Unplugged

(because I cut and pasted the questions from Frugal Feeding, I have some sort of formatting error that I can’t seem to correct.

That problem’s completely resolved if you just click on the “unplugged” title of the post.)

Who or what inspired you to start your blog?

I found I was fixing dinner and snapping photos with my phone and emailing them to my daughters or friends and sharing recipes for things I’d discovered and loved. It seemed like a natural progression to take it to the inter-web.  (Though don’t for a minute think that I did that without being, first of all, scared to death, and second of all, scared to death.)

Who is your foodie inspiration?

This is a cop-out, right? I haven’t one. I have more like dozens. But they’re constantly trading places…this is like a game of musical chairs. I can’t keep track.  But in all honesty, I think food is my #1 inspiration.

Your greasiest most batter splattered cook book is?

So you think from the answer to that question that you’ll know my favorite cookbook? Oh no, not so. I have a weird thing about books. I kind of love them. And I take very good care of them. And my very favorite cookbooks, I shield from my greasy fingers and flying food, under plastic. I know, really anal. So there you have it already, embarrassing detail #1. Embarrassing detail #2 – despite the care I take of my cookbooks, I can (and often do) make a tremendous mess in the kitchen!

The best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it and what was it?

I think it might have been chocolate croissants that came fresh and still warm to our room every morning, along with thick & extraordinary coffee with cream. This was in Paris, in a darling room that could only have been in France – the sheared fabric on the walls, the upholstery on the chair, and the curtains on the tall windows were all in an identical pattern. I wouldn’t want that at home, not in any room, but there, it was lovely. We all know though…food is all wrapped up with memory. And those chocolate croissants are all wrapped up with those very happy days my husband and I spent walking the streets and parks of Paris.

Another Food Blogger’s table you would like to eat at?

You know by now that I write my own rules on occasion. So, ok, three blogger’s tables that I’d like to eat at…Roger & his wife Jenny’s (Roger’s blog: Food Photography & France), at Chicago John’s with the rest of his family (From the Bartolini kitchens) and on Tanya & her Big Man’s patio on a mountain in Spain (  Andaluza’s.)  (French, Italian, Spanish.) I also happen to love their blogs. There’s more, lots more, but I’m held (very loosely) to rules.

What one kitchen gadget would you like Santa to bring you? (if money were no object)

A new garbage disposal.

Who taught you how to cook?

I’d have to say I taught myself. I wasn’t the best of teachers, but together we got it done. The inspiration for cooking though came from home. Both my Mom and Dad cooked and my brothers and I grew up eating GOOD, well-flavored food, with ventures into different ethnic cuisines. That makes such a difference when you’re learning to cook, first of all knowing what good food tastes like and second,  not being afraid to play and experiment.

I’m coming to you for dinner, what is your signature dish?

Oh, you are? What time of year? Roasted chicken or grilled salmon, or seared ahi, or half a dozen good soups, or pesto on pasta, and always a good salad at our house.

What is your guilty food pleasure?

I don’t eat anything I’d feel guilty about. If there’s something I want to indulge in, I do. I just “behave myself” before (as in the case of chocolate mousse last week) or afterwards, cutting back on this or that. It’s a balancing-the-books sort of thing. (My mother will be so happy to read that, because she taught me, “All things in moderation…including moderation.”)

Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?

When I cook, I have a habit of opening cupboards and drawers and leaving them open. When I make an especially elaborate meal, my husband loves to follow behind me and count the doors as he quietly closes them one by one. I have a lot of cupboards. He gets quite a kick out of it. Much more so than I.

My next job seems to be choosing other bloggers whom I would love to know more about.  I feel terribly guilty about this. I’m a bit at a loss. I’ve done this before, and I might have even annoyed a few. I follow some Really Great Blogs, but only a good handful, so I don’t have hundreds to choose from.

I’ve got an idea! And I swear it just came to me! Why don’t YOU comment back to me with ONE other blogger you’d like to know more about! Let’s make this an unusually democratic process! Tell me who, and tell me why and I’ll share it in a brief follow-up post. What do you think? (Thanks for reading all the way to the end…You’ve got such patience!)