Tell me a little about yourself, why don’t you.
Here’s what I may or may not already know:
1. You are functioning at a literacy rate well-exceeding elementary school levels.
2. You like food, unless you accidentally got here Googling porn (which does not necessarily exclude you from liking food as well).
3. You have a little extra time on your hands.
4. You were the nicest, smartest, and most popular girl/boy in your class.
5. You are stalking me.
The rest, frankly, is a blank. I’d love to know more. Seriously.
OK, CAL graduate, about the time AW was leaving wierd posters all over town about some restaurant she was starting.
Foodie before my time, loved to cook in the early 70s, watched the original Julia Childs shows in black and white, on KVIE in Sacramento, my hometown. Remember her as funny but endearing, and didn’t realize she would set me on a path that would involve my own love of cooking.
First volume of Mastering the Art was my 1st cookbook purchase, which now includes all the rest of hers, plus a few more by various authors…ever seen “”How toPlease a Husband” c. 1930? It contains a recipe for toast, very detailed, with the line “butter generously, care being taken to cover the edges”.
I’ve lived in Danville for 20 years, where I raised 2 exceptional daughters on my own. Oldest is an amazing cook, but #2 recently complained she lacked the cooking gene, while making some delcious lemon shortbread in my house. Had her use the microplane to make 1/4 cup of lemon zest, and lead her to ask for similar cooking utensils for Xmas.
Probably TMI, but you asked.
My first “about you”. How does it feel to expose yourself thusly? And, yes, I did ask.
Now please tell me how on earth I can get a hold on a copy of How to Please a Husband?
Wow, this is NOT easy. Hi, my name is Annapet and I love food. I bake a batch of macarons daily.
Hi Annapet! You make them daily? It’s something I’ve never attempted. Perhaps I should give them a go. I think your blog might just inspire me…
Thanks for visiting!
Hello, Michael! Yes, I do make them daily…crazy. Today with Blueberry French Buttercream. I should swim more laps, really. Have a fabulous weekend!
Hello! Found you through a link on Squidalicious. Love your blog voice – very engaging. I don’t know if I’d call myself a foodie, but I also went to CCA – the not as fabulous and very short lived San Diego branch – about ten years ago. I went just long enough to know that working in the restaurant world is not for me! I much prefer the other side of the table. I am a vegetarian and a cookbook collector. (I also have a copy of “How To Please A Husband.” Ha!) I seem to gravitate toward food blogs for my leisure reading, though I don’t really think of myself as a very good cook. I also have my own blog, but I am new at writing for public consumption and I don’t quite know where my posts are headed as yet. I started it as a way to deal with some residual grief over the deaths of my father and friend and a means for letting off steam about parenting an autistic child. Probably more than you wanted to know, but there you have it! Oh, and absolutely loved the Cherpumple post.
Thanks, Bokchoy.
Squidalicious, huh? Do you know the author of that blog or did you wander over there? I’ve known her for…oh… a long, long time. Since we were four. She has never ceased to amaze me in all the years we’ve been friends.
My blogging advice to you is this: If you’re concerned about writing for public consumption, don’t be. Just write as though you are writing for yourself and/or the entertainment of a few friends. Death is something tricky to write about but, as with anything as emotionally complex as the fall out that surrounds it, it’s a wonderful cathartic thing to do, if only to help clarify your feelings. There may be somethings you wish to keep private, other things you feel you want to share. Just go with your gut. Whatever the case, just keep writing.
Michael
P.S. Okay, does EVERYONE have this “How to Please a Husband” book except me? I am putting it promptly onto my wish list.
I don’t know Squidalicious in person. Probably got there through a wordpress autism tag or something – love her writing. My son is seven and autistic with many similar issues. And yes, “How to Please a Husband” is a definite must-have. My mom has a book called “How to Boil Water.” I’ve been coveting that one for years.
hello micheal
Iam foodi and love to try new food, never been to greek resturant. I have heard about coffee reading but never had one. After reading you’r blog I really like to get a reading. If you please let me know which resturant in bay area have good greek food and good coffee reader.
thank you
Hello neelee. Sorry for the tardy response. The first place that comes to mind for great Greek food and Greek coffee is Kokkari Estiatorio. Have you been there? If you’re lucky, someone might just read your coffee grounds.
