Category Archives: Food

04.01.13
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Here’s To the Ladies Who Lunch

“Here’s to the ladies who lunch–everybody laugh. Lounging in their caftans and planning a brunch on their own behalf. Off to the gym, then to a fitting, claiming they’re fat. And looking grim ’cause they’ve been sitting choosing a hat. Does anyone still wear a hat? I’ll drink to that.”- “Ladies Who Lunch” from “Company.”

It wasn’t until I started waiting tables on the Upper East Side that I got a special glimpse into the world of the Ladies Who Lunch. When I was younger and just getting acclimated into the adult world, I used to think that being a lady of leisure would be The Life. Who wouldn’t want to spend the day shopping, meeting friends for a long lunch with cocktails, visiting the spa, maybe working out with a personal trainer here and there. That seemed to be the ideal way to pass the time.

Now, after spending a good part of a year amongst the Ladies Who Lunch, I’m not so sure I’d want any of that. In fact, I can say for certain, I do not want to be a lady who lunches. I’d rather be a Lady Who Works Very Hard and Starts Her Own Company than a lady of leisure.

For starters, it was a little hard at first to adjust to the way I was viewed as a server by some of these Ladies Who Lunch. After sharing the daily specials, I often wanted to add, “I’m not your little servant girl and you don’t need to feel sorry for me. I don’t envy you or your crying baby. I actually went to graduate school. I’m just looking to make extra money.”

Second, I didn’t know it was possible to have so many different water orders at one table. I’ll have sparkling water, but not I’m not sure what she’ll have. Or my favorite, one person would order water with no ice, another would order water with ice, a third would order water with no ice, but with a lemon, and the fourth water with ice and all of the bar fruits.

I quickly found that iced tea and Pinot Grigio were the two staple drinks among Ladies Who Lunch. I often marveled at how fast some of these women could suck down iced tea. Some days, it was impossible to keep up.

I’ve also never seen so many crazy strollers in my life. Where do people find these things? The latest strollers look more like monster trucks and less like efficient ways to transport babies around town. Speaking of children, I’m so glad my parents taught me never to scream or throw my food at a restaurant when I was young. That is something I will be sure to pass along to my children.

Finally, I would like you to know, Ladies Who Lunch, that none of you are fat. Not a single one of you. When you go out for lunch, you don’t need to split a salad five ways. It’s okay if you order your own meal. Also, feel free to eat a roll here and there. I promise it won’t hurt you.

My waiting tables days have ended and I must say, it’s been fun, Ladies Who Lunch! I appreciate all the life lessons you’ve inadvertently taught me over your chopped salads and glasses of wine. This is by far the most important thing I learned:

Words of wisdom from Countess Luann, my favorite real housewife of New York.

01.25.13
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Happy Blogiversary To Me!

cheersToday marks my three-year blogiversary. Quite a milestone, if I may say so! I’d actually forgotten the exact date I took the plunge into the blogosphere until today when my WordPress account prompted to renew my expiring domain name (something I have to do annually).

Three years ago today, I bought my own Tweetupdomain name and started a blog so that I would have writing samples for potential employers. Little did I know that blogging would catapult me into a completely new career path and take me into the uncharted waters of tweet-ups and other social media/blogging-related meetups. Not to mention the countless people I’ve met virtually and in real life thanks to this medium.

I don’t think I ever thought about where blogging would lead me or what would actually become of this blog. I simply just wrote in hopes that someone, at least–if not solely–my parents, would read, enjoy, be entertained, and be challenged by what I wrote.

breakfast sandwichMy first blog post was about a sandwich. I’m a woman of many words when it comes to the foods I enjoy, so it’s no surprise that food posts have made many appearances on this blog. I’ve shared family cooking traditions, expounded upon my own food obsessions, and even passed along a recipe or two.

classroomAnother thing I’ve loved about having this blog is that it’s been a great forum for creating dialogue on social issues that are important to me such as education, health care, and the latest happenings in local government. Facebook and Twitter rants don’t quite do it for me.

I raise my glass to you, Prince William!

