Sharyn of The Kale Chronicles, whose blog I do enjoy reading so much each post, has kindly given me the Food Bloggers Unplugged Award! Thank you so much, Sharyn, for honoring me with this award and for being such a supportive reader and commenter of my blog. This award is involves answering some food related questions about yourself, and then you pass the baton to 5 other food bloggers you’d like to know more about, so here goes!
1. What, or who inspired you to start a blog?
I’ve always had a talent for being able to “taste” recipes before actually trying them and “dissect” dishes that I eat in restaurants—to the point of telling you all the ingredients in them—much to the amusement of my friends. After reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Delimma and Barbara Kingsolvers’ Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I became more and more interested in the foods we eat, grow, and cook. I joined a CSA, which challenged me to try eating and cooking vegetables I hadn’t tried before, and I built a raised-bed organic garden of my own. A couple of years ago at a dinner party some good friends suggested that they thought I should be a food reviewer, or perhaps think about starting a blog. I shrugged at the time, but one day the middle of June 2011, and for no particular reason, I felt inspired to check out wordpress templates, named myself and I finally took the plunge. I’ve been having a blast with it ever since, getting to “know” so many great people and learning new things all the time!
2. Who is your foodie inspiration?
All kinds of people and things inspire me. My “Mamaw” was, and my mom still is, my first inspiration, both great home cooks. Also, we traveled a lot when I was a kid and my parents encouraged me to taste and try different foods in all the countries and locales we visited…that made a big impression. I’d say that Julia Child was my first chef inspiration because I remember watching her as a small child with my parents when she first started her show on public broadcasting. My dad would always mimic her wonderful high voice, and of course we all know her sign off…”This is Julia Child, Bon Appetit!” made even more famous on Dan Ackroyd’s Saturday Night Live skit. Jacques Pépin was also an inspiration and watching him and Julia together later on was such a treat. I learned a lot from those shows, long before the Food Network was born.
3. Your greasiest, batter – splattered food/drink book is?
Hmmm…The Silver Palette Cookbooks are the most splattered and war-torn, while Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home has been my fave for a while now…but my own collection of recipes are hand-written in an absolutely tattered, battered, somewhat disgusting-looking and completely falling apart notebook! You can see some of my favorite cookbooks in the Bookshelf section of this blog and read a bit about my cookbook addiction here.
4. Tell us all about the best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it, what was it?
This is a tie. In the south of France in a little town called Mole, my husband and I had dinner on the terrace of a restaurant overlooking a farm that I believe was named La Ferme du Magnan. Everything they served had been grown and picked, harvested or slaughtered that day and it was the freshest food I can ever remember eating. The mussels, which were opened and grilled in the shells on a huge open air grill, were to die for. And in the town of Chania, Crete, I had the most remarkable and memorable dish… a Cretan Hot Pot, made with local pork, local greens, fresh thyme and hard goats cheese melted on top, and cooked in a clay pot. It was gooey, stewy, savory with a hint of sweet, served very hot. Never had anything like it before or since and I’ll never forget it…and also I can’t replicate it.
5. Another food bloggers table you’d like to eat at is?
Oh, my! So many great options out there! Well, I do have to say that if I got the chance to dine at John’s table with his Aunt Zia in the Bartolini Kitchens, and enjoy some of their family recipes, I know that would be such a great meal, and I’ll bet I could wrestle Max for my dinner and win! Also I’d like to sit at the table of Greg and Katherine at Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide during their massive Thanksgiving feast. Having appetizers and a wee glass of homemade wine or some homemade bread and honey at Cecilia’s farmy in The Kitchen’s Garden would be pretty sweet…especially if Daisy, Mia, Ton Ton and the rest of her gang were on hand. And enjoying any part of a Moroccan feast at Eva’s Kitchen Inspirations would be so deliciously authentic it would almost be like taking a trip to Morocco! And for dessert, that raspberry chocolate layer cake at City Hippy Farm Girl looks pretty awesome or something from Savory Simple would do quite nicely, I think.