Michael, I just wanted to thank you for the delicious skordalia recipe from your blog. I think your version was even better than the one you served us at the restaurant in San Francisco last month. It is certainly a recipe where the finished product is greater than the sum of the ingredients. Dori
Dori– So very glad you liked my recipe. And, yes, I would have to agree with you (whole-heartedly) about the finished product being greater than its parts.
Thanks so much for stopping by my little blog and taking the trouble to comment.
Michael
I met you over a delicious hot cruller break, which only portends good things about our relationship, I think.
Now I visit here and find out that you’re a freaking brilliant writer, too. YAY.
You may very well be right, you know. I can’t wait to work on your project!
lol, why didn’t I notice this? Although *tapping finger on teeth* it’s probably because most people have “about me”s, you have an “about you”. I might just rip off you idea, thank you in advance.
I make soup. And sauces. I used to make “cooks”. *sigh* Life happens. I also have scars all over my arms because I’m a really good grill, but that’s a little tmi.
I write. You probably noticed.
I can’t remember how I found you. Probably following a link from one of the food blogs I read. I landed on the tuna-tini page…and blinked. Love your blog.
You used to make “cooks”? Is that code for something else? I’m delighted that the Martuna made you blink, ‘coz you’re one of my favorite readers.
Cheers.
You’re a brave man, Michael, for actually INVITING strangers to blather on about themselves. Do you do that in person too?
Since you’ve already visited my blog, you probably already know more about me than you ever wanted, so I’ll keep this short. I’m an artist-turned-food-writer-of-a-certain-age. By “age” I mean “the ice age.”
And like many others here, Julia was an early influence. The very first croissant I tasted was one I baked using her recipe.
Yes, I do. Since I like to blather on about my own damned self, I think it’s only fair to give others equal time.
HI Michael,
This is totally random, but here goes….. Im casting a new Food Show for a major network and we are looking for a host. I found your blog, I love it, and would love to talk with you about the show. If you are interested, please email me at foodiecasting@me.com
I hope to hear from you!
Kemper
Hi Michael
Did you ever respond to Kemper Jackson? Is he for real? I hope so because you would make a great host for a food show.
Susan
Yes, she is real. And thank you, but I took a pass. It was a lovely invitation, but it just wasn’t “me”. Whatever that might be.
hmmm. i’m a graduate student in health administration. i’m slightly obsessed with all things blog: food, design, etc. i’m in the process of deciding on a job offer in san francisco, so i found your blog somehow through my endless efforts to get to know the city. i’ve only been to sf once (just recently), and felt a very strong connection with everything that makes up sf. just trying to decide if my budget can manage it. i’m contemplating making my boyfriend, dog and cat live with me and all of our belongings in a 500 sq ft studio just so we can give it a whirl. i think i’ll bookmark this fab food blog.
Rachel,
If you feel such a strong connection to the city, by all means, make it happen. Seriously.
And I really want to thank you for taking the time to comment on my blog. It makes me really, really happy that you did.
In no special order:
* I am, indeed, stalking you, but in that benevolent, want-to-read-what-you-write way, not the boiling-your-bunny way
* Julia was not an early influence of mine. My mom, vocational cooking school, and Jeff Smith taught me everything I knew about cooking until I was well into adulthood
* I am only slightly taller than I am round
* I am queer, a parent, an atheist, and polyamorous
* I used to write seriously (poetry and journalism); now I do it for fun
I’m so glad you decided to post something here!
Julia wasn’t an early influence of mine, either. The only cooking I watched on tv were the guest segments on Dinah! when she’s whip something up with Burt Reynolds or Robert Goulet or someone of that ilk.
Jeff Smith was/is a total creep/asshole who made my friend Lizzy cry when he entered her cheese shop.
It’s so rare that I have stalkers, you know. So thank you.
I was so totally disappointed to find out he was a creep. I loved his show so much. Then after I found out people (like Craig, his erstwhile assistant) disliked him and even were suing him, every show was tainted. I still have fond memories of watching the show with my mom; we made a few of his dishes, though, including a rather expensive Peking Duck, and they all *sucked*. Still, I hear I am a wonderful egg cook, and I owe that all to his show.
happy monday. update: baking macarons on a weekly basis now.