Then of course, there’s the lighter side. That’s the great thing about having a blog called Ramblings, I can write about whatever I want. Conversation starters for the socially challenged, gushing over my literary crushes, reflecting on an old celebrity crush, requesting to work for Saturday Night Live in a cheeky cover letter, lamenting the death of romance, ranting about Comic Sans. One of my greatest joys came from solving the age-old mystery from my youth about the disappearance of the other Cinnamon Toast Crunch bakers.

Perhaps the biggest laugh for me is in realizing that Snooki has provided my blog with the most traffic. Thanks to the post I wrote about her publishing a novel, there was always a spike in traffic to my blog on Thursdays just before Jersey Shore aired. Thank you, Google image search!

So, what’s next? What will the next three years bring? More of everything, I hope! For starters, it’s time to get back to a more frequent blogging schedule. Second, it’s time to get more personal. Perhaps throw in a bit more about my own life, only the interesting parts of course! Lastly, I really want to take a look at how I can engage foreign readers. Within the last year, WordPress started keeping stats on clicks by country. It’s really cool to look at the map of top views by country for my blog:

Screen shot 2013-01-25 at 9.47.56 PM

People from Myanmar have visited my blog? Not to mention Albania, Egypt, Mauritius, Australia, and India. It blows my mind! If only I could get this visitors to speak to me and share their stories. The possibilities would be endless. I would love to find a way to foster an international conversation.

We’ll see what’s happen. Here’s to the next three years and beyond!

Champagne toast!

Champagne toast!

10.15.12
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Food Obsessions

While reading about culinary quests in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine issue on food, I started thinking about my own personal food obsessions. As a food lover and cook, there are many dishes, condiments, and meals that I continually obsess over. I am known to frequent restaurants that are way out of my way just to get eggs done a special way or go to a tucked away specialty store to get my favorite variety of mustard. We all have foods that we can’t live without, and below are the items are my food obsessions:

ImageGigantic salads 
Among family and friends and anyone else for whom I’ve cooked, the gigantic, all-encompassing salad is known as my signature dish. I love when a salad is a full meal. My salads have staples: toasted nuts, grilled veggies, cherry tomatoes. I like to vary the seasonings and proteins I use. Sometimes I’ll throw in bacon, other times grilled salmon or another grilled fish. I like to add cheese shavings, particularly aged gouda. Homemade dressing always.

Pesto
Summer in the Whipp house meant an abundance of pesto on hand. My mom made pesto from the fresh basil in her garden and since I soon became addicted to this sauce, I made sure that I learned how to make the perfect batch of pesto. On many summer mornings, I went to the garden to pluck fresh basil for my pre-swim practice meal. To me, pesto goes with everything; on pasta, in sandwiches, and as dip for carrots. I’ve gone to great lengths to make pesto. Once, at a college dinner party, I resorted to using a mortar and pestle to make pesto because none of us could afford the luxury of a food processor.

ImagePizza
Pizza was always considered a treat when I was young and I still view it as such. When my parents left us with a babysitter, we were treated to pizza. When I dined over at my best friend’s house in elementary school, we were surprised with a pizza from the local pizza joint. I could probably eat pizza every day (in fact, I tried that once when visiting the south of France) and though I eat if often, it always feels like a delicacy. I’ve eaten a lot of pizza in my day, but I’m still convinced Zaffiro’s in Milwaukee is the best pizza I’ve ever had. (Joseph’s in Boston runs a close second.)

ImageBrunch
Who doesn’t like brunch?! I’ll eat it at any time of the day. I love inventive egg scrambles with interesting spices, breakfast burritos, huevos rancheros, savory breakfast meats, coffee, bloody marys dragged through the garden and topped with oysters, the list goes on. I enjoy going out for brunch as much as cooking it in the comfort of my own home. Since moving to New York, I know also enjoy ordering in brunch. A few months ago, my friend and I discovered a great little place in East Harlem that delivers brunch on the cheap and they deliver coffee! The best part is that the food travels incredibly well. I’ve become a big fan of cheap, instant brunch that I don’t have to cook and can enjoy in the comfort of my own home.

