Resources for Food Lovers

by | Jul 30, 2009 | Random

Apple Apple Pie

Mashable just posted their 15 top social media resources for foodies and I thought I’d weigh in on the subject. Some of them are crossover – that probably just means that they are really the best.

Note: I think that the best resources are often looking at the links pages and blogrolls of your favorite food bloggers. When I’m not exploring new sites that I find through the blogs, these are my go to resources:

Food bloggers:

*Foodbuzz : This is one of the best and fastest growing food sites on the web which brings together food bloggers from all over the world, and hosts the most excellent 24,24,24 every month, where 24 food bloggers from all over the globe are generously provided a hefty sum to enjoy their dream meals. Foodbuzz also works with sponsors to provide food lovers with a tastemakers program that has great perks of free food that comes to you in the mail. I’m looking forward to their food bloggers conference in San Francisco in the fall – keep an eye out for it! – and I’m a very happy participant (they aren’t paying me to say this!) and am excited to see what they have planned in the next few months to come.

*Alltop : You can use Alltop to catch up on the recent posts of the best of the best food blogs all in one place. Alltop is a web aggregator that allows you to keep up on your favorite topics. I also check out other aggregators such as StumbleUpon and Digg regularly to find new food related sites and keep up with food news.

*Epicurious: This website hosts recipes from several of the Conde Nast magazines including Bon Appetit and Gourmet. I use this, the Food Network, and Martha Stewart for the majority of my basic recipe searches.

*Goodbites: A collective efforts from some of the top food bloggers to create a network of recipes and food videos sure to please and entertain! Organizers include Jaden from Steamy Kitchen, David Lebovitz, and Deb from Smitten Kitchen just to name a few!

*Tasty Kitchen: The Pioneer Woman’s newest project – a networking site for recipes organized by Ree Drummond, one of the queens of blogging.

Restaurant Reviews/ Food Chatter

*Zagat was the original guide to good eats in cities across the country, and I’m always sure to get their city guide whenever I’m moving to a new place or exporing a new city. They have a good website now, but some of the features require a membership to access them. I think it’s worth it.

*Yelp – Yelp is my go to for plotting out my neigborhood – sometimes you have to take the reviews with a grain of salt, but it’s the first spot for figuring out where to go to dinner on any particular evening. Other similar sites include UrbanSpoon and Chow which both feature restaurant reviews. Chow also is a growing food community and hosts a great deal of food conversations and chatter as well. And don’t forget to make restaurant reseverations on OpenTable!

*Chefsblade: Chefsblade is a new community website for chefs, food lovers and anyone interested in the food business in general. They also post great articles about food and food trends, and are a growing social networking site for the industry and those intrigued by it.

Food Porn

*Tastespotting and Foodgawker: Two sites which aggregate beautiful photos from hundreds of different food blogs – it’s really what I’d have to call foodporn – I could click through these sites all day long.

What are your favorite food sites? Anything fantastic that I’m missing out on?

“Apple Pie” image via EvilMadScientist

Friday, February 13th, in food.

by | Feb 13, 2009 | Holidays, Pasta, Random

friday-the-13th-1

Yesterday was Darwin day, a fantastic day for a fantastic man, commemorated in the UK by the printing of special stamps.

Tomorrow is Valentines day, and most people have been posting delicious things on their food blogs, including all varieties of cookies with pink frosting, truffles, and molten chocolate cake (a little bit cliché if you ask me).

I’d rather discuss today, Friday the 13th of February, and give it it’s own moment in the spotlight. I generally like this unlucky and mysterious day, and at one point as a child, I “reclaimed” it as my good luck day. To be fair though, I also claimed that I enjoyed getting shots, and really that was just a tactic to avoid the fact that I really hated them.

Friday the 13th, which occurs infrequently when the calendar aligns with the sun and the stars is filled with superstition, and a large amount of uncertainty as to its origin.

Some say it’s roots date back to a somewhat tragic Norse tale, where Frigga (Friday), a mythological goddess gets banished when the Norse convert to Christianity, and subsequently gathers with 11 other witches and the devil to plot her revenge. You almost feel bad for poor Frigga though, who as a fun lovin’ free spirited goddess was banished and replaced with a strict, reserved Scandinavian culture. At least they brought us cured salmon. The day is also associated with The Last Supper, which was attended by thirteen, and occurred right before Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. Now, sitting down at at a table of thirteen remains a dinner party faux-pas, although, really, it seems as if the real problem is that you have to somehow afford to pay for all of the food to feed this large number of people. I’d say that your budget would be the one that is unlucky.

Perhaps most importantly, today is National Tortellini Day. Isn’t it fantastic that Tortellini gets it’s own holiday? Maybe some superstitious folks will make their tortellini with squid ink and serve it to a party of thirteen.

Just in case you were hungry…

by | Feb 9, 2009 | Random

snacks1

On this door, located in the main building at Cal State East Bay, is a powerful message:  SNACKS. Snacks! I wasn’t really sure what this meant, but it sure made me hungry. Would I head through it and find a tasty treat? You would think that, but the door was quite locked. I tried to open it, I jiggled it, I smelled through the door to see if snacks were hiding. But nothing. Just a locked door, an unfulfilled pavlovian response, and a mystery…