Yesterday I wrote my first “fan mail” letter to a famous food blogger: Molly Wizenberg of Orangette. I do not often write “fan mail.” In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve done so in the past. My letters have gone to an eclectic list of people, including a game [...]
Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
If I started blogging today…(Blogathon Theme Day #2)
Posted in Fun Food Bites, Writing, tagged blogging advice, wordcount blogathon on May 23, 2012 | 6 Comments »
The Blogathon’s second theme day asks us to reflect on what we’ve learned as bloggers. If we were to start blogging today, what would we do differently? There is one thing above all others that I would change: I would pull a Lindsey Buckingham and go my own way. There is a lot of blogging advice [...]
WordCount Blogathoners write about their “second acts”
Posted in Fun Food Bites, Writing, tagged career change, life transitions, secondact, wordcount blogathon on May 17, 2012 | 5 Comments »
Last week Michelle Rafter, founder of the WordCount Blogathon and a writer for the website SecondAct, which is geared towards those over 40, asked Blogathoners to write about their “second acts”: risks they’ve taken, changes they’ve made, or revelations that have come to them in the second half of their lives. To me there is nothing [...]
McDonald’s memories and the power of childhood foods
Posted in Food News, Pop Culture, Writing, tagged chicken mcnuggets, childhood foods, food memories, grimace, McDonald's on May 15, 2012 | 5 Comments »
McDonald’s is trying to change the way consumers think about its food, according to a recent article in The New York Times Magazine. Franchisees are renovating their stores, and the company’s marketing and social media teams are circulating stories about the farmers who supply their food and recruiting “Mom bloggers” to help build their brand. [...]
What dish would you travel across the country eating?
Posted in Writing, tagged american pie, pascale le draoulec on May 11, 2012 | 13 Comments »
Writer Pascale Le Draoulec chose pie. On a road trip from California to her new home in New York, she stopped in Nevada, Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut among other states to learn how each region treats its pie, then wrote about her journey in American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America’s [...]
4 ways to gain confidence in the kitchen from Kathleen Flinn’s The Kitchen Counter Cooking School
Posted in Books, Recipes, Writing, tagged becoming a better cook, kathleen flinn, the kitchen counter cooking school on May 9, 2012 | 7 Comments »
“I want to try to understand what could motivate people to cook more often,” writer Kathleen Flinn tells her husband in her memoir, The Kitchen Counter Cooking School. “I want to give people different cooking lessons and see which of the things they learn might stick with them.” Flinn does just that after finding a group [...]
5 TV episodes and movies that inspire my writing
Posted in Pop Culture, Writing, tagged blogging inspiration, freaks and geeks, hoosiers, men of a certain age, rudy, vision quest, writing inspiration on May 7, 2012 | 9 Comments »
When I learned about Blogathon Theme Day #1 - “5 Movies that Have Inspired My Blogging” – I wasn’t sure I would participate. I can only think of one food blogging movie (Julie and Julia), and it’s too obvious to write about. But writing and blogging are about perseverance and never giving up and remaining committed to [...]
Thoughts on Amanda Hesser’s advice for aspiring food writers
Posted in Writing, tagged advice for food writers, amanda hesser, food 52, food writing on May 6, 2012 | 3 Comments »
If you haven’t seen Amanda Hesser’s essay about developing a food writing career – and how hard it is to do so today – it’s worth a read. Go to Food52 now to see her advice for aspiring food writers. Share your reactions there. Then come back here. What do you think? I have a few [...]
The role of voice in cookbook writing (and what makes you want to buy a cookbook?)
Posted in Books, Writing, tagged at home on the range, cookbook writing, elizabeth gilbert, writing voice on May 3, 2012 | 10 Comments »
“When so many recipes are available on the internet, recipes alone don’t make a cookbook,” wrote Holly Hughes, editor of the Best American Food Writing series, explaining that she’s looking for other material that sets a cookbook apart. “I’m focused on the words, not the photos, beautiful as they may be, and the quality of [...]
The Culture of Pregnancy Weight Gain
Posted in Writing, tagged adult eating disorders, culture of prenatal care, heavier babies, pregnancy weight gain, when the baby measures too small on May 2, 2012 | 11 Comments »
Putting on 30 to 40 pounds during pregnancy sucks. That sounds selfish, right? Of course pregnant women are going to gain some weight. There’s a baby in there, after all, and she or he needs space. For me though psychologically and physically adjusting to the weight gain has been the most challenging part of pregnancy. [...]
