My favorite blogs

Thanks to Trop 50 for sponsoring my writing about fabulous bloggers. This year Trop50 is granting 50 fabulous wishes. Click here to enter for a chance to win $1,000 to help grant a friend's wish!

Speaking of friends, I was talking to a friend the other day about blogs. She's a new blogger. And I'm somewhat of a veteran now that I've had my blog almost two years. I was giving her a few tips that I've learned along the way which led to bringing up some of the blogs that I like.

I remember asking my friend Kelly what blogs she likes. And from there I discovered a whole, huge world of blogs.

So I thought I would share five of my favorites with you. Here they are. In no particular order. I couldn't really pick a favorite favorite.

Deb

SMITTEN KITCHEN
Love, love, love her blog. Deb lives in NYC. She cooks in a teeny, tiny kitchen. She has a toddler. And cranks out some of the most amazing, yummy food. Ever. She has great photography skills. You will wish your computer screen was the scratch-n-sniff kind.

Elise

SIMPLY RECIPES
Hands down my #1 go to site for recipes. Next to Martha. I saw Elise speak when I went to the BlogHer food conference in San Francisco. I'll have to be honest. I was new at blogging - both reading them and writing them - and had never heard of her. (Same with a few other uber famous folks that were there like the Pioneer Woman, David Lebovitz, and so many more it's kind of embarrassing now.) Anyhow, I was intrigued by all of them, so I immediately checked out their blogs when I got home and Elise's blog just clicked with me. It's simple, clean, the recipes are well tested and taste great. The photography is simple and makes the food look delicious and real. I like her style of cooking and so does my family - some of my favorite recipes are from her.  Her Lemon Bread recipe is hands down my favorite.

Jenna

EAT, LIVE, RUN.
I first learned about Jenna when she was trying out for the Murphy Goode wine job - that was about two years ago. Something about her perky personality and drive for success has me checking in with her every morning. I'm practically old enough to be her mother. Reading her blog is a lot like watching a tree grow from small sapling to a great, big and beautiful tree. And she's a pretty good baker too.

THE KITCHN
No e. Trust me. I love the kitchen because it gives an inside peek into people's homes and kitchens. They feature real people, with real budgets and real homes. Large and small. Not the homes of famous folks all gussied up and gorgeous in Architectural Digest. Not that they aren't gorgeous. They are! My friend Lance had his home in SF featured. It was cool! In addition to highlighting different homes they also have tabs on technology, green, home design, cooking, and kids. I'm always discovering something new on their blog.

Heather

DOOCE
Heather Armstrong is Dooce. She is the original sassy blogger. I know some people have grown tired of her. But I still find her humor hilarious. Probably because I was late to the blogging world. I check out her blog on those days when I need a good, hardy laugh. She lives in Utah. Isn't afraid to tell it like it is which may or may not include a few cuss words and I like that. Plus, she takes amazing photographs - mainly her kids and two dogs. I have no idea how she gets her dogs to pose the way she does.

So there you go. A few of my favorite bloggers.

What are your favorite blogs? Besides mine of course. Ha ha ha!  I'd love to check them out!

PS.

Don't forget to enter the 50 Fabulous Wishes contest for a chance to win $1,000 to support a friend's wish. I was selected for this Tropicana Trop50 sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do. I received compensation to use and facilitate my post.

Note: All photos are from each bloggers site. Thank you Deb, Elise, Jenna and Heather.

The Pioneer Woman Was Here. Holy Schnikes.

I have no idea why. All I know is that 14 hours ago she was here. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw her blog there "The Pioneer Woman - Ree Drummand." gaaaaaaaaasp!

I literally screamed in the middle of the Giants game. Don thought I was screaming at the game. But apparently I screamed at the wrong time, or maybe it was just loud, cuz he looked at me kind of funny.

"Whaaaat?" I say, with just a titch of attitude.

"It's the Pioneer Woman!" Holy Crap! So then I try to explain it to him.

"I can't believe it. The Pioneer Woman was on my site. She's like the grand poo bah of bloggers. She's uber famous. The queen mother. She's been on the Today Show. She wrote a book. She lives in Oklahoma on a ranch and home schools her kids. Remember I saw her at BlogHer last year? Aaaaaaah. Oh my gosh!"

I said all this without taking a breath and I could literally feel my eyes start to bug out. I realized I must sound and look ridiculous. Elli got caught up in my excitement and enthusiasm.

"Yeah, Dad! She's the cow lady!" she shouts.

Don was looking at me like my head was spinning.

And then I panicked. My photos! The photos in my new post looked terrible. The color of the pictures are all wacky. The apples don't look right. I have a serious white balance problem.

Who cares. The Pioneer Woman was here. That is so cool.