Deluxe Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
I do not like plain old grilled cheese sandwiches. What I do like are grilled cheese sandwiches stuffed with meats, vegetables, maybe even a crabcake or two. It’s fun to experiment with making melts because the possibilities are endless. You can vary the bread you use, the kind of cheese, the sauce you put on the sandwich, the kind of bacon, etc. Never met a deluxe grilled cheese that I didn’t like. If you need inspiration, check out the Wisconsin Board of Cheese’s Grilled Cheese Academy for recipes (and food porn).

Mustard
My favorite condiment. I’m partial to Grey Poupon, especially of the Country Dijon variety. I put mustard on sandwiches, in dressing, and on crackers. I’ve been meaning to get to the National Mustard Museum in Wisconsin, but time has not permitted. Yet.

Bacon

ImageSimilar to brunch, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like bacon (except for my vegetarian friend). Like pizza, I could also eat bacon at every meal. I was delighted to find this “Bacon 25 Ways” article in Sunday’s Times magazine and have already vowed to make all of the dishes. Recently, I discovered the joys of bacon infused whiskey and yes, it is delicious.

What are your food obsessions? Anything you think I’ve missed? Anything I’ve mentioned that you can’t stand? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

08.02.12
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Engagement Chicken, It’s A Meal Your Wife Would Make

Last week, I found myself sitting on my couch in the crispy cold air of my new air conditioner watching the Food Network. The Barefoot Contessa was on and the topic was chicken. The first demonstration showed how to perfectly roast a chicken. Ina Garten pointed out that this particular recipe had been dubbed “engagement chicken” because some women at Glamour magazine had passed around this particular recipe amongst themselves and each woman became engaged after she had prepared it for her boyfriend.

Intrigued, I ran to my kitchen and picked up my copy of The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. Sure enough, there was the recipe for roasted chicken that she had just made. The Spanish onions, the lemon, the garlic, the recipe for the gravy that looked seemingly effortless–engagement chicken at my fingertips.

After watching Ina Garten roast a chicken on this episode of The Barefoot Contessa, I realized one thing: this is a dish I need to know how to make. Because it’s a dish your wife would make. And it’s true, she would. Because she’s an adult and adults know how to cook adult things. I’m not even married, but I feel like if I want to be married I should know how to roast a chicken.

What a terrible thing to think. I can’t get married unless I know how to roast a chicken?! I can’t believe I even thought that. Why should I be depended on to cook the family dinner? It’s the 21st century, aren’t we over traditional gender roles? Can’t my future husband roast the damn chicken? Or maybe my future precocious 12 year old daughter could take on the task of cooking dinner, it seems right up her alley. Or maybe my future next door neighbor could invite us over for a monthly chicken roast. That sounds very kind and neighborly.

On the other hand, thinking of my future family, I also started to feel a little guilty because I find chicken carcasses to be disgusting. How can I roast them a chicken or a Thanksgiving turkey when the idea of putting my hand inside poultry makes me want to vomit? Who am I to deny my starving, protein-hungry future family of their succulent roast chicken dipped just because of my own bird carcass-touching shortcomings?

Despite the fact that I consider myself to be a modern woman and thus beyond the expectations of traditional gender roles, I still feel like it’s my duty to know how to roast a chicken. Gender roles aside, to me, there is nothing more satisfying than plopping down a fabulous dish in the middle of a table full of people like it ain’t no thang. Engagement chicken is the type of dish that not only woos diners, but also gives the cook a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in his or her own cooking abilities. I always enjoy a good cooking challenge, so I think it’s time to overcome my fears and stuff a chicken carcass full of onion and garlic deliciousness.

03.05.12
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Cooking With Found Objects

This is around the age I was when I took that art class for kids.

When I was about four or five, I took an art class for kids at the local university called “Creating With Found Objects.” The only requisite was that each kid brought in materials that they found around their house. I brought some poker chips, a stem from a fake plant, one of my brother’s toy trucks,  you know the standard found objects. The objects were then mashed together with clay, baked in the kiln, and then we were given free reign to paint them however we pleased. These collages made beautiful wall hangings (I think my mom still has one hanging at the house). It was a great class because it taught me from a young age that you really don’t need much to make a masterpiece (or at least, what I perceived to be a masterpiece.)

Just a few of my favorite cookbooks.

