feel free to share a link, and give us all some fun blog-reading to do this weekend!

Technorati Tags: blogger, Boston, Food, foodie, guest post

Interview with Jen
I write the blog Tiny Urban Kitchen, which is so named because, like Meghan, I am also a city-girl and live in a tiny urban condo with a tiny urban kitchen in Cambridge, MA. I’ve been blogging on and off since 2007, but did not really get more serious about it until last summer when I renamed the blog “Tiny Urban Kitchen” and signed on with Foodbuzz. Throughout this past year, I have enjoyed blogging tremendously. I love meeting so many like-minded food lovers around the world, and it has provided me with many many amazing food opportunities as well.

What has surprised you most about food blogging?
I think everyone says the same thing, and I have to agree. The community is AWESOME. Most people start food blogging to share recipes with friends and family, or to keep a record of all the restaurants they’ve visited – at least that’s why I started my blog. You never really realize how food blogging can connect you to so many like-minded people around the world. I’ve had the great privilege to “meet” people from Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, and, of course, all over the US. Things like the Foodbuzz Festival are great ways to connect with other food lovers. I never would have thought that starting a food blog would open the door to so many other friendships, opportunities, and experiences.

What has been the most amazing food opportunity that you’ve had as a result of food blogging?
No question it was my trip to the Napa Valley earlier this year to blog about the S. Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef Competition. Foodbuzz and S. Pellegrino had hosted a contest to send one person there.  The trip really opened my eyes to what the food industry is like. The food industry, especially the restaurant industry, is grueling, and it takes a ton of hard work and perseverance to make it. I was so privileged to be able to see this up close. It really gave me a new perspective and added respect for those who choose to follow this career path. Of course, Napa Valley is also beautiful, and I had a fabulous time there just checking out the vineyards and trying some amazing restaurants!

Which posts did you have the most fun making?
That’s easy – it would have to be my first 24, 24, 24 post titled “Kyaraben on Steroids.” I spent the day making sushi and other foods in the shapes of my favorite Japanese anime characters. It was a ton of work and took all day, but to this day I still love looking at the pictures of the cute Hello Kitty, Domokuns, Totoros, and Keroppis that I made for this post.

I also love playing with my food and photographing them in different angles, and therefore some posts whose photography I really enjoyed creating are the ones about dragon fruit, meyer lemons, ratatouille, and fiddleheads.

What are you favorite restaurants in Boston?
My favorite neighborhood restaurant is definitely Garden at the Cellar. The truffle fries alone are the best I’ve ever had, and the rest of the menu is excellent and pricedvery veryreasonably. I hope it never moves away! Bergamot is also another excellent restaurant that just recently opened. For fancy dining, Craigie on Main, formerly Craigie Street Bistrot, is fantastic – some of the best food I’ve had in Boston. Bryan is also partial to O Ya, although I think I need to try it again before making my final conclusion (my first experience was disappointing).

Muqueca (Brazilian coastal food) is one of my favorite little ethnic family restaurants, while Mamma Maria or Prezza just might be my favorite North End restaurants (of course you can’t forget Mike’s Pastry!). Outside of the North End, we just love Basta Pasta, both the original Cambridge location and the new Quincy location.

As for Asian food, because I’m Taiwanese, that cuisine tends to be my favorite, which is why I love going to Taiwan Cafe, Gourmet Dumpling House, and Shangri-La. I also love the hot pots at Little Q (more recently moved to Arlington). I think Fugakyu has one of the best sushi lunch specials around, and Cafe Sushi has one of the best Sunday evening sushi dinner specials.

Hi Rise Bakery is one of my favorite bakeries (love love love their vanilla loaf. My favorite ice cream is from Toscanini’s and my favorite pizza is from Emma’s. My favorite burgers are from Bartley’s, although Capital Grille and Smith & Wollensky are a close second.

What have been some of your favorite dining experience ever? In the world?
One of my all time favorite dining experiences in the world was at Kyubey in Tokyo. It’s this sushi place right down the street from Tsukiji Fish Market. We got the omakase and essentially had our personal sushi chef for most of the meal, creating interesting bites for us. As a seafood lover, my favorite restaurant in terms of food is probably Le Bernardin in New York City. One of my favorite dining experiences is probably at Daniel. The service, food, everything was so impeccable, it really made for an unforgettable experience. I also love dumplings, and therefore Din Tai fung in Taiwan is also one of my favorite dining places in the world.

Final Thoughts?
I love interacting with my readers through comments the blog. I like to think of the blog as a forum for communication about food. Although I offer lots of information on the blog, I have also learned a lot of things from my readers. The communication totally goes both ways, and I love it that way!

Thanks so much Meghan for a chance to be featured on your blog!

Random Friday Question: If you are a blogger, what has been your best blog-related experience? If you are a blog reader, what is the best thing that has come out of it?

P.S. If you are in San Francisco this weekend (lucky!), check out the SF Chefs 2010 event: http://www.sfchefsfoodwine.com/ It looks fabulous, and I wish I could go!

