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Top Five From 2017 and Five Goals for 2018

written by Ali

I’m happy to share my top five from 2017 and five goals for 2018 today. However, am I the only one who is having a hard time believing that 2017 is already at an end? It’s been an incredible year. The highlight for me was our big move to the Southern Oregon coast. The coast is the really important part of that statement – I’m so happy being back near the ocean. I’ve also really enjoyed having easier access to local foods. We joined a CSA this year, went to the farmer’s market regularly, and enjoyed the overall bounty around us, including some incredible seafood.

I’ve managed to keep on blogging, though I haven’t been able to focus on it quite as much as I could when we were in Portland. My job takes a bit more of my time. Still, I have a list of top 5 recipes from 2017 that I’m really proud of. But before I get to them, I thought I’d take a quick moment to review my goals for Fix Me a Little Lunch from 2017. First was to improve my food photography. I’ve done a slightly better job with this. I’ve tried to be a little more attentive to lighting, though when we moved, my blog set up had to change. Second was to create and stick to an editorial calendar, which I managed through the first half of 2017 until we moved.

Third was to continue to participate in food challenges. I’ve been able to do this more or less consistently. I’m still doing the occasional contribution to Food ‘n Flix (and am hosting in March – yay!), as well as reading the books for Cook the Books, even if I haven’t always managed to make a recipe right away. I continue to enjoy the blogging community – I’ve had great fun this year participating in the Food Advent Calendar, in #Choctoberfest, in #Cookoutweek, and in #RecipeMakeover.

Fourth up was to try my hand at sponsored posts, which I did with some pretty good success. Last was to build my follower list – ok, so I did say I wanted to get to 1,000 subscribers and I’m actually at 35, but I count that as a success since I haven’t had nearly the time I’d like to focus on growing my list. I’m really grateful for my 35 subscribers!

So, without further ado, here are my top 5 from this year:

I really loved making these easy sweet and savory pinwheels. It was so much fun showcasing some great Oregon products: cheddar cheese, cranberries, and hazelnuts. It’s no surprise to me that this recipe did the best this year (and is, in fact, my overall most viewed recipe in the two years I’ve been blogging).

My almond brownie martini recipe has been very popular. I can totally appreciate why - this cocktail is super decadent and super yummy!

I have to say I’ve been a little surprised that my limoncello lemon drop recipe has been so popular. But I’m so glad I shared it, as it’s always been one of my favorite easy happy hour cocktails.

And speaking of lemons…my penne with burratta, peas, and preserved lemons has been very popular. My one and only regret with leaving Portland is that I can’t find a single source for burratta here. I can, however, find minimally processed milk, so maybe it’s time for me to make my own burratta.

Last, but not least, is my cherry vanilla vodka cola cocktail. I had a great time creating this cocktail as it reminded me of when I lived in the Marshall Islands.

2018 Goals

Some of my goals for 2018 are fairly similar to 2017’s.

I’d like to keep on working on my photography. I’d like to get back to better backdrops and better lighting. I love taking photos of my food!
I’d like to grow my subscriber list. I’ll keep doing my monthly email and have added the feature of a freebie recipe each month exclusive to my email list. I’ll also be working on a e-book for my subscribers this year.
I’d like to get back to my editorial calendar. It helps me stay on track and especially when the CSA season gears up, I think it will help me stay on top of the mountain of veggies that come my way.
I’ll keep on enjoying the food blogging community. I’m looking forward to hosting Food ‘n Flix in March.
One thing I haven’t done is reach out to a favorite product and offer up my blogging services to promote the product. I’d really like to do this in 2018 and I have a couple of products in mind. I did a terrible job with being an Amazon affiliate, so want to make some effort again to be an affiliate with a company.

So there it is – we are heading on into 2018. I’m looking forward to sharing many great lunch recipes and cocktails with all of you in this new year!

December 27, 2017 0 comment

Foodie Lists Musings

Favorite Foodie Podcasts

written by Ali

One of the things that really helped with traveling so much in the past year was listening to my favorite foodie podcasts. In this blog post, I’ll share my top five, plus one honorable mention (because it’s not exactly a food podcast).

I just discovered Gastropod very recently. Gastropod bills itself as looking at food through the lens of science and history, which I absolutely love. I’m always looking for more information about the food I eat – and often look at a particular food and think to myself “I wonder who the first human being was who looked at this food stuff and thought, hmm, this looks tasty?” Gastropod answers that question for me and more. I recently listened to a great podcast all about oysters and oyster farming. Gastropod also led me to discover the book Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker which is all about the culture and science around wine tasting. Gastropod is hosted by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley and it is totally apparent that they both really respect and love food.

I’ve listened to Spilled Milk for quite a while (a couple of years, maybe?). I love its absolutely irreverent humor. It’s hosted by Molly Wizenberg and Matthew Amster-Burton who explore a new food topic in each episode. The topics range far and wide, from radicchio to gas station candy. Every now and then a listener will send in a treat box from another culture and Molly and Matthew will both taste and describe what they are eating. They post links to some of the recipes they discuss on Spilled Milk Podcast website. Strangely enough, one of the episodes that most sticks in my head is one about celery – I was driving back from a meeting on the Oregon coast and recall thinking a lot about celery as I drove through Elkton, Oregon and past a cow barn. It’s funny the memories that stick around.

