A Year Has Gone By, Seriously?

My son is turning one next week. It was just a year ago when I started saying the word "son" and it sounded funny. It's kind of like when you first get married and you say "my husband". It sounds so awkward. It feels like you are playing grown-up. The fact that I have "a son" baffles me.  The fact that

he is turning one, woah la! that just downright scares me.

The way I look at food has changed.

 My dear friend Rachel gave me this bagel book and wrapped it in bacon wrapping paper. This is me,

the night before I gave birth. Bagel in Bacon, not an oxymoron at all, that is how Rachel sees things. Here is her blog Jewshi (a Jew in Japan).


I will begin by saying (actually screaming) and happy dancing at the same time " I can't believe I nursed for a whole year". This is one of my biggest accomplishments this year. For some, nursing comes naturally and for many, well, it's like pulling teeth.

Nursing is the deep dark secret of motherhood. It's hard. The reasons are endless. Some babies don't latch on. Their mouths are too small. Some babies get nipple confusion (sounds sick huh?).
I won't go into detail with what happened with us. It's just not that interesting.

I will just say that I found it exhausting and decided that I would take it one day at time. So I did. Here I am. I crossed the finished line. One year was my goal, now I need to decide if I am ready to move on.
Here is a little more about my experience with nursing,


My way of cooking has changed this year. I used to be such a snob. I would never ever buy anything I could make. From the croutons to the bread. I could do it all.  Now I understand one thing. You do what you have to do to avoid having crackers for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And now even more, my little one eats everything that I do. And every calorie counts.

We are trying to make the right decisions. We know kids who are deprived of sweets are the first to raid the cupboards at friend's houses. We know that white bread has no nutrional value. We know that if a baby doesn't know what sugar tastes like, he won't know to ask for it. We know that rewarding a child with food is self-destructive. Now what? Choices. Choices.

Here are some of the things that we did for the first year. I don't know if they are rules but more like things we believe in

1. No juice
2. No TV, not even Baby Einstein Videos ( Did you know that Disney wil refund your money if you bought them?)
3. No cookies, cakes or other sugary snacks. (I can count on one hand , the times that we broke this rule)
4. Baby eats on his own when possible, no matter how messy the floor looks. He feeds himself.
5. We never bought baby cereal. It was just a waste of money. We crushed our regular cereal and he ate it that way.

I am sorry to dissapoint all my foodie friends but as much as I let my baby taste most of what I eat, I tried to keep it super healthy. Why ruin the one perfectly white tooth he has (yes, just one)?

Now I need to re-evelauate. His first birthday is coming. He will eat cake. It will probably be colorful and full of frosting. I want him to experience all the foods that we eat. I don't want to deprive him of the joy of food. I also don't want him to fill his tummy with junk.


I am curious to know. What are your rules? Do you offer dessert? How much is too much?

Seattle Food Blogger Events and More

photo by Ronald Holden

This month I met two inspiring authors. I had a private Seattle Food Blogger event with Langdon Cook, Author of Fat of the Land.  We met for coffee at Bustle in the cute little private area. He charmed us with his stories of foraging, showed us some stunning pictures of his adventures and answered every question that came to our mind. He is a great guy;  genuine, smart and motivating. Check out Cornichon's post and the picture he took above.

I met Julia Usher, Author of Cookie Swap. I organized another Seattle Food Blogger Event, this time at the Sur La Table in the new Bravern. They set up a cute little area for us and Julia gave us tips on how to get published and on how she got her idea to start her book. It was so inspiring to connect with her and look at all she has done.  Julia will be in town for the next week, doing events just about everywhere.  With the holidays coming up, it is your chance to learn how to organize a cookie swap and make cookies that will leave your guests drooling. Here is her schedule.

I attended an event demo and dinner for the new Sous Vide Supreme. I was invited to try all different foods in this machine with Chef Heston Bluementhal of Fat Duck. My favorite food Sous-Vide was the salmon.

The texture was so soft. The chiken had a texture that was a little different than what I am used to but I definitely liked that it was almost as soft and moist as the salmon.  You can order this on the website or at Sur la Table.


Hope to see you at Foodportunity. I probably won't have too much time to write because I am busy getting all the last minute details together.
Rebekah Denn is having a giveaway on her blog.
Not many tickets left so if you plan on coming, get them soon.  The authors of Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day, Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois will be in town and Jeff is coming to Foodportunity. Come meet him.

Check out my post in My Northwest.com for this week's upcoming food events.

Happy Friday

Foodportunity November 2nd

Hey Everyone,
Here is the press release from my next event. It's a really great way to connect with the foodie world.
Tickets are selling fast!