I am currently full of admiration for you– I’ve never dared to make macarons. Perhaps you will give me the courage to give them a go.
Michael!
I adore your blog! I can’t recall how I originally came across it but I look forward to your updates. Actually; as I pause for a moment, I believe I came across your culinary blog after reading from another of your forums – a lovely personal story about riding the school bus and “popularity” – yes, that was exactly how I found myself here. I suppose that’s rather close to stalking, isn’t it?
Oh yes, but about me…
Poor, single mom with a rich imagination and an abundance of creativity. A sometime Computer Programmer, Insurance Broker and Administrative Zombie. Currently a school bus driver with vague literary aspirations – a 50-something zoomer who is crazy about roller-blading, food and literature and doing my own thing.
xo,
Juddzz
I am so delighted you stopped by the “About You” section. I love it when people take the time to share a little bit about themselves with me. And I adore anyone who adores my blog. (Wink).
Thank you very, very much!
Hi Michael,
I found your blog while looking around for what people had to say about the Negroni. I was considering the issue because a friend had just sent me this link:
http://www.findeatdrink.com/Index/Drink/Entries/2010/9/9_recipe_negroni_sbagliato.html
Being ever intrepid and a great fan of interesting things on the grill—I’ll invite you over for grilled pizzas sometime—I dutifully marinated some oranges and set out to make this drink. Now I’m with you that the Negroni is a species of perfection, so I’m never happy when somebody borrows the name for a lesser concoction however inventive. The “Sbagliato” is already a problem, and with the sugars from the orange, there just isn’t going to anything left of that beautiful ballet of bitters that is a Negroni. That’s when I decided that Joe Campanale is trying to make the wrong drink and we should ditch that sparkling wine distraction. Those yummy slices of burnt orange should be in this:
Grilled Orange Americano
1 grilled orange wedge
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet red vermouth
2 ounces soda water
This could well become my standard aperitif for a grill party. Anyway, this is a drink I thought you might like to consider. Glad I found your blog.
Found you on eater today. I’m a waiter, and I now love your blog. I now shamelessly promote my blog, which is a food blog that is of no threat to you…because my blog is also about cats, pandas, my sex life etc.
Best to you…I’ll be reading!
Shaun
http://beefpiranha.wordpress.com/
Shaun,
It’s a pleasure to serve you, fellow waiter. If you manage to include cats, pandas, and your sex life into the same post, I will definitely be reading you as well.
Michael
50 something retired school teacher who has moved to the big city to start part 3 of her life. Found your blog through a tweet. I love to cook most times, but seldom use recipes except as jumping- off places. I love to eat at all times.
Okay, HOW did I miss this? Apologies.
I love that you say you’re starting part 3 of your life. I’m nearing the end of part 2 myself and currently assessing my progress.
Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my blog.
Michael
Michael,
Heaven help me, I can only hope for a day where that happens. But I won’t force it, pandas just hate it when you “ask.”
Shaun
Pandas are shy creatures. Except perhaps when one succeeds in getting them drunk on tender bamboo shoots that one has soaked overnight in plum wine. Works like a charm every time.
24, recently married to a Marine Officer who is also my high school sweetheart (but it was prep school, so it’s not as cheesy), living in North Carolina against my wishes, daughter of a gay man (and a straight woman), food blogger who’s waiting for someone to offer her $1 million to write a book about food memories (or for more than 1,000 visitors a month), and absolutely, utterly, unequivocally in love with your blog. your voice is clear and entertaining, and your recipes make me hungry.
Oh, you can’t fool me. Prep schools have a high cheese factor, too. It’s just much nicer cheese.
If that person of organization who offers you $1 million for your book deal, please send him/her/it my way. I’ll do one for half that.
I’m really glad you decided to stop by and share a bit of yourself with me (even though it tok me two weeks to get back to you [I've been in hiding]).
Hope to hear from you again!
Michael
After 16 years (to the day) as owner of Menu Works (a menu design and printing company) I sold the business and went to work for the new owner. This career led to an appalling obsession with food photography, which shows no signs of relenting. In 2009 I did a 365 project. Photograph each of my breakfasts for a year. They are posted on flickr under my identity as wikipix. Now I’m just getting started with a blog called The Food Reader and am still finding my voice in this new endeavor.