I’m pretty sure I discovered Homesteady via Spilled Milk. While Homesteady is not exclusively about food, I count it as a foodie podcast. Some of the more recent episodes include how to catch a fish, whether or not to get pigs if you have a homestead, and raising meat chickens. One of the things that I love about Homesteady is that they do a cost analysis of many of their projects to see if it is really more economical to raise chickens, can your own food, and so on. I think I love this one so much because it really delves deeper into the issue of how does our food become our food? That and, someday, when I retire, I’m getting chickens and having a great big garden.

Burnt Toast is Food 52’s awesome podcast. It’s hosted by Kenzi Wilbur and has gone in a bit of new direction this season. If you listen to older episodes, there was definitely an emphasis on segments about some of the greatest foodies – like Nigella Lawson. The new direction is focused more on the story behind how food intersects with our daily lives, with episodes on things like why there isn’t a pie emoji and the Kit Kat candy jingle that almost wasn’t. In any incarnation, it’s definitely worth listening to. It’s from Burnt Toast that I discovered Food 52’s Genius Recipes cookbook, which is one of the few cookbooks I’ve dragged with me on my latest move. If you love food and pop culture, Burnt Toast is the perfect podcast for you.

The Fare Traveler is a new podcast, hosted by Stacey at Little Figgy Food. Stacey’s podcast is focused on the connections between food, travel, memory, and blogging. She highlights a food blogger in each podcast. What I love most about this podcast is that it features the real live bloggers behind some really beautiful food blogs. I love hearing more about what motivates food bloggers: what foods they love, what inspired them, their food tips and tricks. I’m also not ashamed to admit that Fix Me a Little Lunch has been featured on The Fare Traveler.

Honorable Mention:

This is not a food podcast. Its focus is entirely on true crime and not for the faint of heart or the squeamish. However, that said, they start each episode off with a martini recipe. Thus, martinis and murder. I started listening to this a few months ago and am totally hooked. Some of the martini recipes sound pretty amazing, too – I’d likely be making some of them, but I’m always driving when I listen, so never get around to writing down the ingredients after. Still, every time I listen to this one, I want to make a martini, so that’s not a bad thing, right?

Download these from I-Tunes. Let me know in the comments below - what are your favorite foodie podcasts?

May 8, 2017 0 comment

Foodie Lists Musings

Getting to Know Your Blogger: Ten Things About Me

written by Ali

As I’m transitioning into this new job, I’ve got a bit less time for blogging. So, you’ll likely be seeing a few posts like this one that are still about food, but don’t immediately require cooking. I thought this would be a nice chance to share a bit more about me, anyway, so here are ten food related things you didn’t know about me.

I ate my first ever sushi/sashimi when I lived in the Marshall Islands. I sat down one night at Tide Table (which was an expatriate hangout/restaurant) and ordered their Friday night special – a plate of tuna sashimi with rice. First reaction – ugh – this is raw fish. But then it turned out I liked it and it became my go-to meal, except I’d order it with fries instead of rice.

Sushi - my favorite takeout food

I hated eggs as a kid. Like, vehemently despised. My grandmother would make pancakes that were super heavy on the eggs just to get the protein in me. I could only sort of tolerate them scrambled. Eggs are now one of my top ten favorite foods – I don’t have a clue what changed.

Some of my favorite egg dishes

I was a vegetarian/pescatarian for 13 years. I quit eating meat in college and, except for the occasional fish dish, pretty much ate absolutely no meat until I moved to Oregon eight years ago. I did eat fish in the Marshalls, as I knew exactly how and where it was sourced. My biggest problem with meat is the concept of factory farming. I really prefer locally sourced, happy chickens, pigs, and beef. One of the things I hated about city life was how far removed food production became.

All that said, the very first solid food I was desperate to eat after I got my wisdom teeth out at the age of thirty-eight, was McDonald’s chicken nuggets. Don’t judge – they were heaven on Earth.

Chicken Nuggets

I’ll drink any coffee you put in front of me, including instant. I keep packets of Starbucks instant coffee in my desk drawer. When I taught GED classes in a county detention facility, I drank the same scary coffee the county deputies drank. I drank Folger’s instant in the Marshalls. But at home, we are more civilized and our weekend coffee is brewed in a French press, thanks to my husband’s more refined coffee taste.

My morning isn’t complete without coffee

I was still a vegetarian when we went to Europe, which really limited my food options. I regret this – I still memory envy my husband’s baguette with ham and cheese in Paris. So, earlier this year, I made my own version.

My favorite meal in Hawaii when I was traveling solo was a tuna fish sandwich from the ABC store, with sliced papaya, Maui chips, and a small bottle of wine.

My favorite food now is the pasta carbonara my husband makes. Bacon is the gateway meat.

I didn’t eat my first oyster until I was in my thirties, as before that I had convinced myself I was allergic to oysters, mussels, scallops, etc. (I wasn’t – I’d just had two cases of bad shell fish related food poisoning). As it turns out, while I’m not a huge fan of oysters, I do love steamer clams, especially when they are cooked in a broth heavy with wine.

Steamer clams - and a great view on the Columbia River.

My least favorite vegetable (ok – I frankly kind of hate it) is yellow squash. I think it’s the only veggie out there that I don’t like and am really reluctant to eat. No matter how you prepare it (and even raw) it just has that slime texture to it that I cannot abide. The one sort of exception was the time I used a yellow squash hybrid for a veggie in a puff pastry with lots of cheese and walnuts.

Share in the comments – what are some of your foodie confessions? What foods do you hate the most? Which ones do you love the most? What are some of your favorite travel and food memories?

May 3, 2017 1 comment

Musings

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

written by Ali

I have been traveling around the State of Oregon - a lot. Still, there has been time for good food, good books, pretty flowers, and even a bit of exercise. Enjoy!