Second “Foodportunity” to Showcase

Local Culinary Success Stories



A new networking event to connect

Seattle's vibrant food community





For Immediate Release:



SEATTLE, WA- September 28, 2009: The second “Foodportunity,” a series of networking events for Seattle food professionals, will take place on November 2nd, 2009, from 6 to 9 PM at Tom Douglas's Palace Ballroom.



Attendees are expected to include local food writers, bloggers, restaurateurs, food producers, PR professionals and other companies from the food and hospitality industry.



Following the sold-out success of the first Foodportunity in July, Seattle event planner and food blogger Keren Brown has invited three particularly successful restaurant entrepreneurs to tell their stories and give tips for succeeding in Seattle's culinary world.



The evening will begin promptly at 6 PM with presentations by the panel:



• Thierry Rautureau (proprietor of Rover's and the soon-to-open Luc, author of "The Chef in the Hat" cookbook)

• Ethan Stowell (with four restaurants— How to Cook a Wolf , Anchovies & Olives, Tavolata and Union)

• Kurt Dammeier (Beecher's Cheese, Maximus Minimus, Pasta & Co, Bennett's Pure Food Bistro and a cookbook, "Pure Flavor".



An audience Q&A session will be moderated by Mina Williams, editor of the online restaurant industry magazine NorthwestStir.com.



Following the panel presentation, Foodportunity participants will enjoy appetizers from several of Seattle's most talked about restaurants, contact with food companies, and, for the first 40 to send email to info@foodportunity.com , a “speed networking” session. "Speed networking is the best way to meet 20 people in 20 minutes," Brown says.



Tom Douglas, awarded National Restaurant of the Year by Bon Appetit magazine and a national James Beard nominee for Restaurateur of the Year, will provide his Palace Ballroom facilities to host the event and serve appetizers along with other local restaurant favorites. Seven additional participating restaurants are: Rover's, Ethan Stowell Restaurants, La Spiga, Lunchbox Laboratory, Joule, Campagne Restaurant and Beecher's Cheese. DiStefano winery will pour its wines, and a wide range of food products from local sponsors will be on display.





Foodportunity is open to food journalists, bloggers, public relations professionals, restaurateurs, farmers and all food-passionate people. Admission is $25 (plus tax and booking fees; $30 after October 7th) which includes bites and a glass of wine. Tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/84687



Palace Ballroom is located at 2100 5th Avenue in downtown Seattle. More information is available online at Foodportunity.com.







About Keren Brown, aka Frantic Foodie, is the founder of the highly popular networking event known as Foodportunity. She also organizes monthly events for Seattle food bloggers, creating lasting contacts and connections. Keren's food events information can be found at Frantic Foodie in the Seattle P-I , FranticFoodie.com and on the events page of MyNorthwest.com





Schedule For Foodportunity



6:00 - 6:45: Panel Discussion and Q & A with Seattle's influential food entrepeneurs



Moderator: Mina Williams, editor of Northwest Stir, Industry news of the Northwest for culinary professionals



Panelists:



Thierry Rautureau (proprietor of Rover's and the soon-to-open Luc, author of "The Chef in the Hat" cookbook)

Ethan Stowell (with four restaurants— How to Cook a Wolf , Anchovies & Olives, Tavolata and Union)



Kurt Dammeier (Beecher's Cheese, Maximus Minimus, Pasta & Co, Bennett's Pure Food Bistro and a cookbook, "Pure Flavor"



6:45 - 9:00: Networking time and bites from restaurants and companies



8:30 - 9:00: (Optional) Speed Networking session

FoodSnap, Lou Manna and More

Sometimes life just swirls by you. It happens when you wait for something for so long and then it just comes and goes. It passes by so quickly that it kind of tiptoes past you and you don't realize it's gone until it's way too far ahead.

Lou Manna left Seattle on Sunday, I took a cruise to Victoria, relaxed for a week, spent hours in the Jacuzzi, grazed on healthy vegetables and unlimited protein (my idea of foodie heaven) and just jumped back into the working/mom/wife/foodie/ life.

                                    

FoodSnap came and went. FoodSnap was an event that I put together with Foodista.com.

Here is the picture of us above (myself in the turquoise shirt, Lou in black and the entire Foodista family).

 I had a great time learning from Lou and tasting all the food and displays. We had some amazing people help out . Lara Ferroni along with a long list of talented photographers and stylists.

Chef Wayne of Andaluca provided lunch. Some really interesting local companies provided samples and sets to be photographed. There is a whole contest around it on Flickr. If you go to Flickr and search groups for Foodsnap. There is a list of companies and photos that people uploaded. Check out the pics and tell me what you think.