I think it would be a greater personal challenge for me to eat 365 breakfasts in a year, let alone photograph them every day. Cudos. Please send recipe for morning energy bars. Much needed.
If you’re looking for your voice, I suggest you don’t go very far looking. Just be yourself and write about what interests you. Don’t worry about trying to be anything other than yourself because it’s exhausting work and you’ll wind up having a nervous breakdown in the middle of one of your breakfasts. You’ve got your own voice. It may take a little while to warm up, but it’ll come.
Thanks for visiting,
Michael
Happy Holidays, Michael!
And the same to you, Annapet.
Will 2011 see the coming of your much-awaited blog?
Happy New Year.
Ciao- welcome to my world- another SF’r gone expat. Turning 30 in SF and being a single woman, spending much to much time at places like the Stud and Hamburger Mary’s I fled to France and Italy for a break before moving up to the wine country to break out on my own as a pastry chef after 7 years in a 5 star hotel. J’adore France, but my first trip to Italy was my last. It is now home. I turned in my pastry chef title to become cooking teacher. We all now know it was Catherine de’ Medici that taught the French to cook! Found the boy of my dreams who is now my house-husband, I spend my time Over a Tuscan Stove Http://www.divinacucina-blog.com
Judy,
Sounds like you were a bit of a wild child. Please correct me if I’m wrong. I am so delighted you’ve come to visit my blog!
1. New fangirl of Food for the Thoughtless via WORC.
2. A hangry monster when not fed properly and at the correct intervals.
3. Half Kiwi half Japanese though I’m not sure which half is which.
4. Live in Austria, hate snow.
5. Not sure if I was the nicest or most popular girl or boy in my class but was definitely the best at spelling. And enjoyed pointing out mistakes, annoyingly, to those who had made them. Somewhat less so now, though I do admit to experiencing a frisson of schadenfreude when professionally printed signs say things like “confectionary.”
6. Now worried I have made a spelling mistake in this comment.
Welcome aboard, Sasa.
Since you’re an excellent speller, I am relying upon you to help point out all of my typos. I need all the help I can get.
Hi Michael,
I just found your blog through the White on Rice Couple’s blog post about you today. What a treasure! Your post about Faggots made me cry, but so glad that you faced your fear and turned out a lovely recipe. Kudos to you.
I started blogging about a year ago. This post pretty much explains where I come from, and why I love to cook: http://www.fishtailsandpearls.com/2010/05/cooking-can-be-life-changing-event.html. Blogging is a just a hobby, although the hours I spend on it one might wonder. I work full time as a global marketing director for a software company. My company recently purchased a company based in Paris and Munich, so I’ve been able to travel to both lately which suits me just fine. Love all the new blogging material traveling to nice cities has to offer.
I continue to tweak my blog, and contemplate moving over to WordPress. Presently, I am working on improving my photographs, so I loaded up the manual for my camera onto my Kindle and I read it every night until I fall asleep…that doesn’t take long.
What a pleasure to find you, and I look forward to following along.
Best, Laurie
Hello, Laurie.
Thanks very much for the message. I really had no idea how much that faggot post affected people. I’m now very glad I went ahead and wrote it.
Congratulations on surviving your first year as a blogger. I’ve been examining my own lately and have come to see it as childlike in its development: The first year spent eating too much and filling too many diapers with marginal content, etc. I think I’ll save the rest of what I could say about it for another blog post, since I just came up with that.
.
But I will leave you with one bit of advice: beware the Terrible Twos!
Glad to have you along and thank you again,
Michael
hello Michael! i was transmitted to your blog via the White on Rice Couple and their “portrait” of you as a- (and in a thick french accent)- GOURMAND! wow that sounds formal. anyways- i am utterly intrigued by your witty tone and i am utterly pleased to fine one food blogger to finally respond to their commentors! shocked and pleased. you are a very kind man and i hope whatever happened to you before can be healed because those people who treat you badly will have no good results given to them. i promise. take it like this- you were once a scarred worm, but you are now a blossoming butterfly. gosh that sounds cliche. pleasure to meet you and blessing to you this fateful year~ e
Hello Ellie.
You mean other bloggers don’t respond to their commenters? Maybe I’m going about this all wrong.
