You Must Visit These Sites...March 22, 2009

SEARCHING THE WEB

(Photo upload to Flickr by Shesnuckinfuts')

Each week, I'd like to expose you to some interesting sites and blogs for you to check out.

Here is this week's selection...

If you haven't already heard of it, Cookstr is a fairly new food related website that was launched within the last few months. It is the brainchild of Will Schwalbe, who is the company's CEO, and Katie Workman (of Workman's Publishing, publisher of many fine cookbooks) is the Editor in Chief and Chief Marketing Officer. The site is designed to bring you great recipes from famous cookbook authors and recipes from their cookbooks too. Each author has a profile page about them, you can read about their restaurants, cookbooks, etc.

The site is still being expanded to include a section called My Cookstr where you can save recipes that you like, create shopping lists and make notes. The recipe search engine is designed to be all encompassing. You can search by ingredient, by recipe or by Chef.

Chef Rick Tramonto

Check this site out if you are a cookbook collector or love to cook...




My friend Nancy (who is also my proofreader who catches my blog errors) sent me this link for The Cookbook Chronicles Blog. This blog is written by Lorna (no last name on blog) who is writing her first cookbook and is keeping a blog as she tests recipes for her soon to be published cookbook called "Eat, Drink, and be Married", that will be published by Sasquash Press. Lorna is a "Key Ingreient" columnist at the Seattle Magazine.

Her blog is filled with great recipes, beautiful pictures, and a great running commentary about what it takes to develop of recipe and them get it to print. If you are an aspiring cookbook author, a newlywed, or just someone who loves to cook, check out this blog. It's worth it for the photograpy alone!

Favorite Recipe Press

Favorite Recipe Press is the company that has published many of the Junior League Cookbooks and many other fundrasing cookbooks that you find on the market today. They also offer a course called Cookbook University,


who those of you who may be contemplating writing a cookbook. I took this course a few years ago, and I wish I had taken it before I wrote my first cookbook. While I will say this, most of the attendees are from Junior Leagues all across the USA, and the course is geared towards this type of audience, there is a great deal to be learned from the course as far as marketing, cookbook concepts, etc. I am glad I took the course, aside from the obvious benefits, I had the opportunity to pick up a ton of Junior League Cookbooks at great prices, and I met some great people attending the course, one of whom is my dear friend Wendy Perry, who you often see me mentioning on the blog.

Their new course is scheduled to start soon, so if this is something of interest to you, you should check out their site. In addition, if you are interested in purchasing Junior League Cookbooks, they have a great many for sale.

Food For The Thoughtless

Food for the Thoughtless is a great food blog that I stumbles across accidently. I was checking in my numerous Google alerts and I stumbled across a recipe link for Crab Rangoons.

I love crab rangoons and so I thought I would check out the link. Aside from being delighted by the recipe that was on this blog, I was really impressed with the way the blog was written. Michael Procopio is the author of this blog, and it was delightful to read a food blog from a male point of view. I loved the style of the blog, the great recipes that I found, the great photography, and the humor. Great this great blog out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

The final pick of the week is This is Why You're Fat. My friend from Nursing School Tina, sent me this link with the following comment "And you thought you had some ‘good eatin’” on your Website – AMATEUR!!! " I proceded to click on the link she sent and couldn't stop thinking that all of our cardiologist friends need never worry about being out of a job. This is a site where people submit pictures of the most fat laden food in American, things you can't even imagine...a meatloaf cake with mashed potato icing, a pizza cone, a pizza topped with mini pizza, the list goes on and on.

This is a great site for those times when you are feeling guity because you may have overindulged at a meal - go here and you'll feel fine in a heartbeat, lol...

You Must Visit These Sites...

Searching the Web

(Photo upload to Flickr by Shesnuckinfuts')

I was going to post a blog today with a recipe of a quick side dish made with peas and mushrooms. I sat at the computer and thought I would open my e-mail first. I started to go through my mail and received a few things that I went to check out. I was looking at a few web posts and blogs that I found interesting, hilarious, thought provoking, etc.

Some of you may never get to see some of these sites unless someone tells you about them so I thought that today, instead of doing a traditional post, I would tell you of some of the interesting blogs, or articles I have come across in the past week.

