I met Cheryl Sternman Rule at the Greenbrier Writers’ Symposium two years ago (can that be?!) She is funny, witty, smart. Everything I could want in a blogging friend. She’s also worked hard at her photography and has succeeded in posting lovely photos with every post. I love checking out what she has to write. Her posts make me laugh and sometimes are poignant. 5 Second Rule, Cheryl’s blog, is a regular stop for me as I catch up on blog reading. It should be a regular stop for you too.

1. What pushed you to food or wine blogging?
Not what, in my case, but who.  My husband had been pushing me to start a blog for a long time before I finally bit the bullet, two years ago.  I loved writing for magazines and other websites (and still do), but I also wanted desperately to drive my own content — highlighting people, stories, and recipes I felt a connection to — and to do it in my own authentic (quirky?) voice.  I also wanted an excuse to spend more time stroking my camera.

2. What do you hope to share with readers through your blog?  
Hmm, how much time do you have?  I’ll break it down: I hope to share 1)  my love for cooking, storytelling, and photography; 2) my interest in parsing out and discussing complicated and controversial food issues; and 3) my network of fellow food professionals, who have their fingers on the pulse of the industry, whether they’re journalists, cookbook authors, policymakers, or academics.

3. Is there one post that stands out from others as one that generated a lot of commentary or maybe made you wish you hadn’t posted it?
Um, crazypants?  I’m not highlighting the ones I wish I hadn’t posted!  BUT one that generated a lot of commentary was this one, which discussed my struggles with a recent NYT article by Peggy Orenstein, in which she wrote about The Femivore’s Dilemma.  I often wonder if I practice what I preach, and with this one, I threw it all out there and really valued the discussion that ensued.

4. Do you cook yourself? Well?  What is your go-to dish?
Yes, I do.  I cook all the time.  If it’s just for me, my go-to dish is probably this: saute onions and too much garlic in a thick slick of evoo,  add cumin, sea salt, and pepper, then dump in a can of drained and rinsed black beans.  I shmoosh the beans with a potato masher until they’re kind of pathetic looking, then eat the whole mess over brown rice.  Hot, quick, comforting.  In warm weather, maybe a romaine salad with red onion, cherry tomatoes (in season, please), white beans, olive-oil packed tuna, and a shocking amount of lemon juice.  (I have a lemon tree and am not afraid to denude it.)

5. Forget your favorite go-to dish; what is your idea of a perfect meal?
Something light, simple, and colorful.  If you’d asked me 20 years ago the answer would have been something with a lot of cheese (lasagna, macaroni and cheese, etc.)  Now, though, I crave food that makes me feel energized, and this generally means a ton of fresh produce, beans, and something sharp, like a highly acidic vinaigrette.  And dessert.  Because what you really need after a salad is a cookie chaser.
Bonus question if you feel like it: Do you have a dirty little secret
in your kitchen?

Secret?  This is the internet, Barb!

I met Cheryl Sternman Rule at the Greenbrier Writers’ Symposium two years ago (can that be?!) She is funny, witty, smart. Everything I could want in a blogging friend. She’s also worked hard at her photography and has succeeded in posting lovely photos with every post. I love checking out what she has to write. Her posts make me laugh and sometimes are poignant. 5 Second Rule, Cheryl’s blog, is a regular stop for me as I catch up on blog reading. It should be a regular stop for you too.

1. What pushed you to food or wine blogging?
Not what, in my case, but who.  My husband had been pushing me to start a blog for a long time before I finally bit the bullet, two years ago.  I loved writing for magazines and other websites (and still do), but I also wanted desperately to drive my own content — highlighting people, stories, and recipes I felt a connection to — and to do it in my own authentic (quirky?) voice.  I also wanted an excuse to spend more time stroking my camera.

2. What do you hope to share with readers through your blog?  
Hmm, how much time do you have?  I’ll break it down: I hope to share 1)  my love for cooking, storytelling, and photography; 2) my interest in parsing out and discussing complicated and controversial food issues; and 3) my network of fellow food professionals, who have their fingers on the pulse of the industry, whether they’re journalists, cookbook authors, policymakers, or academics.