Thanks for the lovely note– I’m delighted you’re enjoying my blog, because I’m enjoying writing it.
I’ve never considered myself a scarred worm, but I am here to self-examine, so I will look into it. Blossoming butterfly I can handle.
Cheers,
Michael
OK, this is going to sound stalker(ish)…… Saw a picture of you on Tartelette’s photo stream on Facebook, googled your name and then an hour later saw you also referenced in the CNN article and figured I’d say. Please let me know if the restraining order is needed.
I guess I’m all over the place today. Do you know Tartelette? She’s a very lovely woman.
And, presently, I would have to say that a restraining order is not necessary. When odd little bits of food start showing up on my doorstep, I may have to reconsider.
Michael
Tartelette and I are facebooks friends but I’d love to sit down with her and pick her brain about food photography and food writing and just in general. Altho I don’t say it, she was the inspiration for my most recent Examiner article on pot de creme.
She’s a swell gal. She’s someone I’d very much like to know better.
I saw your blog featured on Eatocracy…CNN…
Nice to read something newsworthy for a change and important.
I have a food site myself, if you can call it that. My passions involve travel, diversity and food which I have tried to intermingle. Whether people read it or not, I enjoy the journey myself.
Wow. And thank you, Rachel.
It’s all about the journey. I’ve learned so much about myself and how I see the world because I started blogging.
Hi Michael
I just came across your blog via Eatocracy too. It’s great and I look forward to reading more. I’ve just started food blogging and I love finding inspiring reading. I’m a fan of healthy living but of course not all the time!
Aphrodite
I could use a bit more healthy living in my life, buy you’re right– not all the time.
Thanks very much for saying hello!
Hi Michael
I can tell you how I found you and that would tell you a lot about me. I was googling “white lady, sidecar, mainbrace,and between the sheets” and up you popped. You see I enjoy watching movies that have scenes that relate to food or drink or cooking. After watching “Evil Under the Sun”, I was curous to find out more about the cocktails that Daphne offered Poirot. I enjoy movies and I especially enjoy movies that have food scenes. For example, there are over 50 scenes in the Godfather that to food. It would be fascinating if you were to blog about some of those scenes and the respective recipes. Also, have you noticed that in “Brideshead Revisited” most of the food being served looks pale white in color except for the Christmas dinner scene in which the food served looked brown. You may find my interests in movie scenes to be strangely boring but that’s me.
Leave the gun. Take the cannolis. (godfather scene
after killing Paulie.
That’s really weird that you mentioned Brideshead Revisited because the subject of my next post was inspired by it. Really and truly.
You know I can’t wait to read it!
I’m sure you’re going to make it a stellar post (as you always do) but gosh BRIDESHEAD !!!………….
xoxoxo Susan
Hi Michael, found you through WORC as well as many others, it appears. I am a new blogger, really, really, new….don’t have a very nice camera, yet, have started doing some research. Anyhoo, I too, got a little teary in your faggot post, though I am not quite that adventurous in eating, I don’t think I would try that one.
I love to cook, love to try new recipes, and have a great husband that will try anything I make, at least once. I have joked that if I ever write a book, it would be titled something like, “Confessions of an ADHD Farmers’ Daughter”, but that would imply that he was ADHD, it is I, though, that has a little trouble with that! I have a bad habit of saying, “that looks like fun, let’s try that”, and “that sounds like fun, let’s do that”. In fact just the other day I wanted to see specific differences in “hot” and “sweet” Italian sausage, and ended up grinding up 16lb. of pork shoulder and making my own, it was quite good, too! I ended up naming my blog after this, though it is a little much to type, so someday hope to come up with a catchy, shorter title! If you have any wild suggestions, I am open! Love your posts, keep em coming.
Lisa,
I was in the market for a shorter, catchier blog name myself. I have since given up all hope of coming up with something clever.
16 pounds? Good gravy, that’s a lot of pork shoulder.
Thanks so much for stopping by and telling me a bit about yourself!
You don’t need a really, really nice camera. With a bit of luck and practice, one can get great photos from a little point-and-shoot. Hell, one can even get stunning images with an iPhone these days. Just keep plugging away at writing and cooking and taking photos with what you’ve got. It’s fun. Lots and lots of fun.
