Four of my fave blogger buddies left to right: Notes from Maggie’s Farm, South Austin Foodie, Austin Gastronomist, and Girl Gone Grits.

1.  Free meals. This will be funny to those of us already blogging but somebody actually came up to me at an event a few nights ago and asked me to tell them about this blogging thing so they could get in on the free food. HAHAHA! For the occasional free meal, free course, free event fee I have gotten for being a blogger, I have spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars of my own money and time on restaurant checks and volunteer time supporting chefs and causes that I believe in. I actually struggled with this for awhile when I first started blogging because it seemed to me in Austin there was a certain set of bloggers that got invited to all the hot openings and fancy parties while my little blog was overlooked. My great friend and mentor Kathryn from Austin Gastronomist pointed out to me that the reason I was not on the “list” was because I was not friendly with all of the P.R. and Marketing firms in town but I did know many of the chefs. I’ll tell you now, it is good to know the chefs! If your goal is to be first on an opening list, pursue a relationship with a firm that caters to that but beware that some invitations come with certain expectations. As much as I want to get a hot scoop on a new restaurant,  I also value my reputation for fair and accurate report of a restaurant and opening night, let alone opening month. It is not a fair reflection of what a restaurant is capable of. Better to base a review on repeat visits on your own dime to a place.

2. To get a  book deal. God bless Pioneer Woman, Orangette, Julie and Julia, Chocolate and Zucchini, Chez Pim, Gluten Free Girl, Steamy Kitchen, and David Lebovitz plus my buddy Babbette at Bakespace that is helping others self publish. These ladies (and gent are wonderfully self-effacing, highly encouraging, evangelists of the blogger life but they are by far the exception and not the rule. Every one is talented and deserving of the recognition for their hard work, especially since most started blogging when it was in its infancy. I have had the pleasure of meeting a number of them and while I appreciate their success, I recognize that it is as similar as me taking up basketball to become a member of the NBA.  Anything is possible but maybe we shouldn’t bet the farm on it.

3.  To make money. This is a constant consternation to bloggers. There are costs just to publishing a domain name every year. Now add on the costs of meals, photography equipment, your time (please don’t ever underestimate that), plates, textiles, event costs, and on and on. Marketing firms find that providing  bloggers with free products and tastings are easy ways to secure positive feedback for their clients. Traditional media makes money from advertising but criticizes small bloggers for accepting free meals. Click through adds pay pennies while junking up your page. It is all a fine balancing act. My best advice is to pay attention to that internal voice. If it seems hinky to you, it probably is. Better to pass on an opportunity with strings than risk your reputation. You do what you do because you love it, not because it makes you money. Don’t risk your self respect to become profitable.

4. Because it is easy. Blogging is one of the most difficult hobbies out there. You are expected to keep up on the latest restaurants, be an expert food photographer, including food styling, be a social media guru, be able to relate national trends to local activity, all while balancing family, friends, and a day job. Blogging is not easy. You have to grant yourself permission time to learn a task, or better yet, time to focus on yourself or your family despite the demands of a blog. You can always return to a restaurant for a meal but you may not always be able to cheer your neice’s soccer meet. Every decision involves a sacrifice. Just make sure yours are worth it.

5.  You want to become famous. As talented and dedicated as you may be, there are hundreds of thousands of others looking to be heard as well. Don’t forget that as well written and designed as your blog may be, getting out in your community and connecting in person goes a long way. Use your voice to support your fellow bloggers, food artisans, and restauranteurs who care as much as you do about local, fresh, organic, and delicious. Volunteer for a local charity that supports the causes you are passionate about. And always have a card with your blog name on it to hand out. It may not get you your own cooking show but people with like passions recognize honest enthusiasm and will remember you. As much as I want to hang out with Eric Ripert and Tony Bourdain, it is still pretty flattering to be remembered by a favorite local chef.

Food blogging is a rewarding, frustrating, expensive, and fun. It requires dedication and passion. The  biggest rewards for me have come from the community I have found offline here in Austin. I admit to an occasional jealousy over another bloggers recognition or reward but focusing on my own strengths and learning from the successful approaches of others have helped me expand my blog as well as my definition of success.