3. Is there one post that stands out from others as one that generated a lot of commentary or maybe made you wish you hadn’t posted it?
Um, crazypants?  I’m not highlighting the ones I wish I hadn’t posted!  BUT one that generated a lot of commentary was this one, which discussed my struggles with a recent NYT article by Peggy Orenstein, in which she wrote about The Femivore’s Dilemma.  I often wonder if I practice what I preach, and with this one, I threw it all out there and really valued the discussion that ensued.

4. Do you cook yourself? Well?  What is your go-to dish?
Yes, I do.  I cook all the time.  If it’s just for me, my go-to dish is probably this: saute onions and too much garlic in a thick slick of evoo,  add cumin, sea salt, and pepper, then dump in a can of drained and rinsed black beans.  I shmoosh the beans with a potato masher until they’re kind of pathetic looking, then eat the whole mess over brown rice.  Hot, quick, comforting.  In warm weather, maybe a romaine salad with red onion, cherry tomatoes (in season, please), white beans, olive-oil packed tuna, and a shocking amount of lemon juice.  (I have a lemon tree and am not afraid to denude it.)

5. Forget your favorite go-to dish; what is your idea of a perfect meal?
Something light, simple, and colorful.  If you’d asked me 20 years ago the answer would have been something with a lot of cheese (lasagna, macaroni and cheese, etc.)  Now, though, I crave food that makes me feel energized, and this generally means a ton of fresh produce, beans, and something sharp, like a highly acidic vinaigrette.  And dessert.  Because what you really need after a salad is a cookie chaser.
Bonus question if you feel like it: Do you have a dirty little secret
in your kitchen?

Secret?  This is the internet, Barb!

Well, the ingredients for my Tuesdays with Dorie are ready to go…now I have to mix and freeze–It’s Coconut Banana Ice Cream Pie, and I’ll be back to blog it, but here’s an interim post.

One of the results of me cooking professionally has been that my kids have been exposed to a lot more …unusual, shall we say, foods than many of their friends. That’s not to say we don’t have some scrounging nights, when Cheerios seem to be the best choice of all. But there’s always something new to think about.

And they’ve been curious. My daughter has sat with me for meals at bars in NYC (Oh, do check out this post about lunch at The Modern at MoMA in NYC. I confess to letting her be mildly mislead about sweetbreads. This year when we visited she thoroughly enjoyed wild mushroom soup…) and she’s been to some disastrous PR dinners as my date, too (those shall go unnamed)…My son made a video for Bobby Flay’s Grill It (I was so certain he’d get on! He’s adorable–but I can’t find the link. Rats..)..and now and then my daughter takes over the kitchen.

Her skills have produced wild onion soup from my (organic) back yard when we lived in Kentucky–she pulled up every chive she could find, added water, heated it the microwave and…I ate it…Mmmmm. Then when I became food editor at Florida Table,  getting home after she did now and then, I once came home to a full dinner, elegantly plated (she had been to a food photo shoot or two by then), table set, water poured into a lovely wine glass AND homemade chocolate ice cream (she made chocolate milk and froze it in the Cuisinart Ice cream maker, the insert of which is always ready to go in the freezer).

So it was no surprise when she got home yesterday determined to make churros for her Spanish class at school. She found the recipe. She mixed it up, scalding the milk, adding butter, eggs, flour. Getting out the little Fry Daddy I have, heating it, experimenting with the pastry bag and star tips (we didn’t have one big enough), finally deciding to spoon the batter into the oil. She even decided simple cinnamon sugar wasn’t enough. She had cinnamon nutmeg sugar…And off to school she went. (She even cleaned up pretty well…Not great, but she’s getting there..)

So Bryn? If she doesn’t make it big as a singer? Her fallback plan is to be a chef. Not a bad plan.

It’s my coffee in
early morning that makes the
rest of my day fine.

It’s my coffee in
early morning that makes the
rest of my day fine.

This is a shot of an oyster starter that was part of a luncheon at Mandarin Oriental’s Azul in Miami. Chef Clay Connelly was the genius behind this beauty, which was just the right amount of…of everything. If I recall correctly, it was a kumamoto, topped with a slice of cucumber for a bit of crunch, the creme fraiche, the caviar and a touch of mignonette, I think…the oyster nestled on that bed of salt…

I took this shot with my point and shoot–a Canon. I used the macro setting, set the camera on the table so it didn’t shake and got this fabulous shot.

Well, I like it, at any rate.