Except for those times when one feels as if one cannot write or cook or photograph or do anything right, in which case I advise you to walk away from your computer and ingest a small martini. Works like a charm.
Michael
I somehow feel pressured to tell you about me, I hate that feeling. How’d you create the group meeting ambiance using flattery? (Pure. t. genius, I tell ya.) Those group meetings with the metal fold-up/out chairs were the worse. I hated the obligatory ” go around the circle and introduce yourself.” My lower inevitably ended up numb because some maroon always feels the need to yap—on and on, until the break of dawn about nothingness.
I’ll sum up what most people here people saying in fewer words:
” Hi, my name is ______. I’m 2+ years a pretentious foodie.”
Alright, fold up the chairs and let’s go home.
Fo’ serious:
We make Pops. We love food. We love how food brings people together. We love that once one chooses to sit down, the table becomes invincible to the hurtful isms and food gives way to color, flavor and deep emotions. Most importantly, we both had rat tails in 2nd and 3rd grade.
I would just like to correct a ” tense, ” for 200, Alex: felt*.
And poor syntax for another 300: what most people are* saying…
Hello, Cranky.
Thanks for stopping by.
Question: Did the short-lived television series Square Pegs at all influence either of your decisions to wear rat tails? It’s something my other readers might very well want to know.
I am very glad I did a Google search for “Coronation Chicken.” This site is nicely done, amusing, and so far, I have not read a thing by you, Michael, with which I could disagree.
I am a 50 year old gay man living in an academic village in Northeastern Ohio.
I am also a member of The United Church of Christ, and am trying to be a caring, justice-seeking, steward of life. (Democratic, and I VOTE. I am also, if it matters, pro-choice. “Safe, Legal, Rare!”.) I also have not had a drink in nearly XXX years, and am indeed familiar with church basements and (generally) abysmal coffee. I am usually content with not drinking.
People with limited perspectives have called me “a gourmet cook,” a notion I seriously reject. I try to say that I am “a good cook who usually likes to cook.” Very few of them grasp the difference.
I like Mrs. Child, but do not generally emulate her, nor wish to do so. I thought the book and the movie had far too much Julie, and not enough Julia. Ms. Streep NAILED her, as I knew she would. Stanley Tucci was wonderful as Paul C. Child.
I used to really like Food Network, but I cannot abide what it has become. Fortunately, I live on next to nothing a year, and had to decide between a high speed internet connection or cable television. I feel smarter and saner for forgoing television.
As for cookbook authors and food essayists, I will make a (very) partial, partisan list here: Jean Anderson (The New German Cookbook, Process This!, A Love Affair With Southern Cooking.) John and Matt Lewis Thorne (Simple Cooking, American Pig, Mouth Wide Open.) Irma, Marion, Ethan Rombauer-Becker, (The Joy Of Cooking, all editions, EXCEPT for the 1996 disaster.) Beatrice Ojakangas (The Finnish Cookbook, Whole Grain Breads by Machine or Hand, The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever.) Marion Cunningham (The Fannie Farmer Cookbook {1979}, The Breakfast Book, The Supper Book..)
After years of dealing with an inadequate, non-self cleaning electric range provided by the landlord, I now have a wonderfully adequate self-cleaning gas range, provided by me. Also a really good bottom (!) freezer refrigerator, likewise. Until the local weather turned seasonal, I was having a great deal of fun slow-roasting asparagus in butter, and garnishing it with freshly shredded Parmesan.
I had the blessing of a mother who was an excellent cook, without regard to the fact that she was a teacher of Home Economics.
I have taught cooking, particularly the food processor in non-academic settings. I have four food processors, ranging in size from 2 cups to 12 cups.
I do not have a blog, but am suffering from an overload of encouragement to start one. I have a digital camera, but the thing frightens me, and I have not learned this “uploading” stuff. (I take a tiny delight in being considered somewhat Luddite.)
A mackerel tabby named Madame Rosa seems to cohabitate contentedly.
There ARE a few things I have not mentioned, but a Bear does deserve not to divulge everything upon first introduction.
Wow! What a great “About You”. Apologies for only commenting on certain areas of your comment, but you have four food processors? Four? Good gravy, man.
Also, I love that “academic villages” exist. It gives one hope for the world.