Technorati Tags: Boston, Food, foodie, Guest Blogger

Raija, Jenna, and Magic of Spice

Congratulations! Please email me your contact info so I can get you some coupons for free Siggi’s yogurt. Yum.

I am sorry it took me so long to get around to pulling the winners of the giveaway. What a week! I am so happy that it is Friday. After a delicious but veerrrrrrrrry slow dinner at Bergamot last night, I knew that I could only take so much more this week. . .

Thankfully, I have a truly wonderful blogger for today’s Friday Foodie Feature, Jean from The Delightful Repast. I love her responses to the feature questions, and I am excited about her blog and look forward to seeing how it grows!

How long have you been blogging?
I should have started blogging long ago, but I resist technology. My friends think it’s a wonder I use a modern contraption like the gas stove! It wasn’t until February 15 that I started my blog.

What is your favorite thing about blogging?
As a freelance magazine writer, my articles must adhere to the magazines’ requirements. As a blogger, my posts can just flow out of whatever is on my mind at the time. A tightly focused magazine article may not have room for me to squeeze in anything about, say, the importance of eating seasonal, local, organic food that has been grown, harvested, produced and distributed in a socially, as well as environmentally, responsible way. Or about the importance of families sitting down to the dinner table together.

Least favorite?                                                                                     Narrowing down the possibilities is difficult. A lot of the things I make are outside the theme of my blog. The Delightful Repast’s subtitle is: A Tradition of Good Food ~ Comfort Food with Flair. So I try to stay with that theme. Another challenge is keeping it conversational. I tend to slip into the much more formal magazine-style of writing; it’s what I’m used to.

What has been your most fun blog post to write?
Well, I’ve really enjoyed the ones where I’ve talked about my grandmothers–one Southern, one English. My great grandmother even got a mention in my “Cream Gravy” post. But I must say I really had “fun” with two very early posts (before blogging had become work!). I recall having so much fun setting up the photos for these two. And with the “Enough Already with the Garlic!” I was smiling just thinking of the controversy it could stir up if enough people read it!

http://delightfulrepast.blogspot.com/2010/02/early-lesson-in-mise-en-place.html

http://delightfulrepast.blogspot.com/2010/02/enough-already-with-garlic.html

Where do you see your blog this time next year?
At that point, The Delightful Repast will be 16 months old. And it WILL be–I’m not going to drop out! I see my blog having thousands and thousands of regular readers by then (long before then, I hope!) and editors everywhere clamoring to have me write for them.

Is there anything else about your blogging experience you would like to share?
I wish I had started sooner, before there were a gazillion food blogs!

Remember, if you want to be a featured foodie, just email me at traveleatlove (@) gmail.com!

This weekend I have a blogger meetup, The ALLY Foundation Pink for a Change gala, and a day of REST.

What are your weekend plans?

Technorati Tags: blogger, Food, foodie

Today’s foodie is a blogger who is new-ish to me, Brian from A Thought for Food. In the few weeks that I have been reading his blog, I have decided that he chose the perfect name for it. It is a beautiful site, and there is clearly a lot of thought put into it. He has some incredible food photos and recipes. My email correspondences with Brian have also really shown a lot of thought. When I needed a guest post because of a broken laptop he was the first to respond and ready to help. Overall, he is a great blogger, a super kind person, and someone I hope to meet at a Boston event soon! And I love the post he chose as his favorite so check it out!

How long have you been blogging?
July will mark the first anniversary of A Thought For Food

What is your favorite thing about blogging?
I love that blogging has introduced me to foodies from around the world who share a common love for cooking.

Least favorite?
Planning what to blog about next.  I just have too many recipes I want to make and not enough time to make all of them.

What has been your most fun blog post to write?

http://www.athoughtforfood.net/2010/05/wedding-photographer-comes-for-dinner.html
A recent entry where my wedding photographer came over and took pictures of a dinner I made, which included a whole grilled haddock. It was a very collaborative experience.

Where do you see your blog this time next year?
It took the past year for me to really find my voice and I see that continuing to develop in the years to come. I also believe that the blog thrives off of other people’s connections to the stories and recipes I write about, so I hope that my readership continues to grow.

Is there anything else about your blogging experience you would like to share?
I think it’s a challenge for any amateur cook to find an outlet to express their love for food.  But what I’ve enjoyed so much about blogging is that it has allowed me to be creative in a way that few mediums can provide.

Want to be a featured foodie? Email me at traveleatlove (@) gmail.com. I am currently seeking foodies for the next 8 weeks or so!

ALSO since many of you are healthy living bloggers/readers, I wanted to share with you a bit of amazingness. George, who I met at Vino Voyage, is riding across the country to raise money for the Community Rowing adaptive program. You can check out his bio, route, and find more information on the cause here. http://thexcrideforcri.us/site/Welcome.html. And yes, that’s riding a BIKE across the country from Boston, MA to Portland, OR. You can follow him on Twitter, and I am sure he would appreciate the support!

Technorati Tags: blogger, Boston, Food, foodie