While this may not be news to those that know me, Dear Reader, I am a bit competitive.  The Foodie Blogroll, a great resource site for food bloggers looking to network and monetize their blogs, holds several contests every month in conjunction with various sponsors.  Their latest contest really sounds intriguing so I decided to give it a whirl.

Step 1.

Write a blog post answering these questions by November 5th, 2010:

1. Why do you want to compete in this challenge?
2. Limitations of time/space notwithstanding, whose kitchen would you like to spend the day in & why? Julia Child, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria, James Beard, Marie-Antoine Careme, or The Swedish Chef?
3. What morsel are you most likely to swipe from family & friends’ plates when they aren’t looking?
4. Sum your childhood up in one meal.
5. The one mainstream food you can’t stand?

A desire to compete as a personal challenge to my creativity is the initial reason I want to participate but also because the first prize is a $200 gift card to Marx Foods.  They have 11 categories listed for truffles alone!  So we are going with creativity as first choice for reason to compete but Kurobuta pork and uni by mail order are a close second.

Julia Childs would absolutely be my fantasy chef for the day.  I learned to love cooking as so many others did in front of their PBS station on Saturday afternoons while watching the indomitable Childs explain the difference between a hen and a pullet, demonstrate the perfect omelette, and manage to make tripe look appetizing.  She brought European cooking to middle America, not by dumbing it down but explaining and demonstrating in clear and precise steps.  She also helped develop the food television medium as a way to share what she loved, much as bloggers are doing with the internet now.  All with pearls and a smile.

My favortie morsels to swipe would be off the dessert plate.  A bit of icing here, a dab of whipped cream there, perhaps a stray berry or two.  Who am I kidding?  I call it “quality control” but I think I may have a real problem.  My name is Christy and I am a dessertaholic.

I was raised by a mom that had a full time job, a part time job, and three kids including one with special needs.  Although her mother was a fabulous cook, it never really was my mom’s thing.  We never went hungry but meals were more likely to be frozen foods than made from scratch.  A constant comfort food came in the red and white can made even more famous in 60′s pop art, Campbell’s Soup.  It was my mother’s secret sauce in a variety of casseroles that I still crave on occasion.  But the meal I recall most vividly was a steaming bowl of tomato soup-  made with water, not milk as some misinformed chefs vainly attempt to improve on a masterpiece.  Of course tomato soup must come with grilled cheese.  Oh, I’ve had the fancy, tarted up grilled sleazus like Gruyere and Stilton on walnut bread with the thinnest smear of fig compote.  The grilled cheese-us of my childhood was simple white bread toasted on the griddle with a molten hot lava flow of processed cheese food in the middle.  You could not eat it straight out of the pan or you would likely suffer a severe burn to the roof of your mouth or a napalm dribble down your chin.  Tomato soup and grilled cheese on a gray drizzly day when I was feeling sick.  Tomato soup and grilled cheese on summer afternoons when I was starving after morning swimming lessons.  Tomato soup and grilled cheese was the first meal I learned to cook for myself.  All that I cook now started there.

The only mainstream food that I can think of that I cannot stand are green peppers.  I really like the red, orange, or yellow varieties but I despise the green ones.

Well, there you go.  Answers to questions posted.  I figured out how to post the contest badge to my blogs footer.  Now I cross my fingers that I get the golden mystery box to create something yummy with.  Fingers crossed!

Why have I never heard of this before?  I love meat.  I love fried things.  I love using yard tools for cooking utensils. 

I ran across this concept researching answers for an online contest.  I am thinking this would be a great use for that big pot of peanut oil used to fry a turkey  for Thanksgiving.  Redneck holiday, anyone?

Drink Me potions and edible playing cards | Heston Blumenthal recipes – Times Online.

Heston Blumenthal from The Fat Duck in the UK is on a relentless quest to present diners with opportunities to “play” with their food.  His creativity, along with Wylie Dufresne from wd-50 in Chicago and Ferran Adria from El Bulli in Spain, propelled molecular gastronomy into the global spotlight.  Even though the trend is waning in these economically tough times to upscale comfort food, all three are a constant beacon to further my creativity.