Kitchen Conundrum

Kitchen On the Road- Cambridge Graduation and Food Blogger Connect London

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Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer! I have spent the first month or so traversing back and forth across the big pond. First to visit a close friend and attend his daughter’s graduation from Cambridge University and to attend the Food Blogger Connect conference in London. Then, I found myself back in NY working day and night on two projects I had undertaken that required more concentrated efforts than “working on the road”.  Once those were under control, I headed back to England to continue my vacation, which included the Cambridge Folk Festival and a side trip to Paris. Here’s a bit about the first trip…

It was such an honor to be invited to the graduation!  Not only to witness a fascinating ceremony but to share in such a special day in their lives!  I was so grateful and humbled to be a part of it.

Each college that makes up the university has its own graduation ceremony in their time honored tradition, with elements dating back to the university’s origin, some 800 years ago. Needless to say, it is very different than graduations here in the U.S.. There are no celebrity speakers, no throwing of caps, and no mega venues like the Carrier Dome at SU, where I went.

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Held in the neo-classical Senate-House, which was built in 1730 and is primarily used for graduations at this time,  the ceremony itself is conducted exclusively in Latin. The graduands become graduates after kneeling before the Vice-Chancellor and receiving their blessing of admittance to their degrees. It is so quiet and somber in the room as each new graduate rises, bows to the Vice-Chancellor, and exits through the Doctor’s door of the Senate-House to receive their degree certificate- and to finally be able to verbally express their excitement with cheers from the other side of the door.  In adherence to the strict decorum during the ceremony, photography is also not allowed inside the building! All I kept thinking was, these poor parents deserve to be able to video tape, photograph, and cheer on their children as they receive their degrees! But alas, the parental cheers had to wait until the entire ceremony was over.  All in all, it was a great event with the culmination of many proud parents and some very happy young adults.

Later in the week, I traveled from Cambridge down to London to attend Food Blogger Connect, a conference celebrating its 5th year with a three day event at the Battersea Arts Centre.

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I’ve been to many food blogging conferences here in the U.S. but it was exciting to experience one that featured bloggers and brands from our European counterparts. And it was a rare opportunity to network with some great bloggers that I may have never gotten to know otherwise. I am so happy to have met all the people I did. Everyone was really warm and friendly!  The list of speakers was quite impressive too, with two of my favorites, David Lebovitz and Penny De Los Santos headlining.

I signed up to take a Behind the Lens Workshop given by Penny and (of course!) it was great. She is so incredibly inspiring and so giving of her knowledge. I could truly listen to her stories all day. The most poignant piece of advice she gave was “Don’t be afraid to be messy. Flaws and tension make us human and makes writing (and photos) interesting.”. How very true.  Of course she said many other brilliant things too, but that one thing is what I find often holds us back. We always try to be perfect- no typos in our posts, no spills on the edges of the plates, napkins folded perfectly etc. When things are a bit askew, or a bit messy, that’s real. That’s what life looks like. (And, often my kitchen too.)

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David, Niamh Shields (@eatlikeagirl) and Emma Gardner(@poireschocolat) gave a panel on what successful blogging looks like, which is very different in the U.S. than abroad as they don’t have the same opportunities to monetize and to make the branding connections on the scale that we do here. Although, Nick Carter, the Co-Founder of Sous Chef (@souscheftweet) gave a brilliant presentation of monetization  and how it is possible to use display ads, affiliate marketing and sponsored content to make money, I think the way Europeans in general measure success, with an importance on work-life balance is really something we often miss here. Work to live, not live to work. (Also, even though they do have fast food restaurants, and the eco-socionomic crisis is widespread, they don’t have nearly the obesity, diabetes or other stress related illnesses Americans suffer so greatly from. Makes you wonder!)

One of my favorite sessions was given by the gregarious and outrageous Kerstin Rodgers, (@msmarmitelover) the pioneer of the underground restaurant movement in the UK. She is the chef/patronne of The Underground Restaurant, a supper club, held in her NW London home.  She even has a book called ‘Supper Club, recipes and notes from the underground restaurant’ which came out in 2011.  I love meeting new people and the idea of a group of random people gathering at your home and paying you to serve up a fabulous home cooked meal is a really awesome. What a fun experience that would be!  May have to try it sometime!