If this is a feature that you enjoy, I may make it a regular part of the blog,
so please let me know what you think...

The first site I'd like you to check out is called Bed and Breakfast Recipes from Innkeepers Kitchens. I received an e-mail from Mary at Bed and Breakfast Kitchens who wrote, "Many people write to us because they LOVE the carefully selected recipes offered at bed & breakfasts. Innkeepers know how to make tasty dishes that are easy to prepare. We have many of these recipes on our site and would love if your followers were interested in them, tried them, and then posted a review.

Check out the link for the Peach Bread Pudding, it looks yummy!

I went to the site and was delighted by what I found. There were 26 categories of recipes listed on the recipe page of the blog including Main Dishes, Muffins, Cakes, Holiday Treats, Egg Dishes, Desserts, Appetizers, Breakfast, Breads and more. If you go back to the home page, you will find a wealth of information about Bed and Breakfast across the country and the world. They have gift certificates, listings of Inns for Sale, everything you could want to know about this category.

If you enjoy traveling and staying at Bed and Breakfasts, you will enjoy this site. If you love to cook, you won't be disappointed by the recipes from Inns and Bed and Breakfasts from all over the country. I have also added this listing for this site under Traveling Foodfanataholics.

Cake Wrecks

When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong.

The next site I'd like to introduce you to is called Cake Wrecks. This is a blog where people can submit pictures of cakes that are decorating diseasters. They have guidelines as to what you can submit and how to submit them. If you are feeling down, or just need a good laugh, visit this blog, and when you get to their page, look to the right and scroll down to where it says Categories. Then click to your hearts content, and start laughing. I was laughing so hard, my son Steven ran in to see what was going on. Then he started to join in with me. From store bought cakes, to bakery cakes, to home decorated cakes, from mispelled writing, to ugly, to just plain hilarious, this site will put a smile on your face!

The caption on this cake reads "Girls-Shouldn't-Have-ALL-the-Fun":

What a fun blog to visit. I hope you enjoy it...

The next site was sent to me by my dear friend Wendy Perry,

who is one multi-talented woman, chef, outdoor kitchen designer, culinary coach, and personal shopper... as Wendy likes to call herself, "Femme de beaucoup chapeaux" the Lady of many hats. Wendy and I met at a cookbook seminar in Nashville several years ago, and have been friends every since. She was the best thing I got from the whole convention, lol.

She sends me the best hints, sites, and ideas.

She sent me the link for a site called Not Martha. This is a great blog written by Megan in Seattle, Washington. She talks about everything from cookbooks, to recipes, to how to make things, home spas, you name it. It is another fun site to visit. Be sure to click on the following link to see Megan's Bacon Cup Appetizers, what a great idea, and different too!

The next site is called Perrie Meno Pudge.

It is written by my very talented cousin Joanne Fsadni

and her friend Barbara Kimmel. It is a cartoon based on women going through menopause. Although it doesn't have much to do with food, it does have a lot to do with many of you who read this blog. Many of us are just like Perrie...pretty soon we'll be forgetting where the kitchen is and how to cook. Again, if you need a little comic relief, visit Perrie's website at Perrie Meno Pudge and check out the cartoon of the week, and the other neat things on their website.

Here are two of my favorites from Perrie:

Be sure to sign up for the cartoon of the week on their website! !!!!!!

The last link is to Epicurious, in honor of my niece Abby,


(my nieces Karen, Abby, and Jennifer)

who sent me a text message this morning asking me to do a post on Hamantaschen. For those of you who are not Jewish, the holiday of Purim which begins at sundown on the 9th of March. Purim is the most festive of all the Jewish holidays. It commemorates a major victory over oppression. The story is told in the Megillah, the scroll is of the story of Queen Esther, King Ahasuerus, Haman, and Mordecai.

Children wear costumes, similar to Halloween costumes, and wave noisemakers called Groggers, and eat cookies filled with fruit, chocolate, or cheese shaped into a triangle called Hamantaschen. Well Abby, I didn't get a chance to make the cookies, but here is a link to
Epicurious with a recipe to make them for you.

Here is a picture from the website of the Hamantaschen.

I hope you all enjoyed this post. If you did, or didn't, please let me know.
If the feed back is positive, I will try to do something like this once a week.