Project Food Blog #1: Ready, Set, Blog!

The folks at Foodbuzz.com have issued a delicious new challenge to their Featured Publishers: Project Food Blog. Thousands of bloggers (including me!) will compete through several rounds of challenges--they'll need enough votes to advance to the next round, and the ultimate winner gets ten grand and a feature on Foodbuzz.com for a year. All I need is for my readers (yes, you!) to vote, vote, vote for me! I'll let you know when ;) My first assignment: explain what makes me the foodie I am. This will not be a short answer! The simple theme at first: My approach is to make food approachable, whether it's finding affordable and delicious deals here in NYC, or putting together simple yet scrumptious recipes that just about anyone can do.

My main inspiration has been and always will be my mother. That woman can COOK. No, seriously. Ask anyone she's ever cooked for--decades later they will remember every bite. It's a good thing she's so great at it, because when my sister and I were growing up, cooking at home was almost always more affordable, and as I learned along the way, usually healther and tastier. Of course, back then I was an insufferably picky eater, and would turn my freckled nose up at Mom's homemade Hollandaise(!), anything with seafood, and God help us all if she tried to get me to eat salad. I was smart enough to gobble up her biscuits (heaven!), Boston Cream Pie, and my favorite dish, Chicken Tarragon. I'm sure she's relieved, maybe surprised, I developed a love for cooking myself, and this blog has morphed into a fun and wonderful way for me to share that with even more people. As I've mentioned before, there's something empowering about being able to take raw ingredients and feed yourself, and others, well. It's also usually so much healthier. Except when it isn't. And even then it's worth it. :) Working with Foodbuzz has also let me have even more opportunities to share food and friendship with the people I love--and I feel I can and will do so much more!

I've been doing this blog for quite some time now--I started it quietly, not even telling any of my friends and family at first, not sure, I guess, if I was up to scrutiny or sticking with it. But I managed both, and I'm so glad I stuck with it! I hope it comes through that I think cooking does not have to be complicated or difficult--making good food is usually a simple process, and I love hearing when people try a recipe on my blog and love it, or when someone tries snazzing up their usual menu with something exotic, simply because something I wrote (cooked/ate/baked) inspired them to do it. I also love it when people who don't even like to cook take the time to stop by and check in on me! Whether I'm trying out a new recipe, reviewing a local restaurant (or those far away), or just swooning over a gorgeous creation, I enjoy the camaradarie that's developed through having regular readers, friends, family, and new peeps, visit me here.

I'm definitely not a food snob--there's room in my life for Froot Loops AND foie gras (okay, not foie gras--I can't really stomach the stuff). I find value in both childhood favorites and daring, newer ventures. It's all part of our lives, and sometimes crunching on a bowl of artificially flavored loops of Froot is just the cure for a bleary Monday morning. Other times, my tastes might sway more toward the 'grown-up' arena. I'll try local favorites, like Montreal's smoked meats and eeek--poutine! (better than it looks), shockingly good Mexican in Martha's Vineyard (no really, I swear!), but I'll always come back to my love, the world cuisine of NYC. Crispy pig's ear? Yes please. Any cuisine you want? Oh yeah, we got that, too. I think I usually do a good job of capturing beautiful food on camera, but an upgrade to my pretty little Canon point-and-shoot sure wouldn't hurt! Neither would a PC that takes fewer than 20 minutes to start up each time. ;)

I've weathered layoff after layoff, the recession biting me right in the wallet, ups and downs in general, but I've always managed to find a way to make life delicious and share it with others. I'd like to go even further with this delicious little hobby o' mine, and I'll need your help to do it! Thanks for all of the support, comments, encouraging emails, and other fabulous feedback you've given me over the years! It means everything!