Fridays are for Inspiration: Food Wishes

Food Wishes Blog and Food Wishes YouTube Channel.

There's something about the way Chef John narrates his videos that is just friendly, easy going and entertaining. I've been enjoying his blog for some time now and it's been really neat watching his video quality progressively improve over the years. I repeatedly enjoy many of his videos but here is my short list of favourites:

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Fridays are for Inspiration: Smitten Kitchen

Ah, Smitten Kitchen. The first food blog I fell in love with.

Deb at Smitten Kitchen is in a word amazing. She seems to be equally passionate about both cooking and baking, which in my experience, is unusual in that people usually fall in one or the other camp.

Thanks to Deb 

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Fridays are for Inspiration: The Kitchn

Introducing another one of my dailies: The Kitchn

One of the reasons I love The Kitchn (and all its sister websites) is that the contributions are beyond sharing recipes. The Kitchn is about the love of food, life in the heart of the home and meditations.

My measuring spoons have been separated for years now (not to worry, it was mutual and amicable) but I remember reading an article about this exact topic at The Kitchn shortly after having done so and feeling pleased at the discovery that there are others who function and think like me in the kitchen.

This article about freezing stock inspired me to make a habit of freezing soups, stocks and tomato sauces in muffin pans. I currently have 3 pucks of tomato sauce and 5 pucks of cauliflower soup. They come in handy for emergency lunches and evenings destined for major screen time. 

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Fridays are for Inspiration: Tastespotting

I cannot even remember how I stumbled across this gem of a website but hours upon hours have been spent browsing Tastespotting. I do recall coming across it sometime in 2007 and unanimous love for this website seems to only grow. It also serves as motivation for food bloggers to share: to date I have submitted two pictures that have been rejected but I'll get there someday. May there never be another period of panic with Tastespotting being shut down. Those were dark days.


Thanks to Tastespotting it's easy to see and join in on food blogging trends including 

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Fridays are for Inspiration: Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart. 

I adore Martha. 

I adore Martha so very much.

I adore Martha so very much that I wish her version of The Apprentice were still on. 

I adore Martha so very much that I wish her version of The Apprentice were still on and I would totally audition.

I adore Martha so very much that I wish her version of The Apprentice were still on and I would totally audition and triumph as her apprentice.

I adore Martha so very much that I wish her version of The Apprentice were still on and I would totally audition and triumph as her apprentice so long as I fix my meringue fail.

 

This post is certainly story-centric but descriptions of my first memory of Martha as many lazy afternoons spent baking iconic chocolate chip cookies from a Living mag with my mom is so not happening. Such lazy afternoons did not exist because while Mami is a great many things, a baker she is not. In truth, my earliest memory of Martha is the hilarious Ana Gasteyer playing her in the SNL skit "Martha Stewart's Topless Christmas Special." Forgive me, M.

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Fridays are for Inspiration: Chez Larsson

Chez Larsson is another blog I enjoy daily as you can see on my Bookmarks Bar.

Colleagues and I were joking recently that our homes are always at their cleanest during report card writing time because cleaning and organizing is how we procrastinate writing them. Thanks to Benita's blog, there is inspiration galore to serve as procrastination for many term's worth of report card writing. All joking aside, what I love most about her is her just-get-'er-done attitude. One day I will maintain a home as neat, minimal and functional as hers.

Since discovering Chez Larsson,

I store sprinkles upside down just like her. 

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Fridays are for Inspiration: The Pioneer Woman

The Pioneer Woman is one of the blogs I enjoy daily as you can see from my Bookmarks Bar.

Her photos are beautiful, her humour shines through her writing and she seems thoroughly humble. PW also inspires me because she is the opposite of a food snob and appreciates almost all food like I do (bananas for her, licorice and ginger for me).

I initially visited her blog via Tastespotting when I saw a picture of her Bacon Appetizers and I was hooked. Obsessed with making her recipe, I bullied Jess into making them together (I couldn't find Club crackers in Vancouver - had to take advantage of being in the States) for a family BBQ. This is the actual 2008 picture taken in the also small Bronx kitchen.

 

From PW I've also learned 

• about The Cake Pan Lady 
• how not to fear baking with yeast (dynamite Cinnamon Rolls and No-knead dinner rolls? Totally baked.) 
• more facts about calf nuts I ever thought I’d learn

Thanks for the inspiration PW!

PS You may notice that I enjoy all her content but have only ever made a comment when she’s doing a KitchenAid stand mixer giveaway. Says a lot about me, non? Creeper alert.
PPS She's also the reason I decided to share my full name online. Maybe one day I'll share my last name too. Still find it scary.

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Fridays are for Inspiration: Blog Colours and Design

Welcome to a new feature called Fridays are for Inspiration. Fridays will now be the day to share pictures, links, blogs and websites that inspire me. 

This post shows how I came to choose the colours and design for my blog.

 

The blue is inspired by my beloved Colonial Blue by Denby.

I chose this pattern when I was 17 (my parents owned a china store) and Mami decided to help me build my collection slowly by giving me a piece or two every birthday and Christmas. Admittedly, receiving china when you’re 17 to 20 isn’t exactly thrilling but I sure felt grown up when I first moved out and I was one among few of my friends who owned a full dinnerware set. Colonial Blue has since been discontinued and despite many years passing, I’m still in love with the clean crisp blue.

The red is inspired by my red accent pieces.

  

The integration of red into my collection happened unintentionally. It started when I first moved out and desperately needed a few more kitchen essentials. Mami being the generous soul that she is, gave me the few Emile Henry red pieces she had collected: an olive oil bottle, a salad bowl and a pie plate (okay, so maybe that wasn’t a kitchen essential) and it was a happy coincidence that they complemented my Colonial Blue beautifully. Eventually I began to add more accent pieces including a salt pig, a kettle and a mini Tabasco bottle.

The Tabasco bottle sits on top of the oven and above it is a vibrant print that we purchased in the Caribbean while vacationing there when I was 15 (16?). It sat in the basement for years and only after I'd moved out (to a basement suite no less) did it meet a frame. I like to think that my love of this print subconsciously guided me to collect red and blue.

 

 Here are the open shelves above the kitchen sink. Tres jolie, non?

 

Okay, I admit that the above photo was slightly staged. Ordinarily there are two liquor bottles anchoring the cookbooks.

Okay, okay, okay! If I'm totally honest, usually the pestle sits in the citrus juicer, which balances haphazardly on top of the mortar. Moving on!

The simple white background is inspired by Leo Babauta, writer of zen habits. I enjoy blogs with clean layouts and I try to keep mine clutter free.

The About Me section isn’t necessarily inspired by anything but just shows how much I love lists. In fact, there's another list in the screen cap. Spot it?

• Lists, handwritten with my favourite purple pen,
• Google Calendar,
• and NowDoThis keep me organized. (See what I did there? List.)

And we're done like dinner.


Now if only I could figure out how to fix this (which never leads to more to read). Update: It's somewhat fixed.

 

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