I take a similar approach in my cooking methods. Though I love to browse through cookbooks for inspiration and read through recipes online, my favorite dishes have often come from throwing random ingredients from my fridge together into a meal. I’ve spent enough time experimenting in the kitchen and eating out to have a general idea of what ingredients go well together, and which ones don’t, so usually these experiments result in something halfway decent.

I do follow recipes from time-to-time, especially when cooking a new cuisine altogether, but I like to commit recipes to memory and then improvise the next time I make the dish. I have my mom to thank for this. She invited me to cook with her at a young age and inspired me to take risks in the kitchen without focusing on the nitty-gritty details.

The lunch I made for myself today falls under the “cooking with found objects” kind of day. I had some random ingredients in the fridge leftover from an array of appetizers I had on Friday night. I decided to turn these leftovers into a flatbread pizza/sandwich. I was very pleased with the results and as soon as I finish writing this post, I’m going to make another. Below is the recipe I came up with for this sandwich. Feel free to take some inspiration from it (or ignore completely.)

Flatbread Pizza/Sandwich

Ingredients: flatbread, tomatoes, mixed greens, tapenade, balsamic vinegar, aged gouda shavings, basil

1. Cut pita in half.

2. Spread tapenade on both halves of the pita.

3. Cover pita halves with mixed greens.

4. Slice tomatoes, arrange on top of mixed greens.

5. Sprinkle on basil.

6. Drizzle both halves with balsamic vinager.

7. Top with aged gouda shavings.

8. Cook in oven at 350 as long as it takes for the cheese to melt.

Voila! Your flatbread pizza/sandwich is ready to eat.

01.02.11
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The Night of Seven Fishes and Other Christmas Traditions

I do not come from an Italian family, but every Christmas Eve, we partake in a great Italian tradition: The Night of Seven Fishes.  We began this tradition a few years ago on Christmas Eve, when my immediate family gathers to eat, open presents, and play board games.  I could not be happier about the adoption of The Night of Seven Fishes because it is one of the most glorious eating experiences of all time.  I’m not quite sure about the exact rules of The Night of Seven Fishes, but I do know that in my family it means cooking seven fish dishes and then eating them all in a row. It is a feat of much physical strength and it is delicious.

My mom's cookbook collection.

I love the cooking that goes on around Christmas time because it involves looking at and using old cookbooks and partaking in cooking traditions that have been passed down from the generations.  It also involves taking culinary risks and learning new dishes to add to the repertoire.  These dishes aren’t just ordinary dishes, they are dishes that have been passed through the generations.  Like I mentioned in my Mother’s Day post, I feel like the spirits of my grandma and great-grandmother are with my mom and me in the kitchen as my mom prepares the traditional Swedish dishes that she is entrusting unto me so that I may pass them to my children who will in turn pass them down to their children.  Cooking on Christmas is an homage to our past and a salute to the future, while eating like queens in the present.

Now that my brother has married into a Russian family, we have combined the dishes from both cultures into one, large, delicious smorgasbord of Russian and Swedish goodness.  New traditions are learned, new dishes have been added, and cognac is involved. And even more kinds of fish.  At the end of the Christmas holiday, and after much calculation, I figured that I ate 10 different kinds of fish:  herring (prepared the Swedish way and the Russian way), shrimp, baked oysters, lox, smoked sea bass, smoked trout, mussels in white wine sauce, seared tuna, caviar, and now the tenth one is escaping me…

The "new" Betty Crocker cookbook. First edition, copyright 1961.

This year, I was in charge of making the mussells, the baked oysters (New Orleans style), tomates provencales, and I watched and learned as my mom made the famous Swedish bread that we eat on Christmas morning. Another highlight was making Jansson’s Temptation, the best potato dish ever.  A Swedish dish popularized in the 1930s, Jansson’s Temptation features layers of potatoes, onions, anchovies, and heavy cream, topped off by bread crumbs. After baking in the oven, the anchovies dissolve leaving a delicious, creamy, warm potato dish.  It is very tempting to eat the entire dish in one sitting.

One of the joys of the holiday is enjoying a wide variety of dishes that we don’t always make during the rest of the year.  I do make a lot of fish during the year, but never seven different fish dishes in one meal!