6. What is the one kitchen gadget you would ask Santa for this year (money no object of course)?
I don’t think this qualifies as a gadget, but if Santa was feeling really, really generous and money is no object, a total kitchen remodel is needed!
7. Who taught you how to cook?
I learned the basics from my mom, who let me make cakes, cookies and brownies with her and then by myself, from the time I was old enough see the top of the kitchen counter. I have fond memories of making homemade candy together including hand-painted marzipan and our family recipe for chocolate covered fondant. Even before that, I sat on the washing machine and watched her cooking at the stove. Later in life I learned a lot from watching PBS shows as stated above, a whole lot from reading and making Bon Appetit’s recipes, and also reading lots and lots of cookbooks and watching the original Japanese version of Iron Chef and some other food shows. But really, learning to cook is an ongoing process, so I’m still being taught, so to speak.
8. I’m coming to you for dinner what’s your signature dish?
A signature dish? What’s that? Perhaps if it’s winter and I was in a comfort food mood, you’d most likely get my Holy Mole Chili with jalapeno cheddar cornbread, an arugula, fruit and nut salad with my homemade balsamic vinaigrette, and a hot fudge sundae with the Best Chocolate Sauce and/or brownies. If it’s summer we’d have grilled Pork Tenderloin with Chipotle Orange Sauce, sweet potato fries and my black bean mango salad, with homemade sorbet, or possibly an ice cream bombe for dessert. But if it’s a really special dinner party, one of my favorites to make is Jacques Pépin’s stuffed seafood bread and either Frozen Grand Mariner souffles or Molten Chocolate Cakes…you’ll have to wait for those!
9. What is your guilty food pleasure?
Cheese dip and homemade cookies…in that order but not necessarily at the same time.
10. Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?
I really, really, hate english peas. They literally gag me. Also, I’m generally an extraordinarily patient person…except in the kitchen. I have no idea why, except maybe I need a bigger kitchen…Santa?
Finally…tag 5 other food bloggers with these questions…like a hot baked potato…pass it on.
So many I’d like to know more about out there. Okay, here goes my 5 and hopefully you haven’t been tagged yet, Yummy Chunklet, City Hippy Farm Girl, Chica Andaluza, Profiteroles and Ponytails, Just a Smidgen….cheers!
And while I’m talking so much about myself, I’m gonna point out my Bits and Breadcrumbs Facebook page to the right. If you like, please join me there by clicking the “like” button!
bits and breadcrumbs 
Summer wins for me: I’m in for the pork, sweet potato fries, etc. Fun to read.
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Thanks, Sharyn! That’s a great pork dish and upon mentioning it, I wanted it. Alas it really must be grilled to be good, and it’s been raining here for a week. Again, thank you for giving me the award…I’m flattered and honored.
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Well well well, so you are able to dissect the tastes in a dish too!! The plot thickens. Do you wish that you had a thing.. I don’t know, a series of pots with the scents trapped in them but with the names on the outside so you could NAME every taste and smell you encounter in a dish. I do, i want a dictionary of smells! loved you answers.. and you are welcome on the verandah any time! c
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I love that idea, Celi, a dictionary of tastes and smells! That would be really cool. I think it’s so fun to taste and smell, then dissect it all…and find out if you’re right. Taste and taste memory are wonderful things. It would be an honor to sit on your verandah…maybe one day…and thank you! ~Betsy
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Love that your kitchen gadget from Santa would be a kitchen remodel! Why not ask for it? All he could do is say no. I’m honored that you would wish to dine here and that we were mentioned in such stellar company. As for competing with Max, I dunno. Remember he’s been in training for this kind of thing his entire life and he has the home field advantage. 🙂
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I have plenty of kitchen gadgets…and no room to put them! Please, Santa? Oh well, one can dream. The honor would surely be mine to feast on some of those great dishes you two make…even just a small taste, if Max had his way! 😉
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Thank you so much for tagging me! These are great questions, so I’m going to have to think a bit on them. I’ll post my answers within this next week! Thanks again!
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Yummy, you are so welcome! I’m still a fairly recent visitor to your blog, but am enjoying it immensely. I really look forward to reading your answers.
