I'm attending the IFBC (International Food Blogging Conference) next weekend in Sacramento, and am so excited about it. Over the years, I've attended a bazillion conferences, and haven't always made the most of my time there. Frankly, I'm not super-comfortable with rushing into a crowd of strangers and immediately starting up scintillating conversation, and am in awe of people who can do that. I finally realized I needed a plan. Below are some of the things I try to do in advance of conferences ...
Join the Ugly Food Movement with Eden Juices
Meet Eden. Eden is a new environmentally friendly company that makes fresh, cold-pressed juices from 'ugly food' -- imperfectly shaped fruits and vegetables that don't meet strict appearance requirements for a discriminating public. What’s the big deal with ‘Ugly Food’? It may surprise you to learn that 30 to 40% of food grown around the world is discarded. Some for spoilage, but much of this waste includes bruised fruits and misshapen vegetables containing the same nutrients ...
Cucumber-Watercress Soup: #SundaySupper
Chilled cucumbers and watercress soup blended with Greek yogurt and buttermilk, topped with salsa for a hot summer night. Time to chill out! Hot summer days are here with trips to the beach with cartons of sunblock and beer, picnics in the country, and sylvan hikes in the mountains. This holiday weekend our stepson (Kevin), his lovely wife (Suzanne), their 5 kids (4 very active boys and 1 very active little girl who dances every moment she can), and one 20-week-old puppy are visiting. ...
The Writing Process Blog Tour Continues
I'm not much of a chain letter type of girl. I wasn't good at it when I was young when it involved literally writing 20 identical letters and posting them off with a stamp and envelope, and I'm still not good with this genre as a blogger with a mac. But when Linda at Fork and Forage nominated me as one of her three people to continue the Writing Process Blog Tour, I immediately accepted. It's become a movement of sorts, so many millions of bloggers have lent their voices to it: writers working ...
Blog CookOff! Cookbook #Giveaway: Spiced & Seasons by Rinku Bhattacharya
To catch any of you newbies up on this Blog CookOff, I was invited by Hippocrene Books, a well-known publisher of international cookbooks, to participate in a Blog-CookOff to celebrate the new release of Spices and Seasons, Simple, Sustainable Indian Flavors by Rinku Bhattacharya. During Week #1 of the Blog-CookOff, a few of us bloggers all featured Rinku's Classic Green Mint Chutney which I tossed into brown rice and topped with tomatoes and nectarines. Week #2 we chose a recipe in the book ...
Last Day for Google Reader!
We've been moving our home life lately, so I haven't been able to write, photograph, and frankly haven't even cooked very much. My days instead have been spent packing boxes, driving them to our new home, and trying to figure out where on earth our stuff will actually go. Downsizing is freeing, but is best described as a process of being freed. And when more than one person's stuff is involved, that process can become epic with moments of drama :-) I'll be back with you this coming week, and I'm ...
Starbucks, Bring Back My Carbs !
Those of you who are regular readers of The Wimpy Vegetarian will no doubt have run across various references to Susan’s spouse, the resolute carnivore. That’s me. I am really an omnivore, but lean (no pun intended) towards the meat-eater side of the table. But I digress. This is a post about Starbucks, and more specifically, about carbs (an addiction Susan and I share and resist together) and about the role of expectations in fast food consumption. “Hardly an appropriate topic for ‘The ...
White Christmas
We arrived in Tahoe to a snow storm that closed roads due to avalanches. After two days of storming while we sat by the fire and savored the glory of it all, we woke to brilliant sunshine. I took some photos of the glistening snow still hanging to the trees and was reminded of this poem by my favorite poet above all others. Merry Christmas to you and yours. May your holidays be filled with sunshine and glistening hope. First Snow by Mary Oliver The snow began here this morning and ...
Holding Life a Little Closer
Life unarguably goes on, even in the face of horrific tragedy. Tomorrow the alarm will blare, we will go to work, stop at the grocery store, and run some errands; and I will resume with a new recipe. But even in this world where wars, murder, and violence have become frighteningly more commonplace, the horror of 20 first graders senselessly murdered in their schoolroom stands out. It doesn't take much effort to find reams of articles and interviews politicizing this horror to rant on larger ...
Gifts From the Kitchen – #SundaySupper Gift Ideas for You
As we roll into a time of the year where we exchange gifts with friends and family, nothing warms the heart more than a personal gift from the kitchen. Last year I posted a series a Gifts From the Kitchen, including snacks, fruit butters, spice rubs, and cookies. This Sunday, November 11, I'm taking that one giant step further. This Sunday I’m really excited to host Gifts From the Kitchen #SundaySupper! We will have 50 ideas with recipes from our group for holiday gifts, hostess gifts, or ...
Food Bloggers Support for Sandy – #FBS4Sandy
With every fresh wave of photos I see from the devastation left in the wake of Sandy, I'm stunned anew by the images. It's hard to grasp from 3000 miles away how much people have lost, and how long it will take to recover. It's hard to know how to help in an ocean of need. Denver-based Barb Kiebel, author of the wonderful food blog Creative Culinary, put out a call yesterday on her blog to this amazing community of food bloggers, which I first saw on my friend Suzanne's blog, another wonderful ...
Learning Something New
What would you like to learn how to make in 2012? It could be something complicated like puff pastry. Or something more practical like canning the vegetables from your garden. Or baking your own bread. For me, I love yogurt and would love to develop a recipe for making my own. It's a rare day I don't start my morning with a bowl of yogurt and some fruit. It makes me feel good; like I've started my day on the right foot, even if I slide a bit later with a brownie. There are different ...
