Project Food Blog-Ready, Set, Blog!

Hi.  That’s me right there.  I’m Shanon.  Welcome to my blog, and thanks for stopping by.

As a member of the largest food community on the internet, Foodbuzz.com, I have the opportunity as one of their Featured Publishers to participate in Project Food Blog-a food-inspired series of challenges for all of us food bloggers.  I honestly had a few reservations about participating, since I just started this blog about two months ago, but, as I am learning in all aspects of my life, it’s always worth a shot to try.

So here it is:  I’m supposed to tell you why I think I have what it takes to be the next Food Blog Star.  And, when I thought about it, I decided I wanted to tell you why I started blogging in the first place.

I love that my favorite cookbooks are dusted in flour, the pages are bent and stained with God knows what, and I have post-it notes on every recipe that I want to try but haven’t yet.

Flipping an egg and not breaking it-a small victory, but a victory all the same.

Onions and garlic hitting a hot pan….the sound, the smell, the satisfaction.

I sit in bed at night and read cookbooks.  Yep.  There it is.  My shameless admission.

Baking bread…still warm from the oven and letting the butter melt just a little bit before taking the first bite.

Piecing together each blog entry-picking out the recipe, making modifications, buying the ingredients, completing each step, planning my shots, and then hitting that “Publish” button.

Thinking about flavors/color combinations constantly and wondering if black beans really would be good with a citrus garnish.

Piping the icing just right…or piping anything in general.

The liberty of seasoning-knowing that my pinches and dabs and smidges of seasoning are a work of art.

Watching peoples’ eyes light up as the food is presented and visually tasting it before physically tasting it.

Grating carrots-the sound, the feel, the color.  Yes, it makes a sound.  Listen.

Texture of slicing mushrooms.  They are soft and firm at the same time….hard to find in any other food.

Making homemade butter,whipped cream, and meringues…and being amazed by the chemistry behind it.I was a Nutrition Science Major in college and took several food chemistry classes, and I am still intrigued by it all.

Cutting fresh herbs from the garden.  Like this one.  Seriously, how amazingly beautiful is this basil?

Juicy tomatoes.  Aw.

Waiting for Thanksgiving Dinner.  Yes, I love that.

Creating a grocery list…and planning the meal-I make the lists on graphing paper or napkins-whatever I can find first.

Photography…thinking the whole time I am preparing the food about how I want the rest of the world to see it-whether it’s the crumbs of the bread to the little prickly things on a raspberry.

Start to finish…completing something.

Friends and family, both in person and over the internet.

With some persistent nudging from one of my best friends, who I consider to be a food blogging giant, I took some giant leaps and attended a photography conference three months ago, having never used a manual button on a camera (or even thinking that I wanted to).  I learned that I have a new passion in life, a new creative outlet, and a means of chronicling my journey through life outside of work.

And if you know me personally, then you know that the past year and a half or so of my life has been a lot about beginnings and endings.  I have gotten my life back, so to speak, and the first place where I found it was in the kitchen. And honestly?  When I am creating things by myself, on my own, I am not only thinking of the food, but I am thinking about many other things.  In a way, I am journaling my way through life with this blog: on any post that I have written, I can tell you where my thoughts were that day, how I felt, what I was focusing on.  To the rest of the world, it may just be about food, but to me, it’s much much more than that.  It’s about realizing potential.

I saved friends and family for last because to me, it is the most important.  (Because this post has been an awful lot about me, but it shouldn’t be.)  I have met so many people through this corner of the world that I didn’t even know existed until a little over a year ago.   To the new friends I have found, thank you.  Your comments and posts and emails have meant the world to me.  Thank you for sharing your lives, recipes, and photos with me.  It’s amazing to think that a such a large world could be so small.

So….after a very lengthy post, I will simply say that I have what it takes to be the next Food Blog Star because I have a lot to share with this world and I love being a new part (of this part) of it.

To me, it’s all about potential.