What are some of your family’s Christmas cooking traditions?

09.18.10
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The Case of the Missing Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bakers…Solved!

I have extreme 1980s nostalgia and something I have not been able to forget about since that time is the Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercial.  The commercial, featuring three bakers, was so delightful and so was the breakfast cereal itself.  Each commercial featured the singing bakers and a delighted child who would proclaim, “The bakers are here!” upon realizing the bakers were cooking cereal in the kitchen. In perfect harmony, each baker took a turning singing, “Cinnamon,” “toast,” and crunch.” Beautiful. Everything was perfect.  If you don’t believe me, you can see for yourself below.

Everything was perfect until one day, in the early 1990s, two of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch bakers disappeared without a trace.  The horror!  Having one baker instead of three is like having one musketeer, Larry without Moe or Curly, or Snap without Crackle and Pop.  Instead of three bakers, Wendell (the old guy) remained the only baker to represent Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  The disappearance of the other bakers coincided with the addition of the cinnamon swirl to the cereal’s flakes. Were the two incidents related or a mere coincidence? 

The disappearance of the other bakers has plagued me since the late 1980s and I am certainly not alone in my concern about the fate of the other two Cinnamon Toast Crunch bakers.  Nobody can say for sure what caused the disappearance of the bakers, but there are speculations.  One speculation I had heard in the early ’90s was that a jealous Wendell drowned the other bakers in the cinnamon swirl river. A less exciting  theory is that the other two bakers were eliminated for marketing reasons.  I guess we’ll never know the truth.  Or will we?

I decided it was time for once and for all to get to the bottom of the whole missing baker debacle and go straight to the source to find out the fate of the two other bakers.  I contacted General Mills via the consumer services section of their website.  After filling out the required fields, I wrote the following note:

I am a huge fan of all your cereals and their respective commercials. I especially loved the Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercials as a kid. My favorite was the three singing chefs. I’ve always wondered, why did the other two chefs disappear from the box without a trace, making Wendell the sole mascot of Cinnamon Toast Crunch?

In a matter of minutes, I received the following auto-reply:

Thank you for contacting us.
Your message is being forwarded to a Consumer Services Representative who will review your inquiry and reply. Please be assured that we will respond to you as quickly as we can.

General Mills Consumer Services

I just hope this Consumer Services Representative has extensive knowledge on the matter and can, in fact, respond in a timely manner. I need to put a rest to this 20-some year mystery.

Thankfully, a Consumer Services rep did in fact respond in a timely fashion.  Saturday morning, I received the following email:

 Hello Valued Consumer:
 
Thank you for contacting General Mills with your inquiry.
Wendell was the only baker that was named, and due to consumer feedback, we chose to feature him as the “Cinnamon Toast Baker” where he has remained in this title role since 1991.
 
We hope you find this information helpful. Please let us know if we can help you again.

Case closed! Thanks to consumer feedback, General Mills pulled the plug on the other two bakers, leaving Wendell as the sole mascot of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  Too bad I wasn’t more of a concerned consumer in the late ’80s or I would have campaigned for the other two bakers.  I’m glad I can finally put this case to rest and I’d like to express my gratitude towards General Mills for replying in such a timely fashion.  On a Saturday, too!

05.09.10
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Swedish Pancakes and Asparagus Frittata

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Today being Mother’s Day, my sister, brother, and I decided that the best way to honor our mother this year was by preparing a low-key brunch at home. My mother is a fabulous cook and most of what I’ve learned about cooking I learned by watching her, so I take any opportunity to return the favor.  Her mother was also a fabulous cook and many of her cooking traditions, particularly Swedish ones, have been passed down through the generations.  Thus, I decided to make Swedish pancakes for today’s Mother’s Day Brunch.  I also like to take culinary adventures whenever possible, so I decided to try an asparagus frittata. I’ve never made a frittata in my life, but I liked the idea of being able to whip one up for brunch. I found a recipe for asparagus frittata online and gave it a whirl.

