Blogging Minxeats

I haven't written about a restaurant here in quite a while, and I hope to rectify that situation. I'm going to blame Instagram for making me lazy. It's too easy to post a photo with a short caption and call it a day. Creating reels, on the other hand, can be quite taxing. And at the end of the day, I get no more likes, comments, or followers from putting in more work. Instagram has fucked with their algorithms entirely too much for my taste, and I am finding the whole experience unpleasant. Maybe I should get back to blogging more regularly, huh?

Sadly, blogging seems to have become the jurisdiction of Stepford Wives. Most blogs have a similar appearance, and possibly an ampersand in the name. They all have far too many photos for my taste, the same essential shot taken from slightly different angles, as if the blogger couldn't make up his/her/their mind about which one to use, so hell, they'll use them all. IMHO, blogs were better when they were messy and unprofessional. And real. So you won't find me posting a professionally taken headshot in full hair and makeup, looking coyly over my shoulder or holding a tray of cookies. No string of photos depicting brownies stacked in piles of three, piles of two, and singly, plus a couple images of the baking pan with both cut and uncut treats. Oh, and another one with brownies on a plate with a glass of milk on the side, in soft focus. What you will find is probably a lot of gabbing, because I am a storyteller and I like to talk, but feel free to scroll down to the recipe if you can't deal with my writing. (Apparently the number one comment about food blogs is, "just give me the damn recipe." It's not a blog then, is it? It's a recipe. You want those, then buy a cookbook. I have written a couple, which you can find here. Oh, and there's a nice selfie on that page, in case you need to know what I look like.)

Sorry, if you've read this far and expected to find a brownie recipe. There is none on this post. If you've gotten this far and still expected a recipe, clearly you didn't read any of the words preceding this paragraph. Go back and read them. And then go back and read some old posts. New ones are forthcoming, I promise. Some will even have recipes. And I will get back into restaurant reviews. Maybe even a recap, who knows? 

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - I Killed Gourmet

Back when I had more time for blogging, I posted more opinion pieces, like this one. These days, I think about this stuff, but seldom put pen to paper...er...fingers to keyboard. Maybe I should start again?

This post was originally published on October 17, 2009.
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I Killed Gourmet

Christopher Kimball apparently thinks bloggers contributed to the demise of Gourmet Magazine: "The shuttering of Gourmet reminds us that in a click-or-die advertising marketplace, one ruled by a million instant pundits, where an anonymous Twitter comment might be seen to pack more resonance and useful content than an article that reflects a lifetime of experience, experts are not created from the top down but from the bottom up." That seems to give us far more power than we have. Perhaps it might be more useful to examine whether or not Gourmet was providing content that appealed to its designated demographic. Were the articles interesting enough to attract a sufficiently large audience? Was its editorial approach valid for today's readers? Plenty of long-running magazines have folded because they lost touch with their audience, and this has been going on well before the Internet.

On the other hand, maybe Mr Kimball is giving us our due. Bloggers represent the people, and our opinions matter. We're the ones who buy the products, patronize the restaurants, and read the magazines. Why should we not be allowed to say our piece? Why should it be that an elite group of food professionals has all of the authority?

I didn't stop reading Gourmet because I started blogging, or even because I started reading blogs. I stopped reading Gourmet because I don't have the leisure time to sit on the sofa, feet up, and enjoy a food magazine. I do, however, spend many long hours in front of a computer. As you may have noticed, the Internet is a treasure trove of foodie information. Not only are there food blogs by non-food-professionals such as myself, but there are also plenty of sites that are run by legitimate media outlets. Mr Kimball's own Cook's Illustrated site, for example. I also glean a lot of interesting information on the New York Times site as well as that of New York Magazine, including their...blogs. Foodie information also abounds on television. Not so much on the Food Network anymore, but in the early days of Emeril, Molto Mario, and David Rosengarten, I learned a lot. Now better foodie TV can be found by watching the interesting and creative competitors on Top Chef, and learning good home-cook technique on Christopher Kimball's America's Test Kitchen.

Back to blogs. I will admit that there are lots of them that are poorly-written and have nothing to say, ones that contribute no expertise or even opinion in some cases. The people who are their fans would never read Gourmet in the first place, so while I sneer at them and their lack of quality content, they are not to blame for the demise of the hallowed food magazine. As far as Twitter comments are concerned, many of the people I follow are food professionals. Should they keep their interesting information to themselves or save it up for an article rather than sharing spontaneously?

Media is changing and some venerable publications are losing their audience - this includes magazines and local newspapers. As other media become more popular - and more engaging - we'll continue to see the demise of print publication. It's a form of growing pains. I don't feel it's right to point fingers at things - like blogs - and make them villains.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Best of Baltimore!

See that purdy blue graphic in the left sidebar? You know, this one:

That means Minxeats was named Baltimore's Best Food Blog for 2013. We are incredibly flattered and honored!

If you don't believe me, you can pick up a copy on newsstands starting tomorrow, July 26th!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Crabby Bloggers

So what did I do on Sunday evening instead of dutifully watching and recapping the Next Food Network Star?

Played with crustaceans at L.P. Steamers! I gleefully pounded them with mallets and ate them. With these people, most of whom were equally violent:

Food bloggers!

On the left: Sweet Mary, Wendi of Exit 51, and Meg of Pigtown Pigout/Pigtown Design. On the right: Neal, aka Mr Minx, Dara (hiding) of Dining Dish and Baltimore Dining Examiner, John, aka the Baltimore Snacker, Julie of Kitchenography, and Liz, of What's to Eat Baltimore? and Baltimore Sustainable Food Examiner.

This was my first time meeting these lovely people (except for, well, my husband), and I must say that I had a great time and look forward to our next get-together.