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I LOVED reading this – and I think it´s perfectly ascceptable to ask for a kitchen remodel 🙂 Enjoyed hearing about the amazing meals you ate and chuckled at your comment about peas – do you mean mushy peas when you say English peas? I love peas any way at all! And finally, thanks for tagging me….looking forward to sitting down and thinking about my answers. Have a wonderful day…
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Thank you so much, Tanya, I’m so glad you enjoyed the read! I had to look up exactly what mushy peas are, but yes, I believe they are one and the same. I actually love every kind of pea except those, but the sweetness with the pea is what gets me, and no amount of seasoning or different preparation…even in a soup…has made that gag factor go away for me. It’s sad, I know. You are most welcome for being tagged and I really look forward to reading your answers! You have a wonderful day, too! 🙂
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I just had a peak at your cookbook collection, and I spotted many of the same books that are in my collection. Even though I’m running out of space to put the books, I keep on buying them! Glad to know that I’m not alone in this addiction. Thanks for the tag. I’m going to wait for a couple of posts to run my answers because I just posted on the Versatile Blogger Award and I don’t want to go on about myself….
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I have the same problem with space, but can’t stop buying, oh no! :0 You’re most welcome for the tag and I totally understand about waiting to answer…I have another an different 10 to answer, but want to give my readers a little breather in between so will probably do it next week!
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Just loved reading more about you. It is so unusual about the peas. If that is the only food that bothers you then you still have so many other green vegetables to enjoy.
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Why thank you, Karen! I know, I’ve tried and tried and TRIED to like those peas, but no dice. However, I’m lucky that they are the only things that I have that response, to…though there are some things I just don’t care for much, and I guess we all have those!
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I don’t like English peas at all either and gagged on them as a child. Now I can eat them in things like samosas, but I never willingly put them in anything.
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Exactly right. I can tolerate them just barely in a samosa or a big pot of soup, though will pick around them if possible and NEVER would I put them into anything. You’re the only other person I’ve heard of with the same aversion!
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I love reading these posts because it’s wonderful to get to know more about the people behind the blogs. Julia Child was so ahead of her time and I always wonder what she would be doing if she had her cooking show in today’s world. I desperately need a new kitchen from Santa too but if that won’t fit on the sleigh, an ice cream maker would be wonderful.
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Hi there hotlyspiced, thanks for your comments. That’s an interesting thing to ponder…what WOULD Julia do in today’s cooking world, but I think she’d still be on PBS…can’t see her on the Food Network, but she had such a grand sense of humor, who knows what she’d do? I hope Santa brings you that ice cream maker…much easier wish to grant than a new kitchen.
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Ahhh, loved reading of your favourite meal in another country. You quietly transported there, (and awesome sounding meal.)
Thanks for the tag, I did one back in November if you want to read a little extra 🙂 http://cityhippyfarmgirl.com/2011/11/23/unplugged-in-my-kitchen/
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Hi Hippy! I knew I’d hit someone who’d been tagged before…and that was before I “knew” you I believe. I just checked out your answers, thanks, and it was fun reading. We share a love of marzipan amongst a few other things! Thanks for stopping by and your comments. 🙂
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Congratulations on the award, Betsy, well deserved. Thank you kindly for the mention, I am indeed very flattered that you would like to eat at my table; the Moroccan food experience really was something and it’s great to share! I hope Santa makes your wish come true soon!
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Thanks, Eva, and you’re most welcome for the mention…and I know anything at your table would be great, not just the Moroccan food! From your lips to Santa’s ears…..
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A belated thanks for the shout out. We’d love to have you at our Thanksgiving table, we like sending leftovers home! Great post. I haven’t used the Silver Palate, hope I’m remembering that right, but always hear about it. I do love the Silver Spoon. Also, those mussels sound awesome.
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There are 3 Silver Palette cookbooks…the original, the Good Times (entertaining) and the New Basics…my most wartorn of the 3. I’ll have to check out the Silver Spoon, haven’t seen that one. You’re so welcome for the shout out and I love Thanksgiving leftovers almost as much as the meal, don’t you?
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