Posts from — November 2010

My oldest sister Sonia got me a gift certificate to Institute of Culinary Education for my birthday. ICE now offers a new series of classes on food media. Since I constantly feel unprepared, instead of taking a cooking class, I choose “Start Your Own Food Blog” by Brooke Parkhurst.

Myself and Brooke. Did I mention that Brooke is an absolutely stunning blond.

Some tips from the workshop:
• Conceptualize your angle and unique slant.
• Start with a free server such as Blogger or WordPress.
• Post short post and post often – ideally 5 times a week, but at least 3 times a week.
• Create a separate email account from your personal contact.

I had already started Restaurant Baby when I took the workshop, and I am in no position to hire a website designer or to find an editor (topics that Brooke touched on). My main take away from the workshop was to get a Restaurant Baby email (restaurantbaby@gmail.com) and twitter account. Do you have twitter? Let me know your user name so I can follow your tweets.

To celebrate my roommate David’s birthday, we went right up the block for some fine French cuisine.

Amuse bouche: tomatoes, shrimp ceviche, with smoked bacon

Appetizer: Scallops with Cauliflower, Eggplant and Mornay Sauce

Salad: Beet terrine with goat and honey walnuts

Entrée: Seared duck breast with spaghetti squash, and orge beure noisette sauce

Entrée: Rack of lamb with Tuscan bean ragout, yellow squash and olive currant sauce

We went to get dessert afterward from a local bakery. I’ve heard desserts at L’Artiste are delicious as well.

L’Artiste
42-20 31st Ave
Astoria, NY 11103
(646) 309-7504

Back in July I shared my struggles in taking mouth-watering food photographs. Since then, I’ve gotten some good tips from family and friends. My youngest sister Kim sent me a great post from Vegan Yum Yum on photography.

I’m looking forward to trying out the tips and taking pictures at my new apartment. I have great natural lighting here. What are your photography tips and tricks?

After living in the same Bronx apartment for four years, I picked up and moved to Astoria, Queens. No easy feat – half the battle came in finding a roommate. I spammed my friends, updated my facebook, and search through craigslist. For the last two months, I dedicated a large chunk of time for arranging my current living situation – part of the reason for my absence.

For all you New Yorkers looking for housing – I feel your pain! In the end, I found my current roommate through a friend. I got lucky, but can’t always bank on luck. I admire my friend and a fellow food blogger, Jeff Orlick for addressing this issue by co-creating Roommates Wanted NYC. Jeff saw a problem and is providing a great service.

Jeff and James founders of Roommates Wanted – picture from NYTimes

In my final week of packing, I have boxed my pots and pans up, and stopped buying groceries in effort to polish off the mystery items in my freezer. My diet consisted of either PB&J or bodega sandwiches. With the cost of moving and eating out adding up, I knew I needed to cook – but with what?
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