Hi Michael
Istarted following you on Twitter recently after seeing you mentioned in someones tweet. This is the first time I’ve visited your blog. Great reading and I look forward to reading more.
About you is a nice feature. I’ve been blogging just over 6 years and am probably one of the older bloggers about. I live in Brisbane, Australia. Are you of Greek heritage?
Hello Barbara! Thanks very much for adding to the “About You” page, which can only make it nicer. Blogging for six years? You’re practically a pioneer! I think I had barely gotten around to buying a mobile phone six years ago.
And I am not Greek. I just play one four nights weekly at the restaurant in which I work, which is Greek. Are you Greek?
No I’m not Greek. My son recently married a Canadian born Greek girl.
Well, Michael, most of your suppositions are correct… but I’m not saying which ones. I WILL say that the ones you got wrong were hilariously wrong.
I’m a food writer, and occasional blogger — and I only discovered your blog because you (or someone who has visited your blog) visited my website from yours. I hope you (or whoever) enjoyed themselves as much as I’ve enjoyed yours.
Why do I like your blog so much? Aside from your wonderfully mirth-producing observations, your writing exhibits a delightful propensity for procrastination. You take even longer getting to the point than I do. Needless to say, I consider that a GOOD thing.
I’d love to know which ones I got wrong. I can’t say for certain who visited which blog first, but I’m glad we did.
I was #4.
Great meeting you guys tonight at Irvin’s Dessert Party. Irvin was right — love the humor in your writing.
Thanks very much! It was lovely to met you, too, although I could only hear half of what was said– I have bad party ears.
always lucid and rewarding.
Thanks very much, Amanda. Funny, I’ve never actually thought of myself as very lucid. However, I am very glad to know others think differently.
1. My literacy level is hopefully not too bad because I’m a university prof;
2. I do like food, too much in fact;
3. I present I have a little extra time on my hand but I really shouldn’t;
4. I was definitely not the nicest nor the smartest nor the most popular girl in my class;
5. I just “met” you so I am not stalking you… but I might in the future;
6. I hit my right boob with the leg of an IKEA table yesterday, which led me to conclude that the quality of these things is crap but they can still be dangerous;
7. I live not too far from the North Pole and expecting snow any time now;
8. I am going to spend for the first time of my life a day in our huge mall, which leads me to the conclusion that people CAN change;
9. I have two cats and cat hair is a secret ingredient in most of the food I cook;
10. I am going to buy chicken and 269 cloves of garlic and try to get rid of my 269 vampires, thank you very much!
Okay, your “About You” is marvelous. Truly.
Now, I have an important question for you. Regarding #6: were you assembling this Ikea table. Is it an especially high table? Or were you crawling around on the floor. I need to know so I have an accurate mental picture of the accident.
And I hear that cat hair is an excellent thickener for sauces. If you do a post on cat hair cuisine, I will promote it to my utmost ability.
Thanks so much for taking some of your (#3) little extra free time to say hello.
Very sincerely,
Michael Procopio
Haha, you are most welcome! I like that I say in #1 that my literacy level is great but then make a few bad spelling/grammar mistakes…
Regarding #6, I was actually trying to destroy the IKEA table because I hated it. So I turned it upside down and tried to pull its 4 legs (because I don’t have a PhD in IKEA furniture and had not realized that you could simply unscrew the damn things)… So I pulled and pulled… and it did come out but there was a bit of misdirection involved in the movement… You can see a picture of the weapon right there: http://cestpasmoijeljure.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/lespion-qui-venait-du-froid/
Hey Michael,
I am a chef by trade, though I haven’t worked on a restaurant line in years. I am a mother by choice, though I do have an almost ten year old daughter who was a welcome oops-didn’t expect this at 40 baby. Lastly, but certainly not least, I am a writer, since the moment I could hold a pencil.
I have been a stay at home Mom for 17 years. Sadly, I drive a red mini van at present, though I am no soccer Mom! I have been trying, without success or enough money to make it happen, to get divorced from another chef. I am struggling to play catch up with a career in food that I stepped away from so many years ago.
I just discovered your wonderful blog. it is inspiring, insightful and best of all funny!
I began a blog 3 years ago about starting an organic dog biscuit business. You can read it at http://www.diaryofadogbiscuit.blogspot.com. I am curious to know more about your back-round. The more I know about this and my fellow bloggers, the better chance I have at being a more successful blogger myself. Any tips you have would be greatly appreciated! Meanwhile, I will enjoy following you!
