Club Med Food Blogger Camp Tips and Insights

Thanks to a food writing scholarship and the generous support of friends, I am writing this post from Ixtapa, Mexico’s Club Med Food Blogger Camp. For one week, a small group of food bloggers gather together to enjoy the tropical weather, warm ocean breezes, and food blogging sessions taught by some of the most respected online food writers in United States and France.

Club Med’s resort is reason enough for the trip–with its beautiful architecture, friendly staff, warm ocean waters, balmy weather (the tropical climate ranks nearly perfect for more than three hundred days a year), beautiful vistas, and outstanding food.

In a word, Club Med Ixtapa is paradise.

Continue To Find Food Blogging Tips from Club Med Ixtapa’s Food Blogger Camp »

January 11November 14

Service 101: Restaurants Are Not Picnic Tables

Welcome to Service 101: a behind the scenes look at the food service industry. Today’s topic: restaurants as a business.

Lots of people pay for the luxury of eating out. But how is it those very same diners don’t think of restaurants as a business? Though the average diner understands the concept of paying the bill at the end of the meal, many see restaurants as a kind of public service for their neighborhood or city. For them, the restaurant is a public space put there to serve their culinary and social needs—rather than a place of business that is designed to assist them in getting sustenance in a pleasant atmosphere.

Take for example The Angry Late Guy. He books a table for four on a busy Friday night at 8 pm, but doesn’t show until thirty minutes after his reservation time. The restaurant holds the table for the gentleman and his guests for 15 minutes, but when he never arrives, the restaurant does what it must do: they give the table to someone else. Why? Not because the restaurant is spiteful, disorganized, or uncommitted to serve their guests. It is because they are a business, and empty tables cost restaurants money.

Continue Zucchini Bread Recipe »

January 4November 14

Classic Cocktails Revamped: The Ward 2010

I got my start in the restaurant business as a bartender. I wasn’t an arm-garter wearing mixologist with killer technique. I was a girl behind the bar, the person in charge of the party, a smart ass and a fast thinker that could pour hundreds of pints of beer in an hour.

Fifteen years ago, tending bar in Boston was less about technique and more about work ethic. Back then, it was unheard of to squeeze fresh juice for a sour. The idea of muddling a sprig of thyme into a cocktail would have gotten me more than a dirty look–it would have gotten me fired. Back in the day, what made me a great bartender was the fact that I could remember people’s names and their drinks, pour shots and pints fast, and knew how much all the drinks cost without ever touching the manual cash register.

Thanks to a renaissance in speakeasy’s and classic drink making, I’m learning lots of new techniques, turn of the century bartending tricks, and classic drinks. To be a bartender in 2010—you must have knowledge of the classics, excitement about new and ancient ingredients, great technique, be creative, and—though many ‘bar chefs’ would disagree—be really fast.

Now that I’ve been bartending again, I’m building a small bar of my own at home. This way, I can take what I’ve learned at work and apply my craft to a post shift drink–a refreshing cocktail that’s equal parts reward and research.

My newest cocktail is the Ward 2010, a drink that celebrates the past, the future, and California’s citrus season.

Continue Reading for a Delicious Ward 2010 Cocktail »

December 31

Goodbye to the 'Naughts

This first decade of the new century has been a doozy. In just ten years, life stories have been written and re-written by time, chance, good fortune, and circumstance. These first ten years have been marked wonderful little moments, joyful surprises, and gut wrenching incidents. There have been great meals, new flavors, old recipes, new techniques, and great innovations for the kitchen.

In this decade I have photographed more food than faces.

Continue to Read More New Year’s Wishes, Find Hangover Cures and Chef Resolutions »

December 28November 14

New Year’s Culinary Tradition: Caviar

Culinary traditions are handed down, borrowed and created. I bake my grandmother’s Finnish Nisu (cardamom sweet bread) at Easter and Christmas. Favorite chefs and images like Norman Rockwell’s Thanksgiving influence my Thanksgiving day spread. Now that I’m married and living thousands of miles from my bi-coastal family, I find I need to create new culinary traditions to celebrate my life with the man I love.

Since New Years is a working holiday for most restaurant industry folk, I’ll be saving my celebrating for the next morning. As many in Los Angeles wake with new-decade hangovers, my husband and I will be enjoying a celebratory morning with caviar and a bottle of bubbly.

Continue Reading for a Simple New Years Recipe for Caviar! »

December 24

Happy Holidays 2009

Thank you for such a wonderful year. Thank you for the inspiration, support, and kind words. Here’s to more great meals with loved ones, and spreading more love in the world.

All the best to you and the loved ones in your world.