A stand out session was presented by Regula Ysewjin of Miss Foodwise (@missfoodwise) on breathing life into your brand. She is hard to miss as she actually is her brand. Her rockabilly, 50’s inspired theme permeates her persona as well as her blog. It’s refreshing and everything she mentioned was right on target about building your brand. Of course, the most important aspect to a successful brand is to find your real voice and stick to it- not to mention writing good content- often. Much easier said than done- but that’s what I think we all aspire to do. Regula is also a graphic designer and her husband is an art director/ illustrator and they have company specializing in branding and graphic design called The Tiny Red factory.

You know how I love cookbooks, so I especially enjoyed the session about those who had written their own.  One of my favorites was a Germany-based blogger and Mexican food specialist, Veronica Gonzalez-Smith (@muybuenocooking) who discussed the multi generational inspiration behind her Muy Bueno Cookbook. Another book for my list,  A Family Farm in Tuscany was written by Sarah Fioroni, who is the manager of her family’s organic farm near historic San Gimignano. She shared several stories of her family’s traditions and daily life on the farm.  Becky Thorn discussed recipes for typical meals served up in the lunch line at British schools from her youth including pies, mash and puddings drowning in custard. Her little book School Dinners: Recipes and Reminiscences of the Good, the Bad and the Spotted Dick is one that seems quite interesting especially since I am loving ‘puddings’ these days!

The founder of FBC, Bethany Kehdy also debuted her book, The Jewelled Kitchen, A stunning collection of Lebanese, Moroccan and Persian recipes.  Soon to be released here under the title Pomegranates & Pine Nuts, this gorgeous book features a contemporary twist on the Middle Eastern and North African recipes of her youth growing up in Lebanon.

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Of course it wouldn’t be a food blogging conference without food- so check out these eats we tried at the StrEAT Party we had each day:

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Tomorrow I’ll share my whirlwind London tour and talk about the awesome gastro pub I found…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Philly Cheesesteak Do-Over

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This past weekend Renee attended Eat, Write, Retreat in Philadelphia.  To help her bring home all the great gifts the sponsors gave out, Sunday morning I packed up the kids and drove down to the ‘City of Brotherly Love’ to pick her up.  As soon as we started planning this trip my mind, of course, turned to cheesesteak and trying to find one that could live up to all the hype.

We were last in Philadelphia this past October, where, after some online research, we stopped for cheesesteaks at Tony Luke’s, one of the most famous cheesesteak eateries.  Unfortunately, the meat was flavorless, the roll dry, and the sandwich overall was a big disappointment.  We left for the long drive home dissatisfied but knew there had to be better.  There were too many stories about the wonders of the Philly cheesesteak, the hot beef and melted, gooey cheese for this to be it.  There had to be better!

Renee asked for recommendations from some locals who were attending the conference and I did a bit of research on my own. We narrowed our list of choices down to two for the drive home.  Pat’s King of Steak and Geno’s Steak.  They are literally across the street from each other.  We still hadn’t decided which one would be our cheese steak savior, when from the back seat came the grand idea, “Why don’t you get one from each?” Kids! Sometimes they do have the best ideas!  After grabbing a semi legal parking spot, I was off on my quest for cheesesteak redemption.

Stepping out of the car, my nose was greeted by the smell sautéing meat and onions that permeated the air on the entire block. I first walked into Geno’s , who’s bright façade and neon signs called out to the neighborhood.   After waiting in line behind Spiderman (was Comic Con in town?) I stepped up to the window and in a scene that would make Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi proud, I ordered, “cheesesteak, provolone, with onions” paid my $9.00 and stepped to the left.  Less then a minute later I was handed a wrapped wax paper bundle.  Not wanting to be seen by any of Pat’s employees, I quickly walked back to the car and passed the goods through the window to Renee.  I re-crossed the street this time to Pat’s. The storefront is more understated and stands like an oasis on its own traffic island.  Again I stepped up to the window and ordered “cheese steak, provolone, with onions” paid my $9.50 and just as I was getting my change, a hoagie roll piled high with steaming beef, cheese and onions was slid out of the window.  I carried it back to the car excited for our unofficial taste test.

Pat's Cheesesteak

The first difference we noticed was that Geno’s steak consisted of whole slices of meat while Pat’s steak was more of a chopped version.  I started with the sandwich from Pat’s while Renee began on Geno’s sandwich.  Keeping our comments about the sandwiches to ourselves as we ate, I fairly quickly devoured my half of the first sandwich.  My first bite was a bit of a letdown and a little déjà vu occurred of our prior experience. However, once I got further into the sandwich and had the full mixture of meat, onions and cheese, I was starting to feel redeemed. I had no idea what Renee was thinking, but she seemed to enjoy her sandwich. After eating my half and Renee finishing about a 1/3 of hers, we made the switch, finishing each other’s sandwich. (Yes, I got a bigger share!)

