Show and Tell

When I was a kid in elementary school, one of my favorite days was Friday because we had "Show and Tell" where we could bring things in and share them with the class. My inbox has been flooded with some really good blog feeds lately and I thought it would be fun to share them with you. Enjoy! You can subscribe to any of these blogs as I do and will get updates in your inbox every time a post is made. I will have more for you next week, stay tuned. Oh... if you scroll down to the bottom of the blog, you will see a place where you can sign up to be a follower of THIS BLOG!

One of my all time favorite food blogs is Orangette... written by Molly Wizenberg of Seattle who has managed to parlay her blog (over 4,000 readers a day!) into a book deal, A Homemade Life and she now has a monthly column in Bon Appetit . Molly and her husband Brandon have recently opened a restaurant called Delancey in Seattle so some of her blog now has chronicled being a restauranteur. They feature what look to be rustic and amazing pizzas and her most recent post is about the restaurant. Many of her posts include recipes and techniques as well as excellent photography. Another thing I like about Molly's blog is that she has never accepted advertisers, even though I am sure that she has had many offers!

Wes Davidson (yes, my husband) has a blog about moving to and living in Hawaii. His recent post on the Hilo Breakwater is particularly interesting and I learned quite a bit about the breakwater and harbor that I look out at while I am at my desk. I love history and history that is releveant to me even more.

The Purple Foodie is a blog done by Shaeen, a 20 something foodie from Mumbai. She bakes up lots of goey goodies that she finds in her cookbook collection. Her most recent post was for some awesome looking brownies.

Another Blog I truly enjoy on a daily basis is Wandering Chopsticks. The blogger does not reveal her name, but she lives in Southern California and is VietNamese. She posts a lot about Asian food, but also wanders around Southern California finding wonderful food of all kinds. She is diligent to post every day, which is something I have not been able to do, but I want to share her blog with you. This post is about Osso Buco, one of my favorite fall and winter dishes.

And finally one of the blog sites that is important to my life is the FBI Blogs, that is For the Big Island Blogs. It is a compilation of blogs written by residents of the Big Island of Hawaii. Damon Tucker is the creator and grand instigator of the blog roll and has done a lot to promote each of these varying blogs. They are written about a multitude of subjects and some have fantastic photography and interesting ideas as well as news about Hawaii. I invite you to visit and take a look at some of the big island's best blogs.

Damon Tucker Turns 40

He may look like a kid and sometimes he acts like a kid, but there is now proof he is "over the hill". Yesterday Big Island Blogger Damon Tucker turned 40.

Happy Birthday Damon!

We caught him at the Big Island Internet Soceity Meet and Greet at Big Island Pizza yesterday. I made cupcakes and we (about 40 Big Island Bloggers/Internet Aficionados) sang Happy Birthday to Damon and passed around the free beer donated by Hilo's own Hawaii Nui Brewing Company . Damon's mother showed up and I got a picture of them together and Damon had a rare smile on his face, almost as big as the one he had when trying to blow out his candles and then realizing that they are the kind that do not blow out.

I threatened that I had put Aloha Arlene inside a giant birthday cake for him but she was a no show.

For those of you who do not know Damon, he is the founder of a prolific blog about the Big Island of Hawaii... and of course about Damon. He also created FBI Blogs, a compilation of blogs for and about the Big Island by bloggers who live on the island of Hawaii. Damon tirelessly promotes the big island blogs and has done a great deal to create camaraderie amongst fellow big island bloggers. Damon lives in Puna with his wife five year old son. Happy birthday kid and thank you for all the work you have done. Just remember, 40 is the new 20.

Big Island Bloggers and Tweeters Pizzarama!

Yes Virginia, there is pizza in Hilo. Good Pizza! Not just pre-fab frozen cardboard tasting dough baked to specifications by corporate franchise standards... really good pizza with crust that takes three days to make and locally grown ingredients, home cured meats and if you want it, with free delivery!

Yesterday a group of Big Island Bloggers and Tweeters got together for a social event and a chance to meet in person. Damon Tucker had sent out the notice that Big Island Pizza would be hosting the event, so there was a two fold reason to go, I had been wanting to taste their pizza and learn more about the restaurant. And after nearly a year and several attempts, Damon and I had not had a chance to meet in person. He has a nice smile. He kept on his 'FBI" look all afternoon, wearing his hat and shades:

One new face for me was Ilka (sounds like a nice Swedish name to me!) the newest FBI Blogger who describes herself as 'Big Bald Brainy in a Bitchy Total Package'. She's all that and more!

We arrived to find our friend Tom Lackey (supreme cartoonist) walking through the parking lot.

Jon and Dalynnda from PunaOnline showed up shortly and then Kona Dave and his wife Jeannie from the Kona Forum joined us. Soon Big Island Pizza's patio was full of aloha and laughter.

It was fun meeting new people as well as putting faces on some of the bloggers we follow and people that we have engaged with online. Damon Tucker and I have been trying to get together for several months and we finally got to meet in person after nearly a year of interaction online.

Larry Czerwonka (seen below) spearheaded the event and we seem to be forming some sort of group now that will meet on a regular basis.

I had a chance to talk to the owner of Big Island Pizza, standing center here:

and learned a lot about how they opened the place as well as the care they take to make everything from scratch and grow their own basil and herbs. They even cure their own meats and salami!

The pizza was quite good (and I am pretty picky about pizza), I only got a shot of the first one we were served; pepperoni and cheese (and it was good), but more interesting ones came after that, with lots of fresh local ingredients. The salad (above) was delicious, fresh and crispy with pear tomatoes (one of my favorites!). You can expect to see a full blown blog dedicated to this establishment soon.

Of course, I brought along WesIsland:

If you are a Big Island Blogger, Twitterer or Social Networking participant, send me an

e-mail and i will get you on our list.

some people cannot stop twittering! Oh well, it is the future!