Show and tell Friday

Another Day Dawns Over Hilo Bay

It's Friday (OK... it is really Saturday, I am late)! The day I go on a gallup through some great foodie sites and take you with me. I am starting with one of my very favorite blogs, Cream Puffs in Venice. It is written by a woman named Ivonne who lives in Toronto (nice city ... I love it!). She was inspired to cook at her Italian Grandmother's side as a child and was encouraged to explore food and life by a wonderful mother. She spent summers growing up in Italy and still makes regular vigils back to the mother country of her family. Venice you ask? Ivonne read the book A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi and from then on she has been a blogger. Ivonne belongs to a lot of cooking groups which issue challenges and so she participates several days a week or monthly with those challenges. It's fun to see what she is creating (mostly B-E-A-U-T-F-U-L things) and how she photographs them. After her recent return from Summer in Italy she joined a new group following Marcella Hazzan's book, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. I adore Marcella Hazzan and will be following what Ivonne does with her classic Italian style. Here is a picture of some mac and cheese she just whipped up:

It is a natural segue to leap from Cream Puffs In Venice to Angela Robert's Spinach Tiger. Angela created the Italian Cooking group that Ivonne belongs to. Angela's rather interesting tag line is, "Cooking food a woman will love and a man will marry you for... " A Faux painter by trade, Italian American living somewhere in California (land of my birth!) She has such amazing topics as of course "Cooking Italy" and Spicy Maple Roasted Apple Soup this month. She does not post every day, not many of us can actually do that full time, it takes much longer than people can imagine to create, cook and photograph food, then edit the photos and write about it, but she comes close with a post every fewdays. Those challenges and groups like Cooking Italy keep us on our toes! Here she features Peach Clafoutis, a Different Kind of Peaches and Cream:

So, who do we discover after Spinach Tiger? Cannelle Et Vanille by blogger Aran, a Basque ex-pat living in the US since 1998, Cannelle Et Vanille, is her baby, her blank canvas for creating anything and everything sweet that comes out of her heart. Her blog has been cited by UK Times Online, BBC's Olive Magazine (one of my personal favorite food magazines), Saveur.com and Real Simple.com. Here she features some individual pear, raspberry and ginger pies for Project Wedding.

Canelle has a LOT of links... probably close to 100, so I had to open a lot of pages before I found one that really talked to me. It was at 101 Cookbooks. I guess that sort of rings a bell to me because before we moved to Hawaii I had to trim my cookbook collection down to about 100 or so of my favorites. I may have a few more than that, but in the end the trimming left me with a lot special cookbooks. In 101 Cookbooks, Heidi Swanson has a recipe journal. She writes and photographs recipes that intersect her life. This particular post interested me because it was Green Soup with Ginger and I have been playing with all kinds of ways to use ginger, which is abundant here. Here is a picture of the Soup for our last link for today's blog adventure.

Show and Tell Friday

As promised I am continuing my Show and Tell on Fridays. I am starting with one of my favorite blogs and then will pick one blog from their blog roll to share with you and then another from that blog and on and on. I call it "Blogwandering":

Nicole from Pinch My Salt is a woman who has been a great inspiration to me in many ways. She is the one that started the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge, where 200 of us food bloggers and some bakers who do not blog from around the world have been baking together through Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice since May. Nicole's blog Pinch My Salt has been noted by Bon Appetitit as one of their favorite blogs and since I have been following her I can see why. She posts about food and takes the most delectable photographs. Some of her work has also been featured on Food Porn Daily... more on that site in a bit. Nicole is also an inspiration to me because she has been holding down the fort while her husband is serving in Iraq. He is coming home to her soon! She also got to live in Italy while he was stationed there and she often shares photos from her time there. Nicole generously doles out advice to novice bakers and is supportive of the many bloggers that she follows. She is one of my personal heroes!

I already gave you a hint about this one, Food Porn Daily. It is not so much of a blog, but a daily indulgence into some rather wonderful food photography that gets you salivating and wanting to hit the kitchen running. You can sign up for food porn to come directly to your e-mail box daily. Some recipes are provided, but it is mostly eye candy that gets the salivary glands oozing. There are savory dishes, amazing cakes as the above devil's food cake with peanut butter cream cheese filling, ganache and peanut frosting. Their mantra is "click, drool, repeat." I have been doing so for a few months and I love it!

