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Wanna Be a Better Food Writer?—3 Key Writing Exercises to Try
A while back David Leite of Leites Culinaria and I teamed up and had fun teaching a food writing workshop at a BlogHer food bloggers' convention in Atlanta. The pics here show David enjoying some...
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Steamy Kitchen's Jaden Hair Shares Her Secrets to Successful Blogging
As part of my ongoing series of posts called "Secrets to Successful Food Blogging," I'm thrilled to spotlight one of my favorite bloggers--Jaden Hair. Unless you live in an extremely remote corner of...
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Lavender for Sweet Remembrance, Plus a Lavender-Blackberry Syrup
It’s said that aromas can remain with us and trigger memories for a lifetime; I’m certain this is true. I clearly remember the clean, sweet herb scent of lavender sachets wafting up whenever my...
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Getting to Yes on Foodgawker and Tastespotting (My Six-Month Journey, Plus Tips)
If you’ve heard that getting your photos on Foodgawker or Tastespotting is guaranteed to boost your food blog traffic, it’s true. Depending on the image and subject, your page views resulting directly...
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Where Do I Get My Recipes? Plus My Strawberry-Rhubarb Sorbet
“Where do you get your recipes?” I’ve probably been asked this several hundred times over the years. Variations on this theme: “Do you test your recipes?” And, “Where do you get your ideas for...
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Waging War on Wordiness: Tips for Writing More Powerful Prose
I’m just back from teaching two 30-minute “Writing Lab” how-to sessions at the BlogHer-2012 conference in New York City. About 5,000 bloggers (mostly women) who focus on topics ranging from parenting,...
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Too Many Tomatoes--Make This Savory and Easy Freezer Chutney
So, it all started when I spied this large basket of shiny, dead-ripe-red tomatoes with a hand-written sign reading $6 at the local farmers’ market. Wow, a real bargain for that amount—maybe, 6 or 7...
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Too Pretty to Eat (Almost) Nasturtium Salad with Nasturtium Vinaigrette
I’m pleased to tell you I just ate this nasturtium salad for lunch. (It was dressed with a homemade nasturtium vinaigrette.) Yes, it was almost, but not quite, too pretty to eat. And, no, it didn’t...
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Naturally Beautiful Cookie Decorating the Simply Sensational Way
I have been waiting quite a while for the right moment to post this story. That’s because my editor at Wiley doesn’t want me to talk much about my upcoming book, Simply Sensational Cookies, until it's...
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Revisting Julia Child's Kitchen--Don't Miss It if You Visit DC
If you're like me, one of your favorite pastimes is to peek into the kitchens of serious cooks. So you can image how excited I was to get a look this week at Julia Child's kitchen in part of the newly...
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Bananas-Bran Muffins--A Great Combo Bananas May Not Want You to Know About!
Bananas and bran are a great combination taste- and health-wise, but I’ve been wondering how bananas feel about being linked with such a lowly, orthopedic-shoe sort of product. Though these tropical...
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I Get By with a Little Help from My (Writer) Friends
On a whim, many years ago I took a seemingly small, but brave step that changed my life as a writer. I picked up the phone and called a stranger whose feature articles I’d been reading in the same...
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Trendy Pumpkins, Wart Wars, Plus a Fine Harvest Bisque
If you haven't been to a farmers' market or pick-your-own farm to buy Halloween pumpkins recently, you may not be aware of what the most fashionable fruits (yes, pumpkins are fruits) are wearing these...
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Book Launch Party! A Sweet Time was Had by All
Monday evening some friends, family, and colleagues gathered outside DC to launch my new book, Simply Sensational Cookies, and my cookbook author friend, Jeanne Sauvage's first cookbook, Gluten-Free...
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Ultimate One-Bowl Chocolate Chip (or Chunk) Cookies--If You're One of the...
I'm just home from a baking convention in California, and my head is still spinning with all the new information learned. I was particularly interested to hear what baked goods recipes Americans most...
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Good Gourd! Should We Be Going Green with These Gnarly Garden Oddities?
Have you always thought, as I have, that the gnarly gourds of autumn are fairly weird, fairly useless garden oddities? Yes, they have a peculiar beauty and can make attractive table ornaments or...
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Naturally Beautiful Iced Sugar Cookies--Decorated without a Drop of Dye
Whew! With hurricane Sandy now blowing on out of Maryland, my plans are back on track to teach several "au naturel" cookie decorating classes at the King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center in...
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The BEST (& Easiest) Way to Roll Out Cookie Dough, Plus Other Top Tips for...
"Wow, I wish I’d known that technique thirty years ago,” an enthusiastic student in my cookie class at King Arthur Flour’s Baking Education Center told me last weekend. She was referring to the...
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Yo! Cookbook Authors (& Wannabes): When Chronicle's Bill LeBlond Speaks You...
When Bill LeBlond, Editorial Director, Food and Wine at Chronicle Books, kicked off his IACP Webinar/Teleforum Wednesday, he should have warned us to fasten our seat beats. For one jam-packed hour,...
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Kneadless Seeds-A-Plenty Wheat Bread--When the Bakery is Bare, Bake Your Own
Lately, with a lot of show-and-tell book promotion activities for Simply Sensational Cookies on the agenda, I’ve been totally focused on cookie baking and decorating. But, out of desperation, this week...
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