Jenni
In Philly
Hello, Jenni.
I was more of a scribbler from the moment I could hold a pencil. I didn’t know I could write until much, much later when I learned to hold a gin bottle.
Tell me, did you stumble upon my blog by Googling “dog cookie”? I’ve got a recipe. Hell, I used to eat them. We may have a lot in common, minus the children and minivan:
http://foodforthethoughtless.com/2010/06/dog-cookies-treats-for-man-and-beast/
I’m not sure if I have any words of wisdom for bloggers other than to just be yourself. Write about what you want to write about and don’t worry so much what other people are doing.
Cheers and thanks so much for taking the time to say hello!
Michael
Ah ha! About me?!
A friend posted a link to your blog on facebook. That happened about 3 hours ago and I’ve been casually reading my way through your blog since then, procrastinating all the things I might possibly want to consider thinking about starting later.
I’m a Bay Area native, but I live in Poland now. I’m a middle school music teacher working in a large fancy American School here and I will one day move back to California when they stop firing all the music teachers.
Reading your blog makes me miss home.
I love it when people leave comments here. I’m so glad I can provide a source of procrastination for you, since I am often the major source of my own.
Tell me, has the firing of musicians begun in Poland? Have they forgotten Chopin so soon?
No, no… Poland loves it’s musicians. Just this past week, I went to an American-Idol style contest for tenors. They sang their arias complete with full orchestra, lighting effects, ballerinas and ballroom dancers at the same time, costumes, and two formally-attired judges yukking it up in the corner. And the hall was full!!
Poland has made much of their claim to Chopin… there’s a huge Chopin summer concert series in the Rose garden sharing his name under the large statue of him. The airport and loads of other buildings bear his name. Just imagine if they had his whole body in Warsaw instead of just his heart!!
Kind regards to you.
I rather like the symbolism of his body being in France and his heart in Poland. It pretty much sums up his life, doesn’t it?
Kind regards returned.
Michael – I like your blog. Lillith told me to visit, so thank her. I just made nearly perfect soft boiled eggs for my breakfast here in New Orleans. You know they suggest that you reduce the boiling time if you are closer to sea level. But none of the recipes ever suggest what to do about the boiling time if you are below sea level, as in New Orleans. I have been practicing, and I have it narrowed down to about 4 minutes 30 seconds for the consistency I like. How do you like your eggs, Michael?
If you’re a friend of Lillith’s, you are okay in my book.
Odd, I’ve never given the least thought to sub-sea level cooking. I wonder if there are any cookbooks devoted to the subject.
As for how I like my eggs, I think Dean Martin can answer that question for you:
Cheers,
Michael
I came late in life to cooking and even later to blogging. The writing has always been with me, through various corporate careers and sideline projects, but as evidenced by my just-hatched blog (a wee 8-weeks old), I’ve always been a late adopter. No matter. I’ll catch up sooner or later. Or not. (What’s your take on the rumors about the death of the food blog? See Adam Roberts’ recent post on the Amateur Gourmet.)
Great storytelling and interesting characters have always inspired me, which is why your writing keeps me coming back for more. But blogging idols understand things like that.
FYI: Kale is a colon’s best friend: my fiber of choice. And since I already know how clever you are, I don’t even have to point out my double pun there. There’s a bumper sticker on a car in my neighborhood that reads: http://eatmorekale.com/
I’ve always envied that anonymous person’s super-green lifestyle. I’m not the bumper sticker type (late adopters rarely are) but I support the sentiment. Don’t mess with my greens!
Why have I not seen this before? I’m sorry I posted my menu, but if you lived closer, you could have come! In the meantime, I cook a lot. I test recipes for Michael Ruhlman. My dad passed on his love of cooking to me and he, my brother and I spent many hours in the kitchen together, sometimes with hilariously disastrous results.
I m not stalking you. At least I don’t think I am.
Oh, feel free to stalk me, if you like. I never do anything embarrassing with my windows open. Ever.
You test recipes for Ruhlman? I did not know that. Please let me know if he ever starts testing recipes for hair care products.
LOl. I’ll be sure to let you know.