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Not surprisingly, we both agreed on the one we liked best.  The meat was tenderer and it had more flavor.  The onions were cooked perfectly and the cheese was melted but not too gooey. Although, there was a substantial amount of drippings from the meat, the bun was not soaked. The meat was very juicy and did not come across as dry, which may explain why it was the sandwich of choice.

We both felt that each of the sandwiches could use a bit of salt and maybe some more seasoning or some sort of a sauce (deviating from cheesesteak tradition!).  Pat’s did have a condiment bar opposite the ordering window offering hot peppers, ketchup and mustard, the latter two I assume were meant for the French fries and hot dogs and not the cheesesteaks. Geno’s condiment bar was also down the sidewalk and I didn’t venture that far down to see what it offered. We left ours plain to experience the unadulterated sandwich in its pure form.

Overall, we were much happier with both of our cheesesteaks this time, but Pat’s was the clear sandwich of choice on this trip. Yay for Pat’s King of Steak! They really were the King of Steak this time.

We have a few more on our list and have since heard of a few more  places to try, so the search for the ultimate cheesesteak in Philly continues! But for now, Pat’s King of Steak reigns.20130602-IMG_8351

Of course,  as far as I’m concerned, a real New York, corned beef on rye will beat a Philly cheesesteak any day.

Top 10 Things I Learned at Eat, Write, Retreat 2013 and a Giveaway!

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Philadelphia welcomed Eat, Write, Retreat this past weekend and it may never be the same again. Over 100 food bloggers from all over the country-  oh, and Canada too- descended on Philly to learn new blogging skills from the amazing line-up of speakers, interact with brands, network and to eat. Because that’s what we do best!

I was so thrilled to meet and connect with so many terrific people. I have made some new friends and I learned quite a bit of useful information in the process.

Someone mentioned that they should change the name of the conference because there was not much Retreat- and that was true! So much information was jammed packed into the two and half days that there was literally no down time.  For the record, I am SOOO not a morning person, but there I was, up at 7 everyday, off to breakfast and ready to learn from my seat at the front of the room.

There were way more than these ten things that I learned but here’s the ones that really stood out.

TOP 10 Things I Learned at Eat, Write, Retreat

1. The incredible and generous Monica Bhide spoke first. She discussed the Sponsored Post and imparted knowledge that not only fits that topic but can be applied to all of your writing. The most poignant and probably the simplest idea- “Would you still write this post if it weren’t being sponsored?” 

Do you love a product enough to talk about it and not be paid? If so, your love and authenticity will shine through. If you don’t really feel it, your audience will know and won’t feel the enthusiasm that perhaps that product deserves- it would be better for someone else who does love it. You can and should say no to products and reviews that don’t align with your personal goals.

 

2. The sweet and talented Joy Manning presented a great panel about power networking.  I am rather shy by nature, so networking has always been one of my weak points. I think also the fact that most of us work alone, in our homes at our computers and don’t venture out too much also plays a role in the lack of good connections. She said- “Make friends on purpose.” 

Pay attention to the well connected people, who they are and who they know. Become THEIR friends. Go up to them at conferences, send them a quick email to introduce yourself, flatter them (MEAN IT!) and find some common ground that you both share. Perhaps that contact will be able to help you in the future. Of course, it’s not a one way street and NEVER treat it as such. You should also network “down”. We always remember the people who help us, and you never know where someone can end up.

 

3. Carolyn Ketchum and Sarah W. Caron gave a panel on food photography.  I tend not to do this, but I see so many others that do- and it’s a pet peeve of mine- so I am reiterating it here for you: BACK AWAY FROM THE FOOD! 

Your meatballs are beautiful, I am sure. BUT, if they fill the frame and are as big as I am, then I will feel as though I am being crushed by them.  STEP AWAY. BACK UP. No one- NO ONE wants to be all in the sauce floating around with the meatballs.

 

4. and 5.  Jesse Gardner, Carolyn Ketchum and Valerie Coffman are folks after my own heart. Geeks, Techies, Nerds, they are my kind, and I bow to them.

