Friday Foodie Feature

Have you entered my Equal Exchange giveaway yet? Be sure not to miss the chance to win a $30 gift card toward Equal Exchange’s online store full of chocolate, coffee, tea, and snacks!

It’s Boston Marathon weekend! Today I plan on going to the marathon expo to pick up my bib number and race packet, tomorrow I am heading to Wine Riot and a carb filled dinner at Prezza, and Sunday my marathon charity, The ALLY Foundation, is having a pasta party for runners. I am excited and nervous! Really nervous! I will be posting all weekend, all about the Wine Riot, dinner, the pasta party, the marathon expo, and the MARATHON, so please check back often. Your support has been so crucial to this whole training period, and I will definitely use it as motivation this weekend!

Now to the Friday Foodie Feature! Today we have Nicole from the wonderful Cooking with Coley. Nicole’s blog makes you feel like you are a guest in her kitchen, and it features lots of delicious recipes and really great photos. We share a love of Google Analytics 🙂 as I too am a little obsessed with my (meager!) traffic. I am really looking forward to following what Nicole cooks next!

How long have you been blogging?
I’m still a newbie to the blogging thing, but I’m no newbie to the blogosphere.  With a PR background, I spend quite a bit of time exploring the Web and even pitching bloggers, so it’s been really exciting for me to be on the other side. www.cookingwithcoley.com was just launched in January 2010.

What is your favorite thing about blogging? Least favorite?
There are so many things I love about blogging – the excitement of capturing a new dish on camera, the anticipation of what responses and comments I’ll receive from my readers and friends and the sheer pleasure it brings me as I multitask on my couch while watching TV.  
I should also mention that I love Google Analytics. Seriously.  Although it might sound weird, every day the first thing I do when I log onto my computer is check my analytics (go ahead, you can laugh at me).  While the results are usually nothing to boast about, I get excited to see the traffic numbers.  Yes, I’m that lame.
Least ?
Right now there’s nothing that comes to mind! 

What has been your most fun blog post to write?
There’s no question about this one – it was my first recipe post ever on my signature dish – Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps.  Friends and family had so often asked me to give them recipes (especially this one), so for months and months I kept saying I was going to create a recipe blog for them pull my recipes from.  The day I finally wrote and posted my first recipe gave me such a rush – it was a combination of exhilaration and fulfillment.  I had rediscovered my love for writing and brought my passion for cooking to life. 
http://cookingwithcoley.com/asian-chicken-lettuce-wraps-–-my-signature-dish/

Where do you see your blog this time next year?
Probably with 10,000 unique monthly visitors, a dozen major advertisers and exploding with content.  OK, I am being facetious.  If I have 1000 monthly visitors, I think I’ll be ecstatic!  I honestly don’t know where this is going, but I’m enjoying every bit of it along the way and am excited to see where this journey takes me. 

Is there anything else about your blogging experience you would like to share?
It’s more of a fun fact… www.cookingwithcoley.com was originally launched as NicForMasterChef.com.  Sounds like a weird name, right?  Well, it’s sort of a fun story.  On Sunday, January 10, 2010, I tried out at a Master Chef casting audition in Newton along with 200 other Bostonians (Master Chef is a new show coming to Fox about amateur chefs). I had to plate my signature dish (lettuce wraps) and serve it to the judges. From there I was asked back with about 20 other people to round two where I did an on-camera interview for nearly 30 minutes, where I then qualified for round three – part of the top 10 in Boston!

As part of the third round, I had a few days to pull together raw footage that captured me and my life – friends, family, my kitchen and of course me cooking!  To supplement my footage, and help me stand out, I created the blog NicForMasterChef in hopes it would show the judges and producers that I should be on the show and have what it takes.

Unfortunately, I never ended up making it on the show (I guess reality TV wasn’t my calling!), but I am so appreciative and thankful for what I took away from the experience.  By creating the blog, I rediscovered my interest in writing and found a new outlet to pursue that passion.  At the same time, I was able to couple it with my growing fondness of food and cooking… and from there Cooking with Coley was born.

Thanks so much, Nicole!

Are you interested in being the next featured foodie? Email me! And don’t forget to enter my Equal Exchange giveaway!