December 23

Perfect Poached Eggs with Sautéed Kale and Toast

You may not know this, but I run a very successful restaurant. Thing is, this restaurant isn’t one you’ve ever heard of, or even seen, because it doesn’t exist anywhere but in an undisclosed spot in my imagination.

My fantasy restaurant has no overhead, no ten year lease, no worries associated with the health department, no long hours, no grease traps, and food costs are something I occasionally ponder. In my make-believe eatery I serve rustic fare with warm service in a room with hardwood floors, a pressed tin ceiling, and a brick fire place. Then again, some days I’m serving fresh caught seafood and beer at a shoebox eatery with clean white tile, communal tables with red chairs, and industrial steel signage.

And maybe that’s the best thing about my imaginary restaurant. I can change things up whenever I want and it never costs a cent. Yet, no matter how menu changes and renovations my imaginary restaurant undergoes, one thing that stays constant is this one menu item: Perfect Poached Eggs on toast with Sauteed Kale.

I’m pretty certain that if I ever did open a bistro, this warm and comforting egg dish–two soft poached eggs lounging over a bed of sautéed kale and toast–would be the thing to turn customers into regulars. With anti-oxidant rich kale at its core, this breakfast feeds a winter morning’s hunger and keeps you going long after you finish that last bite.

Continue for the Poached Eggs with Sautéed Kale Recipe »

December 21January 3

Delicata Squash with Browned Butter and Sage Recipe

One of the best things about being a gastronome and a restaurant professional at an award winning restaurant is that my work environment is a constant source of inspiration. Some of the dishes we serve at the Osteria are incredibly complicated and require hours to prepare. Other menu items are based on grandmother’s traditional recipes. The simple, classic dishes that haunt me the most. They compel me to tear off my waiter’s uniform, get into my home kitchen, and cook.

A new contorni (that’s Italian for side dish) went onto the menu last week. Ever since that first pre-shift bite of the buttery sweet squash with browned butter and sage, I’ve been obsessed with the need to figure out how to duplicate those warm, sweet flavors.

Lucky for me and my culinary obsessions, the Delicata squash contorni is a rather simple one to make, and requires only basic cooking techniques.

Continue Reading for a Delicious Delicata Squash with Browned Butter and Sage Recipe! »

December 14

Menu for Hope 6: Wire Sculpture from Food Woolf

As we wade deeper into the holiday season, the more many of us think of ways to give back. Donating to a local charity, helping out a friend in need, and giving handmade gifts are wonderful ways to contribute to those that are in need.

This year, I am proud to say I am participating Menu for Hope, an annual campaign–started by food blogger and writer Chez Pim–to raise funds in benefit of the United Nations World Food Programme and its Purchase for Progress initiative. Not only will I be eagerly bidding on other great food blogger’s donated items (like MattBite‘s Food Photography Class or Jen Yu of Use Real Butter’s beautiful photography) I will be donating a wire sculpture to the event.

Menu For Hope Bid Item: UW35

The sculpture I’m donating is called “Bistecca,” an ode to the great animal that has inspired many a great recipe.

Continue to Read More about Menu For Hope »

December 14November 14

No Fail Potato Leek Soup Recipe

I’m not a chef, but I do spend a lot of time with professional cooks.

I work in a restaurant several nights a week and I like to show up early and take a few minutes of my off-the-clock time getting my bearings and observing the day’s activity in the kitchen. I pour myself a cup of coffee and watch the guys prep fish, squish hundreds of roasted potatoes, or pluck leaves of mint for what will become salsa verdes for the night’s service. It’s in these little moments of observing the pre-game prep, that I learn the big lessons about cooking.

Most servers don’t care for this sort of sideline observances. Maybe that’s why the chefs and prep cooks don’t mind as I watch them slice up chickens or brine pig’s heads. I have pretty good radar for annoyance, so I’m able to disappear the moment I see a flicker of irritation on a chef’s face.

In hanging around chefs, I’ve picked up lots of great tricks. But despite all the time I’ve spent with these men and women in chef’s whites, I haven’t been able to get over my irrational fear of unknown ingredients and certain culinary techniques. One challenge I had to recently overcome is my ridiculous fear of leeks.

While most people eagerly snatch up bundles of leeks, I would walk past and pretend I didn’t care for them. I even feigned ignorance of this vegetable’s power to inspire culinary hysteria across France. I was that scared. But thanks to my wonderful friend, Leah and her You-Can’t-Screw-This-One-Up Potato and Leek Soup Recipe, I finally had myself a leek epiphany.

Continue for a No Fail Recipe for Potato Leek Soup! »

December 12

Food Blogger Gift Guide

Food Blogger Holiday Gift Ideas 2009

It seems like everyone I meet nowadays is a food blogger. We’re a unique bunch of people that obsess over food, eat like it was our job, snap pictures of everything we eat, and collect cookbooks like they were trading cards. We’re the kind of people that hope we get gift certificates to our favorite restaurants or Williams Sonoma.

