All in Good Food

Merry Christmas everyone. No post today. I just want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday with your families.

See you next Fiday.

I thought I would give everyone an updated link to the Olympic torch run by Jennifer Finnigan (@Jennigan). If you missed her run with the torch on Friday here is a YouTube link to check her out. She is the second person to take the torch in the video according to her twitter. Again I want to say congratulations Jennifer and great job. I know that had to be an awesome experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PDQEDhSGDw

Hi everyone this week seems like it went by so fast but there was a lot going on so let’s just recap what was happening in the foodie world this past week.

Well as most of us know who follow her on her blog, Twitter or Food Buzz, Michelle of Taste As You Go recently was hired by Scripps/HGTV. What an awesome opportunity for her. Way to go Michelle we know you will do well.

Next, one of our top bloggers is at it again. Mardi of Eat, live, travel, write is always challenging herself in her cooking so she has finally taken the next step and took on the Daring Cooks challenge for December with a Beef Wellington dish that looked absolutely delicious. It doesn’t end there her Beef Wellington also made it on the front page of Food Candy. Awesome job Mardi. By the way she will be going to France for 2 weeks on what I call a food lovers dream. In that 2 weeks she will be in Paris and Brittany and if you would like to learn more about her tentative itinerary you can see it at the bottom of her post here. Mardi have a safe and fun trip and post a lot.

If you have seen the post Big Mac: Make Your Own, Have a Party on Local Lemons you would know that not only did the food look delicious and inviting but that one post has spurned, by it’s overwhelming popularity, a new series for Allison in Fast Food Slow… The news doesn’t end there her Big Mac post also made it on the front page of Lifehacker. Way to go Allison with the 2 for 1 this week. Check out her second post for the series Fast Food Slow: Homemade Chicken Nuggets. What will she come up with next? Follow her to find out.

Let’s give congratulations to Jen of Tiny Urban Kitchen who made it on the Food Buzz Top 9, for the first time, with her Oven Roasted Kale "Chips". Great job.

This week we saw an addition to one our favorite Bento blogs. Pikko at Adventures in Bentomaking announced that you can now find her on Facebook. So stop by and become a fan.

This announcement popped up today but I decided to include it on today’s post because next Friday is Christmas.

Meghan from Travel Eat Love also one of our top food bloggers also made it to the front page of Food Candy with her Wednesday food and wine post. I must say I have to really thank Meghan because she and her new website were the catalyst for this new series. Thanks Meghan.

I wanted to leave this item for last. It’s not food related but it does involve a member of our foodie universe. Today Jennifer Finnigan who goes by the twitter name @Jennigan will be carrying the Olympic torch in Canada today at 1:39pm PST. This is the link she posted http://www.ctvolympics.ca/ to watch! I just recently became a follower of Jennifer on twitter and I think this is going to be an awesome experience for her. Let’s give her our support.

Well that is it for today. If I have missed any recognition, blog changes or new food blogs this week I do apologize as I can only go by what I pick up from the bloggers I follow. If you would like to have any recognitions, blog changes or new food blogs posted up just let me know either by direct message on twitter @allingoodfood42 or by email at allingoodfood@gmail.com

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Be well, safe and happy.



So until next Friday Itadaki masu.

Well it is Friday and we have a lot to recap on for the past week. We have see a lot of activity in the food blog world from new bloggers to existing bloggers being recognized for there efforts. So let’s get started. This week we begin with recognition that came about a few days before the inaugural post of this series under the name of Foodie Blog Updates.

Food blogger Michelle of Taste As You Go is no stranger to being recognized to her excellent writing. This time Taste As You Go has been added to the Blogroll for Citizen NYC that recognizes who they feel are the best blogs around NYC. Taste As You Go was also voted as one of the Best of the Week (December 4, 2009) on Sweet Foods Blog for the post Samsung “Skill It” Event with Food Network’s Melissa d’Arabian. Way to go Michelle keep up the good work.

Thanks to Michelle of Taste As You Go for introducing us to a new food blog From Seed to Stomach by Andrea D. According to her blog she wants to explore real food from its source to the plate. Check out her blog I really enjoyed reading her posts. They are written in a straight forward and non-pretentious manner. You can tell her heart is in what she is writing about. So visit the blog and see for yourself.

Most of us know Taste Stopping as a place were bloggers can go to post their foodography and get a fair and objective assessment of their photos. Well Taste Stopping will also be heading to Camp Blogaway in May 2010 as a presenter showcasing the very foodograhpy that many blogger have submitted. Keep up the good work.

Again one of the veteran bloggers Dara of Cookin Canuck has had some of her recipes featured in Saveur Magazine’s newsletter and holiday guide. Congratulation and hope to see more.

Food blogger Mardi of Eat, Live, Travel, Write is also no stranger to being recognized for her writing. She has been asked many times to attend various food related events and report on what she finds there. Her assessments of these events are very informative and the writing takes you right to the event as if you were there standing right next to her. So it is not a surprise that she would be picked to be on the front page of Food Candy with her recipe Chocolate Chili Con Carne. We look forward to seeing a lot more from you in the future.

This past week several food bloggers have been recognized by Oprah.com in their Food section under Deck the Blogs. These bloggers have been participating in the Share Our Strength 12 Days of Sharing Campaign. For those who do not know Share Our Strength is in their own words “A national organization that works hard to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry.” The following blogs were recognized for their participation:

Jen Schall – My Kitchen Addiction
Michelle Stern – What’s Cooking
Gina Rau – Change Becomes Change
Diana Bauman – A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa
Jaden Hair – Steamy Kitchen
Kate Miller – Cooking During Stolen Moments

Check out their blogs if you haven’t already.