They actually gave me #4 and #5 -these two points are easy and often overlooked items that will only take you seconds to do.

Use the Custom Title Tag Feature in your posts.  Here you can add your KEY WORDS that relate to your article and are crucial for Search. Plus you can add your blog name.

For example: Top 10 things I learned at Eat Write Retreat Conference 2013 Philadelphia OXO Giveaway | Kitchen Conundrum

See, key words are there plus a separator and my blog’s name.  Easy!

Next,

Use ALT Text for photos and Change the file name to a real name.

(Ok, that’s really two things, but one photo issue.) By renaming your photo to a real name and adding the ALT Text, you will be able to track that photo online and it will show up in search.  Google doesn’t understand DSC 41.jpg but it does understand Potatoes.jpg, so you always want to name your photos. Plus when someone “pins” your photo to Pinterest, your Alt Text will show up as the description vs. the DSC41.jpg.

I admit that I have not always done this. I need to take the time to go back and do this. It’s a good thing to do. Which leads me to the next great tip-

 

6. Time management by Debbie Koenig was another super informative panel with way more info than I can list here. But the very best piece of advice that came from this panel was- Work in 90 minute increments. 

Break your work day into 90 minute increments where you will only work on one thing at a time. Then break for a half hour to an hour.  You accomplish more and be more effective and less likely to become distracted. Schedule your time to work on emails and social media and when you are working on something else, turn those off. Concentrate on one task at a time. When we try to do too many things, multi-tasking (and yes, we are all amazing multi-taskers!) all at once, we don’t really do any of them that well. They get done, but they are usually not our best work.

 

7. Another great tip from Monica that often rings true- If Your Heart Sinks When A Certain Client Calls for You, Dump them.  That may sound harsh, but your time and energy is better spent on projects that you love and that give you pleasure. You are not doing that client any favors if your efforts will be half hearted. And you are also doing yourself a disservice by causing stress in your life and not opening up to other opportunities that may be better for you. Learn to say NO!

 

8. Potassium will be the next big mineral. As stated by Deanna Segrave-Daly, RD who spoke about what’s in our water with Brona Cosgrave from Gerolsteiner Sparkling Mineral Water. As our sodium intake increases, we will need more potassium to offset sodium’s effects on our bodies. So get ready for more bananas and leafy greens in recipes.

 

9. Mushrooms are amazing! Mushroom farmers are the best recyclers.   Tony and Joe D’Amico from To-Jo Mushrooms gave an in-depth talk on how mushrooms are grown and how everything, from the compost, peat and spores are reused. Not one thing is wasted. After the mushrooms are harvested  the soil goes back to farmers and are used in other fields. Who knew?

 

10. Something very practical for canners- Store the Jars With The Rings Off. Marisa McClellan demonstrated how make a small batch Vanilla Strawberry Jam. It was truly delicious.

I make preserves and pickled vegetables a lot, but I never heard or thought about this. The rings should only be hand tight to hold the lid down for the water bath. Once the jar has finished the bath, it should have a good seal. Then take the ring off for storage. This way, if you have a contaminated jar, you will know much sooner than you would have if you had the ring on. The contaminant will begin to off-gas and the lid will pop. Sometimes things are so simple we miss them.

 

So there you have it! The Top 10 Things I Learned at Eat, Write, Retreat 2013. I can’t wait for 2014!

Now for the giveaway! The SWAG was awesome. Not only were there contest and raffles where you could win things, there was so much stuff to take home just from the amazing sponsors themselves. So I am sharing the love.

Swag from #EWR13

I have a set of OXO Good Grips graters that will go to one lucky Kitchen Conundrum reader. One of their newest graters,  the OXO Good Grips Coarse Grater,  is ideal for soft and semi-soft cheeses, apples, cabbage, potatoes, onions and more. The OXO Good Grips Fine Zester/Grater is perfect for zested citrus fruits, ginger and nutmeg while the OXO Good Grips Medium Grater is an essential grating tool nearly everything else!

So enter to win this awesome set and cover all your grating needs!

OXO GRATERS

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the wonderful and hard working organizers of this event, Casey Benedict and Robyn Webb. They worked tirelessly and put together a truly enjoyable conference with incredible speakers and terrific sponsors.

Just check out the EAT, WRITE, RETREAT site for a complete list of all the great sponsors.

Next up… Just who really makes the best cheesesteak in Philly?  Stay tuned!