Friday Foodie Feature

Happy New Year! Did you all have a good night? We did! I ran 11 miles in the snow after work, then settled in for the night with a great meal. I will do a full recap tomorrow, but now its time for the Friday Foodie Feature.

Today I am featuring Marisa from All in Good Food, the blogger who gave me the idea for the Friday Foodie Feature in the first place! Marisa is a new blogger and does a great round up of what’s going on in the foodie blog world. Her responses to the Friday Foodie Feature questions are inspiring and touching. Check out her blog if you get a chance!

What is your favorite thing about blogging?

I find that I can’t pinpoint just one thing. I love the writing aspect of it. Blogging gives me a creative outlet for my writing I don’t think I can get anywhere else at this time. When I write I am able to clear up and organize the thoughts in my head which helps me keep my mind in balance. I also love the cooking aspect of it. This also let’s me use my creative side. Although I follow recipes when I’m cooking I find myself thinking of what I can do with this recipe. Can I change ingredients to change the taste? I will often look at more than one recipe for the same dish just to understand what’s happening in the recipe and tweak it to my taste. It also gives me a chance to learn more about different foods and how these different foods work or not work together. Then there is the food blogging community. I enjoy meeting new people through their blogs, who have the same interest in food. I must say that in my short time as a food blogger I have learned a lot from my fellow food bloggers that I can take into my own cooking.

Least favorite?

I guess my least favorite thing is getting a comment from someone who is overly critical or nasty about my post or blog. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion but you don’t have to belittle someone in the process. I feel comments should be constructive and helpful and not destructive and hurtful.

What has been your most fun blog post to write?

Well I haven’t posted a lot but if I have to pick I guess my most fun blog post to date was my first “Give `Em Props” post. This new series gave me a chance to explore the food blogging community and learn more about what was happening with my fellow bloggers. I find that in preparing for this series each week I am given the chance to get to know my fellow bloggers.

Where do you see your blog this time next year?

I guess it’s hard to say where my blog will be in a year. I have learned in the past 2 years that things can change direction very quickly and if you don’t flow with the new direction you can just get swept away fighting against the current. Right now my blog is a catalyst for my creativity. It gives me an outlet for exploring my passion for cooking and my passion for writing. I will strive to continue to improve both in my writing and my cooking in the coming year. As for where the blog will be I must say I don’t know but where ever it is I hope it will be an inspiration for new food bloggers as many others have been for me.

Is there anything else about your blogging experience you would like to share?

It’s funny I believe this experience has and continues to bring me closer to my mother. She passed away in 2005 just after Christmas. My mother was one of those people who collected recipes from everywhere. However I never knew to what extent her collection had grown until after she passed away. Along with the recipes she collected cookbooks of all sorts and about a year after she died my dad asked me if I wanted any of them. I wasn’t really doing what I call “real cooking” at the time but I came and got them. I always wondered what had happened to her recipe collection because I hadn’t seen it. About 5 months ago my sister asked if I wanted some of the recipes my mom had collected. When I saw the shear volume of her collection I was in awe. I went through them, picked out what I wanted, and organized them. I think I am just like her when it comes to collecting recipes. This is when I decided to begin writing a food blog. I am still getting my bearings in this blogging world and have yet to post any recipes on my blog, I think that was do more to lack of confidence by a novice than anything else, but I am in the process of organizing recipes for the new year and will post some up then. By the way I have since found another half box of my mother’s collected recipes. I think maybe she is telling me that she approves of my food blog.

Thanks again for the feature. I look forward to seeing more bloggers in this series.

Interested in being featured as the Friday Foodie Feature? Email me at traveleatlove2009@hotmail.com!