Again I have the pleasure of introducing you to a blogger Brad at Eat n Listen. I have corresponded with Brad several times and he is a very nice person. Brad has a very interesting blog with colorful writing and delicious pictures (My fave is the bacon bowl salad). He is what he calls a self proclaimed baconholic and he and his friends love all things pork. He has some very interesting recipes so go and see what happening on his blog.

Well this brings me to the conclusion of my first official post of “Give `Em Props” and I hope you liked it. I hope to improve over time as I really get to know my fellow food bloggers more and more. If I have missed any recognitions, blog changes or new food blogs this week I do apologize as I can only go by what I pick up from the bloggers I follow. If you would like to have any recognitions, blog changes or new food blogs posted up just let me know. So until next Friday Itadaki masu.

Yesterday I wrote a post entitled Foodie Blog Updates recognizing the food blog Travel Eat Love’s new self hosted site. After writing this I decided to make this a regular feature on my blog. So today I decided to write up a post to explain what this feature section is about. This section is designed to showcase food blogs that have gone through changes such as moves or new set ups for the site, have been recognized as being a top blog site or are new sites to the food blogging world.

Originally I just named the series Foodie Blog Updates however after thinking about it I have decided to rename the series “Give ‘Em Props.” This series will be posted up every Friday to showcase the week’s activities and achievements. I will do my best to catch things that have been posted to twitter or on the bloggers own sites but sometimes things may be missed. If there is an acknowledgement that you feel should be mentioned please email me at allingoodfood@gmail.com or direct message me with the information on my twitter @allingoodfood42. So stay tuned for more to come.

In an effort of expanding my cooking knowledge I am always looking for new foodies to follow. Today I saw a tweet about Meghan Malloy @Travel Eat Love who is now hosting a new blog. I was curious about her blog and wanted to learn more. I am happy that she was able to get her self hosting blog up and running so that I can see what her blog is all about. The set up is very simple in nature but I like simple. Everything looks easy to read and easy to look up. If you would like to check her out you can find her at http://traveleatlove.com/. Good luck Megan and I can’t wait to read more of your posts.

Recently I read a post on Just Bento by Linda Rolle who is a guest poster, about how making a bento lunch is not just for nutrition but also can build a bond between a parent and a child and I can’t agree with her more. I have to admit that I am fairly new at bento making and I still have a lot to learn. I am not Japanese in nationality or Japanese American but I have embraced the idea and use of bento in my family’s lives.

I am a single mom and my daughter is now 19 years old and we all know that most teenagers don’t have the best diets. Well I admit that I was a contributing factor in her unhealthy eating habits. For several years due to stress and other factors my daughter and I ate very unhealthily and I am ashamed to say we gained a lot of weight on that path which was not good because my daughter is diabetic.

However two years ago things changed. We made the change to using bento to help change our eating habits. I decided to look up more on bento boxes and meals and what they were all about. I had seen bento meals before in Japanese movies and shows. However, I had no idea on how to buy a bento box or how to prepare food to go into it. Then I found Just Bento and I found out that I could make bento meals for my family using food that I was use to preparing as well as finding new foods to try.

So for the past two years we have been on a journey with our bento and have collectively lost over 80lbs in the process. As for my daughter’s diabetes it is under control and she feels great. My daughter and I also use our bento to spend quality time together. We will take our bento meals out somewhere and sit, eat and talk which helps me stay a part of her life. As for myself I have also spent the last two year finally earning my bachelor’s degree and making those bento meals has helped a lot because I don’t have to stop my work to make a meal for us.

I must say that Linda Rolle is right I have not just learned more about being creative with the food that I put in the bento boxes but I have opened my daughter up to new foods and being open to trying new things. When I try a new recipe she is my biggest critic and my biggest supporter.

My daughter and I own several bento boxes that we enjoy using and I have to admit that we are still buying more to add to our collection. Yes we use each and every one of them and love every minute of it.

This is just one set we own.

I thought my first blog should be about who I am. I am a mother, designer, recent grad, teacher, home cook and lover of food. Two years ago I decided to change careers so I went back to school to finally get my BBA and open my own business. At that time I took a good look at my life and decided to make a lot of changes. I began really cooking more and I do mean really cooking. Before with my hectic schedule there were a lot of short cuts which included a lot of calories. I was concerned about my health and my daughter’s health because she is diabetic. Once I changed my way of thinking about food and cooking I am happy to say that my daughter’s diabetes is under control and we both have lost a lot of weight in the process. I have a fresh perspective on food, eating and cooking and I want to share it here.

My passion for food began very early in life. I remember the year Santa brought me an Easy Bake Oven for Christmas. I was so excited that I wanted to cook everything in it. I decided that year I was making cookies for New Years Eve with my Easy Bake. Hey don’t laugh they came out really good. Ok you can laugh because the memory makes me smile every time I think about it. That eventually fueled my passion for sweets and at one point I wanted to become a pastry chef but that’s another story for a later time.

I come from a family that loved to get together and eat. I remember growing up and going to my grandmother’ s house for holidays where all of my aunts, uncles and cousins would come together and everyone would bring a dish filling the table to capacity. It was great and the food was always good. Memories of my family get togethers and food go hand in hand in my world and I want it to continue.

I am happy to say that I have passed this passion on to my daughter who after getting her Easy Bake decided she wanted to become a pastry chef also but that soon passed for her as well now we just like making things for ourselves, family and friends.

I hope this gives you a little insight into who I am and I hope you will join me on my journey.