But when it comes to unique gifts for a food blogger–things start to get difficult. Gadgets, tchotchkes, and other random food related gifts don’t always hit the mark. So should you be hoping to find a little guidance this holiday season, this food blogger offers her gift giving guide for the culinary obsessed. Because it takes one to know one.

Read a Complete List of Gift Ideas After the Jump! »

December 10

No Drip Vietnamese Spring Rolls: Gourmet Airplane Food

It’s December, the month of holiday travel, and I’m here to tell you that before you step foot onto a plane (or car for a long road trip), you really ought to take a few minutes to plan what you’re going to eat while your traveling.

Because, bottom line, you love good food and the stuff they serve on airplanes is terrible. What’s worse, they make you pay a handful of dollars for food you would otherwise walk right past–had you not been stuck in your seat with no food options. Even if you took the time out to buy a snack from the airport terminal, the food is downright overpriced and unhealthy.

So why aren’t more people obsessing over packing their own meal for their trip? Maybe the new baggage requirements have something to do with why travelers aren’t packing their own airplane meal; but planning a simple meal for your flight doesn’t have to be difficult. As a matter of fact, packing a lunch for a trip can be downright fun.

Granted, menu planning at 3 a.m. before leaving to catch an early flight isn’t ideal. So I recommend putting together your snack the night before while you’re making dinner. That way you can get all of your prep and clean up done in advance of any bleary-eyed wake up call.

Continue for a Terrific, No-Drip Spring Roll Recipe! »

December 1

The Hero's Journey, Through Food Blogging Part II

[This is Part Two of a Previous Post]

“If what you are following is your own true adventure…then magical guides will appear to help you.”–Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey

In celebration of my two year anniversary, I’ve decided to take a look at my journey through blogging through the lens of the mythic structure*. Starting mid act two of The Blogger as a Mythic Hero, the most valuable gift a beginning blogger can give to themselves is finding a food blogging ally. Perhaps you forge a friendship at a food blogging conference. Maybe you meet someone at a food related event. Regardless the venue, seeking out like minded food writers is important in your heroic journey to self discovery, through blogging.

Continue Reading Part 2 of The Hero’s Journey »

December 1

The Hero's Journey, Through Food Blogging (Part one)

“The hero’s journey always begins with the call.” –Jospeh Campbell

Joseph Campbell, author of The Heroes Journey, called this significant shift, the “inciting incident” within a character’s story. This event in a real person’s life is called a turning point. Or in Oprah-parlance, the “Aha Moment”. For some people the call is to leave a certain social situation. Get a new job. Start a new life. For me, it was starting this food blog.

Any great story begins with a single, significant event–a special power is discovered, an accident occurs, a dare is initiated, a large some of money is won or needed, a move to a new town begins, someone dies, someone is born, a planet is discovered. But once the hero is given the call, they are plunged into a new and unfamiliar world that will change them forever.

I’m not the only one that’s been irrevocably changed by blogging. Just ask Molly of Orangette, Jaden of Steamy Kitchen, Elise of Simply Recipes, or Shauna from Gluten Free Girl how this online art form has made them the heroes of their own life stories.

ACT I: THE INCITING INCIDENT

My inciting incident happened two years ago this week when I decided to start this blog. Like any hero crossing the threshold into a whole new life, I had no idea what was in store for me. Ignorance, as they say, is bliss.

If you have a new blog or are thinking of starting one, this is the time to dive in fearlessly and embrace your own heroic journey of self-discovery. With a little bit of planning and a lot of faith in yourself, the journey to creating a successful blog (whatever that means to you) is just a few acts away.

Continue Reading the Blogger’s Mythic Journey »

November 19

Where To Buy Turkey in Los Angeles

I’m not sure how it happened, but I completely forgot to order my Thanksgiving turkey. My husband snapped me out of my ignorance of current calendar dates last night. He was gentle, but pointed.

“Chef Quinn ordered his turkey from Harvey Gus,” he said. “Maybe you should see if it isn’t too late to get a turkey.”

I gave him a blank stare. Wait. Get a turkey? How many days do I have before Thanksgiving?

That’s when I realized I was in trouble. As I scrambled to do research on where to find a bird, I realized I was in one of those concurrent life/food blog moments. If I were to get anything out of this potential debacle, I would have to write about it. Fast.

Based on my research, I offer you this roundup of Where to Buy Turkey in LA (Last Minute).

To get the Inside Scoop on Where To Buy a Turkey in LA »

November 18

Grilling vs BBQ

BBQ flames

There are people who never cook. Only grill.