Mm. That oyster went great with the champagne I enjoyed that day…

I often miss Miami. These were some of the little things that made life there lovely.

And if you need further reading? Have a quick go at MFK Fisher‘s Consider the Oyster. It’s a lovely little thing…

This is a shot of an oyster starter that was part of a luncheon at Mandarin Oriental’s Azul in Miami. Chef Clay Connelly was the genius behind this beauty, which was just the right amount of…of everything. If I recall correctly, it was a kumamoto, topped with a slice of cucumber for a bit of crunch, the creme fraiche, the caviar and a touch of mignonette, I think…the oyster nestled on that bed of salt…

I took this shot with my point and shoot–a Canon. I used the macro setting, set the camera on the table so it didn’t shake and got this fabulous shot.

Well, I like it, at any rate.

Mm. That oyster went great with the champagne I enjoyed that day…

I often miss Miami. These were some of the little things that made life there lovely.

And if you need further reading? Have a quick go at MFK Fisher‘s Consider the Oyster. It’s a lovely little thing…

Food movies are a recurring theme with food-loving people–which do we like, dislike, what affected us the most? So here, in no particular order, are five food movies I think food lovers will….LOVE.


1. Babette’s Feast. I loved the movie enough to twist it slightly for the name of my blog. Babette cooks a bang up meal for a few of the townspeople who she’s lived near/with for years. This she does after inheriting money–all of which gets spent on said feast. In the course of the meal more than one puritan realizes that good food can be a revelation all on its own and lead to other epiphanies.

2. Food, Inc. This isn’t so much a lovely movie at all as a movie about why we need to understand where our food comes from. I hope everyone sees this and just pays more attention to it all…buys from local farmers…learns what it means to eat in season…appreciate the real flavors of real food.

3. Chocolat…a little bit of magic, a lot of chocolate. This is a sweet (ha) movie that stayed with me.

4. Big Night. Of all movies where food is an integral part of the plot, this one is my all time favorite. Food brings people together, it tears them apart…the final scene of Big Night–wordless–is a masterpiece that wraps up food, love, family.

5. Tampopo: The noodle movie…in Japan, a woman seeks to make the perfect noodle. This is another movie that stayed with me over the years, one I re-watch on a semi-regular basis. Funny and touching…worth the watch.

Bonus movie (because I can’t not list this one)–Julie and Julia. Of course we’ve all heard about it. This blog and movie introduced a new generation to Julia Child. While I’ve always thought her fabulous, I NEVER owned Mastering the Art of French Cooking…until I was following the blog. Streep is incredible here. I watched this movie twice last summer, both times alone, because I just wanted to SEE it….

Okay. Your turn. Tell me what food movies you love..

Food movies are a recurring theme with food-loving people–which do we like, dislike, what affected us the most? So here, in no particular order, are five food movies I think food lovers will….LOVE.


1. Babette’s Feast. I loved the movie enough to twist it slightly for the name of my blog. Babette cooks a bang up meal for a few of the townspeople who she’s lived near/with for years. This she does after inheriting money–all of which gets spent on said feast. In the course of the meal more than one puritan realizes that good food can be a revelation all on its own and lead to other epiphanies.

2. Food, Inc. This isn’t so much a lovely movie at all as a movie about why we need to understand where our food comes from. I hope everyone sees this and just pays more attention to it all…buys from local farmers…learns what it means to eat in season…appreciate the real flavors of real food.

3. Chocolat…a little bit of magic, a lot of chocolate. This is a sweet (ha) movie that stayed with me.

4. Big Night. Of all movies where food is an integral part of the plot, this one is my all time favorite. Food brings people together, it tears them apart…the final scene of Big Night–wordless–is a masterpiece that wraps up food, love, family.

5. Tampopo: The noodle movie…in Japan, a woman seeks to make the perfect noodle. This is another movie that stayed with me over the years, one I re-watch on a semi-regular basis. Funny and touching…worth the watch.

Bonus movie (because I can’t not list this one)–Julie and Julia. Of course we’ve all heard about it. This blog and movie introduced a new generation to Julia Child. While I’ve always thought her fabulous, I NEVER owned Mastering the Art of French Cooking…until I was following the blog. Streep is incredible here. I watched this movie twice last summer, both times alone, because I just wanted to SEE it….

Okay. Your turn. Tell me what food movies you love..