Maybe next time we can have a glass of wine together!

I hate rolls. And I'm not talking about bread.

What's up with our bodies as we age? I know it doesn't happen overnight. But seriously. It's like you wake up one morning with back fat. How is that possible?  I seriously nearly hurled in the bathroom recently when I saw my back in the mirror in the bathroom. Who is that? I thought to myself. She has no shape. No waste. And what are those lines, and is that a roll of.....what the hey? Maybe if I shut my eyes it'll...... nope still there.

But that's not the most disturbing thing I've seen recently. This photo is worse. I gasped when I first saw it on the BlogherFood site. And to make matters worse, the photo is public. H-U-M-I-L-I-A-T-I-O-N. I was at the Blogher food conference in San Francisco in September and was taking pictures of the chocolate demonstration with Elizabeth Faulkner.  I was reaching up to try to catch a glimpse of the chocolate box she was mixing up when someone took a photo from the opposite side - which unfortunately had me in it.

My arms were up in the air with a camera aimed at Danica (danicasdaily.com) trying to catch a glimpse of her getting her chocolate surprise. She's so cute. And young. Nice, fresh, skin. She's a baby.

Holy schnikes. Look at me! Whose arms and elbows are those? Couldn't be mine. Ay caramba. The photo has been haunting me since September. Unfreakenbelievable.

I know I'm not 20 anymore. But I'm not 90 either. I can get myself in shape. And I can also remember not to wear sleeveless outfits and take photos with my camera over my head. Dork.

Maybe I should post this on my fridge. Ha! Or maybe on the bathroom mirror.

The good news is I'm doing great on my diet and exercise. I've lost 5lbs so far. And my abs are killing me from the new pilates routine I've been doing. I'm exercising my arms too, so there is hope!!!!! Yeah me!

Photo courtesy of Carla Duhart Razura, babyjidesign.com

BlogHerFood 09

On Saturday I attended BlogHerFood 09 in San Francisco at the gorgeous St. Regis Hotel. I wish I got to stay there. But since I live about 25 minutes away, and I've only earned $1.09 from my blog. I couldn't cough up the $$$.

BlogHerFood was a one-day event filled with seminars, food demonstrations, food to eat, food to look at, and lots and lots of bloggers. Some bloggers were invited to special dinners in Napa and SF. Not me.  But maybe next time. Who knows.

There were some true Food/Chef celebrities in attendance. Rocco DiSpirito was there. And Elizabeth Faulkner, of Citizen Cake was there! I'm sure you'll recognize her from Top Chef Masters or Iron Chef. I got a front row view of her making this crazy chocolate thing for Scharffenberger Chocolate. I'm going to blog about it tomorrow.

I have to admit, I was completely overwhelmed most of the day. And I was not alone. A lot of bloggers knew each other. Many of us came alone and felt like very small fish in a very big, big pond of bloggers.

Luckily, foodies are quite the friendly bunch, so I did meet a lot of people and learned some great things. One thing we all have in common is that our parents are our biggest fans.

Here are some of the big "celeb" bloggers that impressed me. These bloggers have millions of eyeballs reading their recipes and looking at their photos. I do the happy dance if I get 50. Not that it matters. I'm just giving you some idea of how popular they are.

Ree Drummond - A great lady that lives on a cattle ranch, home schools her four kids and blogs. Uh huh. So for everyone that says they're too busy......check out Pioneer Woman .
David Lebovitz - A Californian, now living in Paris. Very funny. Sassy like me.
Elise Bauer - started recording her mom's recipes and it snowballed into an extremely popular site called Simply Recipes. Her parents came to support her. How sweet is that? (I'm going to make the lemon cake as soon as I'm done here.)
Helen Dujardin - a very funny french pastry chef. I can't wait to try her recipes. And she makes house calls! Her site is called Tartellete....on the sweet side of life.
Amy Sherman - a seemingly regular gal, with a hugely popular blog called Cooking with Amy. She lives here in the Bay Area, gotta love that for sure.

I did a bad job of taking pictures. Kath of Kath Eats Real Food did a great job. She already has them posted on her site. She was at my lunch table with Jenna Weber (Eat.Live.Run) and Danica Pike (Danica's Daily) and Jennifer Patterson (Unplanned Cooking) and a group from Cooking.com including Tracy Randall the President and Founder. We had a lively conversation about the food, wine and Rocco!

So what did I learn? Real food bloggers are a hard working bunch. They create recipes all the time. Take fabulous pictures. Write cookbooks. Write recipes for big corporations. It's a full-time gig. Who knew? I learned lots of tips to improve your blog ranking, taking better pictures, how to write so people will read and respond/comment. I guess I need to decide where I want to go with this little project of mine. Or not.