While we are on the subject of food porn, the creators of that site have another site with their own recipes and photos, many of which naturally make their way to Food Porn Daily. Tyler and Amanda have been sharing What We're Eating since 2005 through their blog. More beautiful photography and luscious ideas for food that is cleverly composed and exquisitely photographed. A few ads appear on this site that don't really fit with the kind of food that Amanda and Tyler present, but that is the price we pay for getting all of this beautiful content. The above picture from their site features mahi mahi in slow roasted tomato tarragon broth. Click, drool, repeat here too!

While browsing my way around What We're Eating I looked at their blog roll and saw one that interested me, Boots In the Oven : An Orgy of Food, Travel and Other Awesomeness. The name intrigued me and then after I opened the page I was blown away because Rachel and Logan, the bloggers had just left Hilo after spending a few days here dining and visiting the zoo and Volcano! There are several great posts with awesome pictures including the one above with the double rainbow. They got a good taste of some local food, but I wish I could have hosted them and shared some more of the big island with them. I could have saved them from their Thai disaster at least. Rachel and Logan hail from Austin, Texas which has the amazing City Market. Take a peek at Boots in the Oven and look through their adventures in Hawaii, then dig deeper they have had a fun time since they started their blog in 2005.So, who did Boots in the Oven have on their blog roll?

Wooly Pigs of course! This is a blog from a pig farmer who has imported a special lard (NOW we're talkin'!) type breed of pig, the Mangalista (aka Mangalitza and Wollschwein) that is supposed to be one of the world's tastiest pigs. They use European techniques to produce the best pork in the New World. They are located in Auburn Washington. They air cure hams and make wonderful products as well as provide the pigs to restaurants such as the French Laundry.

I guess the pig stops here because the Wooly Pigs did not have any blogs to share. I will be back next Friday with more great blogs for you.

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.

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!

Ethics For Online Writers

OK, this is not going to be one of those fun, feel good messages. But it is an important one. I just receieved an e-mail from the e-Gullet Society regarding online ethics for writing, posting and sharing information on the internet. I applaud their decision to take a stand regarding these issues and I just want to help spread the word, that this is the way things should be done:

"eGullet Society announces eG Ethics code

New York, NY - 13 May 2009 The eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters has published its eG Ethics code for online writers. This code, based on the eGullet Society's eight years as a leader in online food media, provides ethical guidance for bloggers, discussion-forum participants and other online writers. Signatories to the eG Ethics code agree to follow the code by submitting a web form and displaying a graphical badge or statement of compliance.Three years in the making, the eG Ethics code includes provisions covering, among other things, intellectual property, plagiarism, conflicts of interest and fact checking.

Some example provisions of the code:

Original content. All content is the original creation of the author except when clearly attributed, such as by quotation marks, citations and credits. This includes photographs.

Disclosure of comps. Where a free or discounted product or service has been accepted, a corresponding disclosure is made.

Disclosure of conflicts of interest. Where the author has a relationship with the subject of coverage beyond a casual or typical customer relationship, that relationship is disclosed. Financial and employment relationships, including those of close friends, associates and family members, will also be disclosed.

Announcing the code, eGullet Society executive director Steven Shaw commented:The internet allows anybody with access to publish globally and instantaneously. This technological advance has changed the world for the better, but overall consideration of ethics has not kept pace with technology. In addition, while there is a free and casual attitude about much online writing, many online writers don't realize that they can be held accountable for theft of intellectual property, defamation and other acts.For the complete code as well as the submission form and badges please visit eGullet.org/ethics.

About the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Founded in 2001, the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters is an international not-for-profit education and public service organization that has grown from a handful of dedicated and like-minded individuals to a global organization with tens of thousands of members and many times more followers. It endeavors to increase awareness and knowledge of the arts of cooking, eating and drinking, as well as the literature of food and drink. Its purpose is carried out primarily through internet food media, appealing to a diverse group of professionals in the food and drink industries; food enthusiasts and amateur cooks; food and kitchen equipment producers; writers; and consumers. Not only does the Society host the premier online food and drink discussion site on the internet (eG Forums), it also offers an online cooking academy (the eGullet Culinary Institute), in-depth conversations with the movers and shakers of the food world (eG Spotlight conversations), an online literary journal (the Daily Gullet), and more. The eGullet Society sponsors scholarships for culinary students, professional cooks and food journalists, and plans further community outreach and expanded educational opportunities.

NOTE TO COPY EDITORS AND FACT CHECKERS: The eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters is a 501(c)(3) public charity and the URL for all eGullet Society offerings is www.eGullet.org (not .com). For more information about the eGullet Society please visit our "About" page at www.eGullet.org/about."

So, that is the scoop for now. Coming later today will be a post on Rib Eye Steak with Porcinni and Veal Stock reduction.