 I would like to thank Siiri Sampson and Mari Osana (Bitter Buiscuit on twitter) for assisting me and helping me out with my event. I feel truly blessed to have met such great people.

Thank you Elise from Simply Recipes for flying in to Seattle. If for some reason, you don't know her website, check it out. Elise has been featured in Time Magazine, Redbook and basically anywhere else where top websites are mentioned.

Thank you to all the bloggers, companies and foodies who attended the event.





The next day we had lunch at Rover's, in which we had a special 2 hour restaurant photography session.
The food at Rover's is a masterpiece.

We then went to watch Lou photograph at Olivar and snacked on tapas with Chef Philippe. I am addicted to the albondigas. If you haven't been there, you have to try the place.

Then we continued to Andaluca which is located in the Mayflower Park Hotel where Lou was staying. Chef Wayne cooked up the entire menu so Lou could photograph it. I did my job as a taster and tasted the entire menu. I love Wayne's food and his personal touch.

The next day Lou taught a class at the Pike Place Market and then later joined me and some friends for some shmoozing at the Urban Picnic, another great event by Chef's Collaborative. The event had a nice list of restaurants and local celebrity Robin Leventhal from Top Chef was cooking.  Urban Picnic was a wonderful way to end Lou's trip to Seattle, with lots of nice people, live music and a relaxed warm Seattle foodie atmosphere.

Lou really had a great time in Seattle and got to meet many from Seattle's food community, he dined at all the restaurants above as well as the incredible Canlis and left Seattle with a whole network of Seattle foodie friends.

Lou we miss you, come back! We need your New York charm and flavor!

The Flavor Bible Event, A Sweet Flavorful Memory

The other day I was telling a friend that one of the my favorite Seattle Food Blogger Events was when I got to meet Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg.  In case you don't know, I have been organizing and planning the Seattle Food Blogger Events for the last few years. Sometimes we meet with cookbook authors, sometimes we have potlucks and sometimes we just get together for a party.

I really liked meeting Karen and Andrew, it felt so comfortable and natural to grill them with questions. They, instead of waiting for us to ask questions, they wanted to ask us first.  They really cared about us.
What are your blogs about? How long have you been writing?
They asked in the most sincere way possible. Sometimes when I think back to an important moment in my blog life (a year of blogging is like 10 in real life) blog years are like dog years, I remember how inspired I felt at this morning coffee meet up.

What happens when you start to blog?
Your brain learns to work really hard to turn moments into posts and you never have a free minute again. Every minute is muse for inspiration.

Meeting them was when I decided to push harder (I was 8 months pregnant but I wasn't ready to push just yet).  I absorbed inspiration that would give me a little insight on where I wanted to go in life. I can go on with this story forever. I will just say that one year has passed and they are celebrating "The Flavor Bible" 1 year anniversary! 

I will leave you with the post I wrote back then. One year ago,

Saturday some of Seattle food bloggers got together to meet up with Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, the award winning authors of "Culinary Artistry", "What to Drink with What You Eat" and the " The Flavor Bible".


The bloggers were Ronald of Cornichon, Michael of Herbivoracious, Mark of Plate Lunch, Jake of Daily Munch (which I write for too) and Traca of Seattle Tall Poppy.



We met at the Muse Coffee Company, which is wonderful little cafe located in Queen Anne. The kind of place where you can work on your computer (free wifi), grab a coffee and admire the art on the walls. The name really suits the place because you can't leave that place without finding your muse.



"The Flavor Bible" is nothing less than a must-have in every creative cook's household.

No, it's not a recipe book, it's a reference book that gives you lists of which foods harmonize well together.

How does it work?

You look up the ingredient that you want to use and then read down the list of foods that pair well with this ingredient. For example: Pineapple has many ingredients on the list such as bananas, brandy, avocado (surprising), black pepper and so many more. There is also a list of flavor affinities...pineapple+ avocado+ watercress, pineapple+ coconut+ honey+ ginger and other combinations that just give you an oomph of motivation.



All the information in the book was obtained by interviewing famous chefs (Andrew is a chef himself as well) and throughout the book there are tips from these chefs and interesting dishes that these chefs make. Since I got the book, I have been carrying it around the house and playing "guess that ingredient" with my husband. He says an ingredient, we look it up and we see who can guess more combinations.



Karen and Andrew were so honest, open and genuine. Leaving each of us with the motivation to keep writing, pushing and cooking. True proof that if you work hard enough, your dreams will come true. I apologize for the sappy ending but there really is no other way to put it.

