if you love me...food porn.

if anyone out there loves me, you will make & send me a parchment wrapped box of these. or one of these.

just ask me for my mailing address and i will send it.

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“It seems to me,” she wrote, “that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it ... and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied ... and it is all one.”

- mfk fisher (who happened to cook, create, write and entertain at "last house," 10 minutes from my front door)

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i've been totally into food blogs lately.  there are some amazingly beautiful food/photo sites out there.  i am glued to the computer screen and lusting after both food & photography...sneaking off to read them with excessive regularity these days, i think i may have a problem.

and if i were totally honest about my dream job, it would be that i were a food critic and cookbook author.  or at least a really talented photo/food blogger - who writes her own recipes and inspires people to cook and to love food.

it's really about loving food.  talking to food.  expressing yourself and your mood with food. it is passion.  a medium for emotion and creativity.

so i will share a few of my favorite finds.  a few lustful recipes that call to me right now, but do explore these handful of favorite food blogs.  the recipes below are on my list to try.  if you beat me to it, do let me know - won't you?

these simple, buttermilk tarts looked like a creamy, nutty score that i'd like to experiment with. plus i have to give credit to Hannah for a beautiful blog and the inspiration to explore some of my now-favorite sites!

if you are looking for the perfect dessert - for breakfast, or a humble olive oil cake with berries, or a jazzy, glittery 3 tier concoction for a party, Stephanie is your go-to girl. and besides the grapefruit macaroons i mentioned at the beginning of this post, what about this, the fanciest sounding dessert i've ever heard of.  and panna cotta, when done right, is a sublime experience.

when food is not enough, and you want a little marital tension, plus family entertaining ideas and solid culinary pedigree behind your website, dinner - a love story, is the place.  you can start here with their new years letters to each other.  and since they agree with my entertaining philosophies i must fully endorse one of their favorite main course suggestions.  (if you are a meat eater of course.) but this braised short rib meal in my house - done in all variations from asian 5 spice to beer soaked with root vegetables - is always a hit.  polenta being my favorite side dish to soak up the pan juices.

and while she has closed shop, i happen to think this blog by tattoo artist and food lover, is great.  troll her entries before they are gone.

these collard wraps and this lemon tart with rosemary crust from so good and tasty blog are so enticing to me.  i love colors and fresh, wholesome, real food.  (and have you noticed, i've got a citrus thing going on?  it must be the time of year.)

unique twists on classic combinations, are inspiring to me.  look at this version of peanut butter cookies turned into ice cream sandwiches:  sesame cookies with rosewater ice cream.  can you resist?

here i found one of the recipes i grew up with: dutch babies!  this recipe is so, so easy.  it is a 5 minute prep and a 15-20 minute bake for a luscious family breakfast.  we've been making them for years.  ever have yorkshire pudding?  it's kind of like that.  a custardy, pancake in a roasting pan or cast-iron skillet.  we usually eat them with maple syrup and yogurt with fruit on the side.  but i like this alternative for a savory dish.

speaking of savory, the pecan bisquits over at roost look like the best gluten-free bisquits i've ever seen.  i love wheat but sometimes my belly does not.  and i have a mother in law who is gluten-free.  so i can't wait to try these for our next special dinner.  but roost isn't savory only, check out this recipe for orange flower pavlova with coconut cream, pistachio and meyer lemon.  i learned how to make pavlova from our kiwi friends while living in vancouver.  i've made a few renditions - pavlova with cappucino marscapone and cherries & chocolate pavlova with mandarin orange - here on my blog.  this new twist looks so yummy & exotic.  pavlova, i'll have you know, was created in new zealand as a dessert for the famous ballerina anna pavlova. it is light, airy and marshmallow-ey on the inside with a delicate meringue crust.  (when done right of course.)

and since i can't choose a favorite from this site, i'll just send you there to be inspired for yourself.  who knew that one meal (a meal most people forget) could be so seductive? "simply breakfast" is so not simply forgotten anymore.

i'll close with nectar.  while i found her through her food, i am totally geeking out over her talent and the way she designs her space, homeschools her kids and overall styles her life.  (see her chalkboard wall? mine - which i've always been proud of - looks totally puny compared to hers! i'm totally going bigger next time.)

all of these sites inspire me to go bigger, to listen to my heart more, to create meals and cook food and create my space so that it feels luscious and yummy and enticing to me and my family.  all of these things, like mfk fisher said, are tied together - food, comfort, warmth, desire, love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Rebekah]

Wow, looking through these blogs/sites and loooving them. We love food over here -- making it, looking at it in magazines or through the shop window as we walk down the City streets, watching it on TV, but especially savouring it ourselves. I love it too much sometimes, though, but that's another story. Anyways, I'm always looking for more inspiration and these are wonderful. Thank you!!

[jaykaym]

Try skinnytaste.com for wonderful healthy family recipes. Haven't had a "fail" yet when I use a recipe from skinnytaste.