For those of you that are not Swedish and did not grow up enjoying your mother’s, your grandmother’s, or even great grandmother’s Swedish pancakes, Swedish pancakes are the small, thin pancakes known as “silver dollars.”  They’re a lot easier to make than I had thought, but I’ll admit I was a little nervous making Swedish pancakes for the first time. As I prepared my first round of cakes, I felt as though my grandmother, her mother, and all the Swedish women before them were watching over me to make sure I didn’t make a mistake! Lots of responsibility in cooking a traditional family dish! They turned out wonderfully and my mother and I agreed that my grandmother was probably turning cartwheels “upstairs” in sheer delight over the success of the Swedish pancakes.  To make the cakes, you must have a special griddle specifically for Swedish pancakes in order to hold the batter and form them into the tiny, little silver dollars.  Of course you have to serve Swedish pancakes with lingonberries.

The original recipe I found for the asparagus frittata called for jack cheese, but I prefer aged gouda and gruyère so I used those cheeses instead. You can pretty much use any ingredient that you would ever dream of in a frittata, but the key to crispy vegetables is cooking them a little bit before adding the eggs. Avoid overcooking the vegetables as that will make the frittata soggy. Ironically, after finishing our leisurely Mother’s Day brunch, I sat down to read The New York Times Magazine only to find an article on asparagus frittata, reaffirming all of what I had found to be true about making a frittata.

Aside from adding to new dishes to my repertoire, I also picked up a new tradition that my mother has done for years; keeping a detailed record of dishes served and guests in attendance.  Any time my mother hosts anyone for dinner, whether it’s another couple or a party of thirty,  she types up a list of the dishes and guests so that she can revisit them in the future.  We recently found an old binder that held the handwritten lists of dishes and guests from my brother’s first birthday party, in December of 1981 as well as my baptism in October of 1983. I only wish I had been old enough to sample the food.

Swedish Pancakes

6 eggs

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 c. milk

1 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tbsp. butter, melted

1/8 tsp. vanilla

1) Beat eggs until light.

2) Add rest of ingredients.

3) Fry in fry pan.  Takes a short time as the pancakes are very thin.

Serves 4-5 people.

Asparagus, Gouda, and Gruyère Frittata

8 large eggs

1/2 cup shredded gouda & gruyère cheeses

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tbsp. butter

1 lb. asparagus, trimmed, cut diagonally into 1/4-in. pieces (3 cups)

3 tbsp. roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1) Heat the broiler to high.

2) In a large bowl, whisk eggs, cheese, salt and ground black pepper until thoroughly combined.

3) In a large ovenproof frying pant, heat the oil and butter over medium-high heat.  When it foams, add asparagus, season with salt and black pepper, and cook until cooked through (about 5 minutes). Stir in the cilantro.

4) Reduce heat to low, pour in egg mixture, and cook until a 1-inch border of egg mixture is firm. 

5) Place pan in oven and broil until some spots are browned and eggs are set.

Serves 4-5 people.

04.18.10
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Take A Picture, It Lasts Longer

That some people are keeping photographic food diaries and posting them online does not surprise psychotherapists. “In the unconscious mind, food equals love because food is our deepest and earliest connection with our caretaker,” said Kathryn Zerbe, a psychiatrist who specializes in eating disorders and food fixations at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. “So it makes sense that people would want to capture, collect, catalog, brag about and show off their food.” –”First Camera, Then Fork,” New York Times. 4/7/2010

Ever notice how these days, people  love to take pictures of their food?   Go in to any restaurant and I bet you will find someone who is snapping a picture of their sandwich before digging in.  In fact, go no further than your Facebook or Twitter news feed and I guarantee you will find someone who has just posted pictures of the savory breakfast sandwich they just ate or dishes from a lavish dinner party they recently  prepared.  It’s almost as if these photos scream, “look at my incredible culinary skills; too bad you weren’t here to enjoy them” or, “It’s a shame you aren’t as skilled at cooking as I am.”   I’ll admit, sometimes I feel a tinge of jealousy when I see such photographs.  I wouldn’t mind sampling your chicken parm or salmon ceviche next time I’m in your neck of the woods!