Thanks Karen and Andrew!

Saving the Last Two Chapters of A Homemade Life

A week ago, I admitted it on Twitter, I didn't want to read Molly from Orangette's book "A Homemade Life"  until I was really ready to relax and give it my full attention because I knew I would love it.  I was saving it for a day when I really wanted to read a good book. I was saving it for a rainy day.

Yesterday the rain started.

I have a little story for you about how things change and how people grow. 

You see when I first moved to Seattle, I was very lonely. Not for very long, but lonely.

I started my blog and read blogs and back then (almost 3 years ago) there weren't that many blogs. Of course I fell in love with Molly's blog, like every other person in this world. Her wedding was around the same time that mine was. I felt connected to her. That's what blogs do. They make you feel like you know the person.

This is what I wrote her:  (found this in my gmail)

Hi Molly,

I really enjoy your blog. I especially enjoy your writing style. I realized by your posts that you probably live in Seattle. I am from Seattle and am always looking for fellow foodies to munch with. I have two blogs. One of them is in the Seattle PI http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/franticfoodie/ and one is my own personal one http://savvysavorer.blogspot.com/ . Anyway I was thinking we should have a food blog meeting for some food bloggers in Seattle.

What do you think?

I didn't get an answer.  I was upset so I stopped reading her blog. Sometimes I used to sneak a peak but that was it.
Now it makes me laugh because since then I have put together a Seattle Food Blogger Event almost every month.

I know more than a hundred bloggers and many, many people in Seattle.

The thing is that Molly is really sweet, probably one of the sweetest people around. I only met her a couple times but every time she had this big smile and just a genuine attitude.  I told her this story the last time I saw her and she apologized and she said she tries to answer most emails but she doesn't always get around to it. She probably missed this email with the hundreds of emails, she gets or she was just too busy to write back, or maybe she thought it was creepy to get an email like this.

I thought I would share this, actually I was debating if I should... But the moral of this story is a) a blog is only a fragment of someone's life, although you may feel like you know them, you know only a glimpse of them and you shouldn't expect to think you know them b) If your lonely, do something about it c) life is busy, sometimes people don't get back to you, even the sweetest, most genuine people don't respond.


Now back to the book. I was right. I got it yesterday and I almost finished the book. I have two chapters left. I am saving them. Saving them like when you save a cookie for when you really want it. I usually skip through books to get to recipes. In this book, I skipped the recipes to get to the stories. Not that the recipes aren't amazing, but I really didn't want to go into the kitchen, I wanted to relax for the first time in 9 months since my son was born.

I can just say that the book will blow you away, it will remind you to enjoy life, to enjoy what you eat, you will laugh, you may cry but most of all you will be inspired, to cook, write or just live life to the fullest.

Molly just opened a new pizza restaurant with her husband Brandon called Delancey. I haven't been yet but heard that the place is really great.

Update: A friend  read this post and said that people might not get it. What I really meant to say is that, it's not always about you. Some people are busy and overwhelmed in life and you can't get back to every email. I sometimes miss an email. Especially when I really want to answer. I tag it because I want to think about my answer a little more and then don't get around to it. Now I am not saying I get tons of emails from readers but I do have a lot on my plate, with a business and a small baby at home.  And sometimes people ask me to go for coffee and many times, I just can't. When you work at home, people think you can go out for coffee anytime of the day but it's not really like that. You still need to be working when other people are working. You need to make phone calls when other people can answer. Life is busy.

Urban Picnic on September 20th 1-4 pm

What's a better way to spend a Sunday then at a picnic on a rooftop with Seattle chefs and food people?


Urban Picnic is presented in partnership with Slow Food Seattle, Seattle CityClub and Caffe Vita.


Food, wine, beer, live music and more.



Tickets:

$89 for Chefs Collaborative and Slow Food members

$99 general

Free for kids under 10!



Tickets available at:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/78664http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/78664



Sunday means free street parking but the buses are easy too. And don’t forget Light Rail!



Be Green! Please bring your own plates, utensils and napkins. Glassware provided. Entrance is up the stairs across from 5th Avenue Theater.



Participating restaurants include:

Lark

Canlis

Oliver’s Twist

Elliott Bay Café

Art of the Table

TASTE Restaurant

Tilikum Place Café

Willows Inn (Riley Starks)

emmer&rye (Chef Seth Caswell)

Chef Kären Jurgensen, Quillisascut Farm

Gelato from Poco Carretto (Chef Holly Smith)

And special guest chef, Robin Leventhal of Top Chef Las Vegas - Season 6