My dad is one of those people. He’s never thumbed through a cookbook, or spent hours planning out future meals. For my father, meals are to be eaten, not planned. He loves take out and the microwave. But hand the guy a plate full of steaks and an outdoor grill, and he’ll happily get to cooking dinner.

What is it about a barbecue that makes people forget their fear of cooking? Maybe it’s the lick of the flame, the smell of the smoke, or just the simple act of stepping outdoors (and away from the kitchen) that turns the whole act of cooking into something fun.

Continue Reading About BBQ »

November 5

Growing Risk: Sebastopol Apple Farmers Face Hard Times

It’s 4:17 a.m. and fog drapes over the apple orchards of Devoto Gardens like misty gauze. While most of Sebastopol sleeps, apple grower Stan Devoto is in his kitchen boiling water. “It’s too early to brew coffee,” he says, grabbing a bag of green tea. He drops the tea bag into his favorite mug and reaches for the door.

There’s still 60 miles to drive, a truck to unload, apples to organize, signs to put up, and flowers to arrange, before his day of selling apples at the Ferry Plaza farmers’ market in San Francisco even begins. Behind the wheel of his Toyota Previa, Stan blasts oldies on the radio to keep awake.

October 29

Culinary Tour of Michigan

I’m more than a little fixated on food. I work in the restaurant business. I write about food. Personal photo albums are dedicated to meals and ingredients. My wallet brims with receipts from restaurants. So it should be no surprise that my travel itineraries are structured to maximize breakfast, lunch, and dinner plans. When I hit the road, I’m always sure to go with an empty stomach, an open mind, and a stack of research on where to find the city’s best food. Give me a new city and I will give you a list of the top ten places to get food within just a few Google searches.

Over the past few years, I’ve had the great pleasure of becoming part of my husband’s Michigan-based family while eating my way through the south-east part of his home state. Lucky for me, my extended Michigan family appreciates my food-centric leanings and affection for culinary fact-finding missions. Thanks to my Michigan family and friends, I have discovered much of Michigan’s diverse food scene with nary a Google search.

After coming back from my fall trip to the Ann Arbor area, I decided to backtrack a little, to see what other people had to say about my favorite Michigan food destinations. After a good deal of research, I was surprised by the lack of comprehensive listings for such a culinary rich state. In hopes of making other food lovers aware of Michigan’s food traditions, I offer you this food tour round up.

Keep Reading for My Michigan Food Tour »

October 27

Cold Cure Cocktail

It’s cold season and everyone I know is suffering. The most recent flu bug—a nasty twist on a head cold with a sore throat, congestion, and undeniable exhaustion—is taking down the best of ’em. Even earnest, hand washing me.

I shouldn’t be surprised by my recent bout with a cold. When you work in a business that requires close contact with hundreds of people a day, it’s no wonder I’ve gotten sick. The flu shot and lots of hand washing helps, but sometimes the viruses that topple the ranks of fellow restaurant employees, wins.

So besides getting lots of rest, drinking plenty of fluids*, and eating chicken soup, my sick body has been craving another kind of cold cure. Bourbon, fresh lemon juice, and spicy peppers work its magic on burning away the final traces of a sore throat. Fill a tea pot with hot water, add freshly squeezed lemon juice, a shot of Buffalo Trace bourbon (or your favorite brown stuff) and sweeten the mix with a Jalapeño simple syrup. The drink’s warmth and fiery spice is the perfect late night answer to a cold cure. I’ve been feeling great ever since.

Continue Reading for my Cold Cure Cocktail »

October 15March 14

Moving from Blogger to WordPress

flowers cu

Home feels so much better after a really good clean. That’s true for this blog, too. Maybe you noticed a few changes. What’s different? Thanks to lots and lots of help, I ripped out all the old Blogger wiring and installed shiny, hi-tech Word Press tools to streamline the whole darn thing.

Along the way to making this blog a bit more pro-style, some things were lost (please re-sign up for my RSS Feed!!!). And some were gained (Yay, SEO! Stats! Organization!)

Truth be told, the actual move from Blogger to WordPress didn’t take that long–maybe two or three full days in front of a computer with a couple of tech savvy friends–but a whole lot of life got in the way. There were four months of waiting for the work of a designer I hired that, it turns out, actually had no intention of doing anything. A month to rebuild my confidence. And then, thanks to the nudging of my good friends Todd and Diane, I was able to realize I was playing the classic game of avoidance.

What was I afraid of? Other than flipping some switch and everything going *poof*, I feared the technology. Or more specifically, my lack of knowledge. So in order to get over my fear, I decided gut the thing myself. With LOTS of hand holding and guidance from my friends.