Before I go knocking this recent phenomenon, I’ll admit, I’m just as guilty of taking pictures of my food, too.  Due to my slight obsession with sandwiches, I will take picture of a delicious sandwich before eating so that I might forever remember its beauty and its ingredients.  I’ve been known to snap a photo of the dinner I cooked next to a floral arrangement and strategically placed glass of wine in the background and then posting them  to my Facebook or Twitter pages.    Should I feel embarrassed about taking pictures of my food before eating it?  Is taking pictures of your meals and then posting them online a little too boastful?

To gain insight into this phenomenon of food photography, I decided I needed to dive deeper into the culture of foodies and food photographers.  To do so, I got myself invited to the Wisconsin Board of Cheese’s Grilled Cheese Academy party at Cafe Soleil in Madison, WI.  The exclusive party was for food bloggers and people like myself who had won invitations from Wisconsin Cheese on Twitter.  Thankfully, my friends at Burp Blog and new friend from Cake Walk were also attending (and graciously drove me to Madison), thus granting me a portal into the world of food bloggers and food photography.

The moment we arrived at Cafe Soleil, it was apparent that along with gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, food photography was also on the menu.  Food bloggers from all over Wisconsin gathered at Soleil not only to sample the cuisine, but to network with other food bloggers while meticulously cataloging the dishes of the evening.  Food photography was encouraged and done with pride.

After sampling several grilled cheese sandwiches and the beers that were paired with them, the food bloggers began to record what they had sampled.  I watched in awe as my blogger friends grabbed samples of the sandwiches and moved them to the window in order to get better lighting for their photos.  They arranged the sandwiches on napkins and placed them with their beer pairings.  After snapping photos of the sandwiches from various angles, the bloggers wrote down a list of each sandwich and its ingredients to post along with the photos on their respective blogs.

It was fascinating to read their posts about the Grilled Cheese Academy on their blogs because I had learned what went into recreating such an event in a blog post; the sampling, the photography, the write-up.  After witnessing this event, I realized that food photography is not boastful when used for a good purpose, such as food blogging.  Simply posting your food photos to Facebook or Flickr with the tag line “look what I can cook” can come across as a little boastful.  If you are going to post pictures of what you recently cooked or tasted at a restaurant, tell the story behind the photos.  People love a good story especially when food is involved.  However, if you’re not the storytelling type, at least share the recipe along with your food photographs!

02.23.10
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College Dorms and the Living’s Easy

The words “upscale” and “college dorms” should never appear in the same sentence.  I nearly fell out of my chair while reading a recent article in the Boston Globe that described a local university dormitory that came equipped with a wood fired pizza oven.  While the article focused on how universities are battling for students, I couldn’t help but fixate on the wood fired pizza oven.  A pizza oven in your dorm room?  I could barely make Ramen noodles in mine!
 
Living near several college campuses, I have noticed the trend in upscale dorm living.  To be competitive, colleges are looking to find creative ways to attract students, I understand that.  Parents want more for their money, I’ll buy that. But providing part-time valet parking, a concierge that will take your dirty laundry, and automated-wake up calls as is the case at High Point University in North Carolina?  Give me a break!
 
To me, “upscale dorm life” was having exposed brick on one wall of my otherwise modest single room.   I only dreamed of picking a high enough lottery number in the room lottery to secure the college’s “prime real estate,” newly erected townhouses built with uncharacteristically wide hallways, but I was happy to secure a room of my own.  As for the automated wake up call?  That was my friend pounding on the door to make sure I was awake for lunch. 
 
With this new trend of condo-like dorms equipped with full kitchens, gyms, snacks, laundry, gourmet coffee, varying dining options, college students are missing  key character-building life experiences.  I am a better person for having lived in a dorm in which people left their ashtrays out in the lounge, bathrooms were co-ed, there were no elevators  to take you to the fourth floor, and you might have had to wear headphones to drown out the noise at three am while finishing a paper.  Part of the college experience is learning how to adapt to communal living away from the comforts of your parents’ house!
 
I wonder about the future of these college kids when they rent their first apartments.  They will face a harsh dose of needed reality when they find that no one else will take out the trash, housekeeping does not make the rounds each morning, toilet paper does not automatically refill itself, and omelettes cannot be made to order on the first floor of your apartment building.