The Corkdork reviews lots of wines, and tasting more than 1000 wines a year. He does a fabulous job at rounding up some of his favorite discoveries. He likes to keep his wine reviews on the positive end of the spectrum, so that you're not wasting your time reading about a wine you won't like.
He's even got a wine list from his family in 1861.
(This is usually where we'd put in a bad oenophile pun, like "we'll drink to that".)
Visit The Corkdork.
Raisin Toast is about a little bit of everything, but mostly, the author, Susan, is sharing a peek at her life. There's category to cover them all: from cooking to homeschooling (and a daughter who just started public school too), the money pit, (as the author calls it) and about the authors' friends and family.
An accomplished painter, Susan runs her art blog on TypePad. TypePad's also helping to host an art community, Red Easel, where artists can both read up on resources or submit their work,
These blogs are a great way to show how a determined blogger has put her talents to use to both to help our her community and to document her life.
Visit Raisin Toast.
Thank the stars TypePad gives us multiple categories - since sweet paul is a blog about food, crafts, and design. A native of Oslo who moved to New York, sweet paul is an author, food photographer, and divinely inspired blogger. Recently, a post called Cheese Heaven made me swoon in my chair.
Visit sweet paul.
Paul Lowe moved from Oslo, Norway to New York City “to love and live,” taking with him his craft as a “food/interior stylist, cookbook author, and crafter,” skills demonstrated both visually and literally in the pages of his blog, Sweet Paul. If you’ve ever leafed through a cooking magazine or house beautiful ad, you’ve seen examples of Paul’s vocation: the gorgeous rooms and tempting plates of food arranged just so are the results of a stylist’s “propping” to make them look as appetizing as possible. Paul’s work is a delight to see, as you’ll see in posts on The Summer Garden, apple pie, and beets. Paul also lets us share moments of his life as the sweet story of how his engagement came about will show. Visually elegant with a minimum of language, Paul complements his site with links to favorite other sites, photographers, and books.
Jyotsna Shahane is a “filmmaker, writer, cook, and mother, always in search of …elusive tastes, perfect pictures, (and) subtle smells,” all of which you’ll find in her blog, The Cook's Cottage. Food takes center stage here, and what makes this blog special is that it presents Indian food right from the source, because Jyotsna’s site presents the spices, scents, colors, ingredients, and recipes from her home in Pune, Maharashtra India. For most of us, that’s a world away from our own kitchens, but that also means authentic, savory Indian food, as you’ll experience in her posts on Varicha Tandul, Baghar, and Jungle Rice, Ginger Paste, Stuffed Bitter Gourd, and Zhunka Bhakar. A trip to an Indian food shop or International grocery might be necessary to procure some of the ingredients listed here, but the results will be well worth it – especially when you explore the recipes listed in her Category list, such as Chicken, Meat, Sweets, and Fish. Throughout her posts, Jyotsna also comments on food, social change, and farming practices occurring in India today, making her site a source of enjoyment not just for the stomach, but for the mind as well.
From childhood on, Becca Porter always had an unusual fascination with food, a love that comes through in every page of her blog, Porterhouse. Even after her marriage, she says, “the use of fresh and new ingredients left me wanting to learn all I possibly could…here I am, 10 years later, still pursuing the next great meal.” Thanks to a generous supply of postings, photos, suggestions, and recipes, you can follow her passion, explore new foods, and judge the results for yourself. Becca's tasty variations on such summer treats as homemade Butter Pecan Ice Cream, coconut cake, cranberry lime galette, and grilled pizza showcase her new approaches and flair for experimentation. (Hey, if you can’t have a little food fun in the summer, when can you?) After the table’s cleared, you can relax with Becca’s snippets on family life, trivia, travel, and more, just to name a few of the additional Categories here. Food blogs, recommended cookbooks and magazines, and online food shopping opportunities round out her site.
Coming to you from the galley of the 38-foot sailboat Ladyhawk is the mouth-watering blog Spatulas, Corkscrews, and Suitcases, the pride and joy of an ocean-bound wife, cook, and oenophile. Her interests are in the title: her lively posts in Spatulas refer to all the great recipes you can find here, such as fresh strawberry tart and grilled yellowfin tuna with cucumber dill sauce. Her Corkscrews posts give us her thoughts about wine and Suitcases, her observations about her new life aboard the Ladyhawk. Food’s the star here, though, and her posts offer one delicious recipe after another from dinner to dessert; baking and wine blogs, foodie blogrolls, recommended cookbooks, and a list of online baking events round out this most tempting site.
Kelly Wright, the author of Sass and Veracity, has been “cooking since the age of eight”, and the subsequent years of practice have enabled her to “try new things and …invite people over to sample things I’ve never cooked before.” Consider that your invitation to try some of Kelly’s simple but tasty recipes featured in her site. There are dishes featuring Grilled Rib-Eyes with Tomatos & Kalamatas, Meatballs with Marinara and Papardelle, and Grilled Pork Kebabs with Cucumber-Mint Yogurt. As you see, these are old favorites with something new added to provide unexpected flavors; and as summer approaches, many of these items can be cooked outdoors to give your next barbeque a neat little twist. A rich selection of Categories and food blogs offer additional suggestions and inspiration, and Kelly’s Sass and Veracity store offers all her favorite food prep “foodie stuff” for sale.
Mmmmmm! There’s nothing like the smell and taste of freshly-baked cookies – as Greg Johnson will tell you in the pages of his blog, Oatmeal Cookie. He’s spent the past year “developing oatmeal cookies with the goal of creating one unique recipe for every day of the year”. That’s an ambitious goal – and if your waistline can stand the strain, dig in! The site is sinfully rich in cookie recipes; in addition to Oatmeal, there are new twists, such as Chocolate and Salted-Caramel Cookies, regional favorites such as California Cookies, and just plain yummy, such as Va-Va-Vanilla. OK, we know your mouth’s watering for the real thing, so try out Greg’s Better Than Grandma’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. There’s lots more covered here; interspersed with recipes are posts on the best ingredients to buy for your baking, reviews on eateries and groceries in New York, and forays into preparing other foods (such as pizza). Are the cookies bring-in-able? Your oven awaits (as do your friends and family!)
With apologies to a famous song, summer’s here, and the time is right for…a cocktail! And the mixmasters at Cocktailians will quench your thirst with posts, anecdotes, reviews, and news about everything that goes into a drink, from how to make one, where to drink it, and why you should serve it. Can we start you off with a unique variation on the Mojito? Coming right up. Something on the rocks? Make sure the ice is perfect with this unique device. Like a mixology lesson? Mx Mondays will show you how to concoct libations with the best of them - in this case, the Catherine. A lot of ingredients go into this site, and you’ll find them served with humor and expertise by a number of contributors; recipes for cocktails (classics and new), news about the latest bars, the best liquors, cutting edge accessories, and links to related blogs make this a refreshing change of pace for readers everywhere.
