Thursday, June 23, 2011

My Third and Final Assignment in the Series - Describe the Taste of a Food Item

Here goes...

My Goodburger Burger

Warm and cool. Sweet and savory. Creamy and crumbly. Smoky and sharp. Tart and mellow. Meaty and bready.

Red onions, dill pickles, cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, medium rare ground meat and a toasted bun. Yum!

Monday, June 20, 2011

My Second Assignment (After Class Feedback) - Describe the Smell of a Food Item

Assignment #2 - I kind of missed the mark with the smell, but it's still a pretty good story to read. 

The Doughnut...

The raw, flour scented dough is something unspectacular until it meets the unassuming, unflavored hot oil. Once the two meet, the air fills with the scents of vanilla and butter. After 30 seconds, the scent of crisp, sweet bread is added to the mix and in a final 30 seconds, the circle of once raw, tasteless, limp dough is a fully cooked, sturdy cake scented slightly with honey, surely evoked by the beautiful golden color of the ring.

It falls off the tray, too hot to be touched and rests while the bath of powdered sugar and cinnamon await it. Once cool enough to touch, it is thrown mercilessly into its awaiting power cover. The heat of the now cooked hoop lets loose the spice and sweet of its coating, melting the super fine sugar powder creating a perfect glaze. Waiting with its circular brethren, it sits emanating its sweet vanilla and spice aromatherapy, ready to be enjoyed.

Cider Doughnuts c/o The Web

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

My First Assignment (After Class Feedback) - Describe the Look of a Food Item

Assignment #1 - Write a description of the look of a food without using what it is to describe it - e.g.don't use the word spaghetti to describe spaghetti.

Millionaire’s Shortbread

This sweet treat is three layers of comforting brown tones.  The golden base invokes memories of sandcastles with its crumbly and moist texture but solid foundation.  The top layer is a rich, dark brown which is smooth on top and chiseled on the sides like a an unfinished marble work of art. Sandwiched between these two solid layers is an amber colored gooey layer of goodness.


Friday, June 10, 2011

Next Adventure - Professional Food Writing Course

I work at a college for my day job.  This has certain benefits - Summer Fridays off, "student" discounts, and, of course, free classes.  The school I work at is known for it's arts and social awareness curriculum.  I took an interior design course (to help me actually decorate our apartment) but that was for students a bit more serious than I.

That was Fall of 2009.  With an engagement, wedding, and LOTS of work, I had not jumped back into the classroom.  This was until I looked further into our Food Studies program.  I'm not so interested in sustainable farming, but I did find a few day courses that intrigued me.  There was a class about launching and marketing your specialty food product and two classes that had to do with writing and publishing - one about professional food writing and the other about getting a cookbook published.  They were amazing and helped me to realize that: A. I love food and talking about food, and B. I could do any of the above and be successful at it (I think).

I have had this blog living a thin life for the past 3 years, and though I love it, had not had the discipline nor direction to truly make it something.  In comes a full 15 session course on professional food writing from the Food Studies program. Though I loved my 1 day classes that gave me a bit of knowledge and know-how, this was the opportunity to learn from those that are in the business (and are successful at it) and almost more importantly, practice by force writing every week 2-3 times (and more, I hope). 

This is the long explanation of the short statement - you can look forward to reading my homework assignments and following me on my journey to get publish (and get paid - that's the goal!).

Now for kudos - my professor's name is Andrew F. Smith and has been in the business for years.  Here are links to his two most recent releases:
If you want to follow me on my journey, I would suggest obtaining the following 2 books (most of my assignments are in these books, so I'll talk about the a lot):
And now a toast - Here's to new adventures, being good at them, and getting paid for them (maybe...one day...)

Snowman Pancakes - Simple and Fun!

photo: Non-Foodie Foodie Over the summer we traveled the Ohio River Valley visiting family. One of our stops was to visit my Aunt Cathy...