Friday, April 3, 2009

This Week in Blogs, Volume II

Greetings, and welcome to the second weekly food blog roundup. Thanks for coming back. It’s been an exciting week in Food Blog World, and I’ll do my best to take you around in the next 1000 words or so. I’ve decided to change it up a bit and go for more short reviews, instead of a handful of really long ones. We’ll see how that goes. I usually just start rambling, so that might not work. Here. We. Go.

Kelsey at Bites + Bowls had a very busy week. In addition to wearing some Flashdance-style leggings, she also tried on 17 different colors of nail polish and took about 15 inappropriate pictures of fruit and veggies. Since Kelsey doesn’t eat mammal, there is usually fruit and/or veggies with every meal. This means three opportunities per day for phallic fruit and veggie placement. Oh, and she also became the first food blogger to take a picture of her dirty laundry. Congrats, Kelsey. Bites and Bowls was also under attack this week by a Negative Nancy commentor. There were like five consecutive posts when the same person kept writing nastygrams about pretty much everything. So I had to put on my disguise as my blog commentor alter ego/sassy middle-aged woman (this time I was named Marge) and come to the rescue. Marge saved the day and once again stopped the advances of Negative Nancy.

VeggieGirl – I hope your VeggieCameraman/VeggieDad is feeling better. He didn’t sound too good on your last video. I could send you some Robitussin or maybe some Sucrets or something. I’m hoping it’s just a springtime cold, and not a ventilation problem in the VeggieGirl kitchen/VGTV Studios. Oh, and VeggieGirl, my blondies have not arrived yet. What does a girl have to do to get some VeggieGirl blondies? Everyone else in Blogland seems to have received their VeggieGirl Blondies, and mine are nowhere to be found. Did you lose my address already? And why doesn’t my cable package come with VeggieGirl TV? I get Starz 8 in HD and four shopping channels, but no VeggieGirl TV. That ain’t right. Time Warner - If you're listening, can you please add VeggieGirl TV to my channel lineup?
 
Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point is considering a move to Charlotte. I am 100% in favor of this move. If it helps make your decision, I'll let you refer to me as “Replacement Meghann” after you move. I’m cool with it, really. Caitlin had the first food blog night that I could actually relate to on Saturday. It involved onion rings, watching basketball,  and drinking beers. Not just A beer, but beers plural. Then you had to ruin it by running 10 miles while listing to the Twilight Soundtrack. Why must you torment me like this? You can move here if you want, but you better leave those damn vampire friends in Florida. Caitlin also finished her 30 day shred. Finally! I was exhausted just from reading about it.

On a Lobster Placemat. Okay, so I haven’t started reading this one yet, but I really dig the name and Kate likes your blog. Most of these food blogs seem to follow a pretty consistent naming convention of [Name/Nickname] + [What I like to Do] OR [ Name + What I like to Eat] OR [Some Noun and Verb Combo]. And then out of nowhere comes this fantastic abstract blog name that I really don’t understand. This is the food blog equivalent of Pearl Jam’s “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” in a sea of one word song titles like Daughter, Jeremy, Alive, and Black. I will start reading your blog, just because of the name. And because you play with your food.

Super Caloric Chalk Dust is also a pretty fantastic blog name. I also feel like SCCD must live in one of those cities where companies  test out all of their new products before launching them across the country. That's the only theory I can come up with, because I spend a lot of time at the grocery store, and I’ve never seen half of the products that you’ve tried this week. Doritos Collisions? Jelly Belly Pudding? Aloe Juice? Where do you find these treasures, and have they been approved by the FDA? I get scared when you go a couple of days without posting. I start to think that maybe one of these experimental/only available wherever the heck you live foods caused some significant health issue that is keeping you from your blogging responsibilities. Or maybe you just have other stuff to do.
 
ZestyCook – So I finally started reading this one so I have more to talk about than his beautiful bald head, but then I got sidetracked. I saw that you made a chocolate cake and used a Skor Bar as a topping. They still make Skor bars? I thought those went the way of the Rollerblade. Maybe they just started selling them in Canada and stopped U.S. distribution. Which reminds me – do they still sell Clearly Canadian in Canada? Because that stuff kicked ass. So if you can get your hands on some Clearly Canadian, you can send it my way. It would go really well with VeggieGirl’s blondies (which should totally be here by now).

The Fitnessista got a shout-out in one of her favorite (and my favorite) magazines this week – Glamour. My favorite part of Glamour (and Cosmo) is taking their little quizzes. It always comes back with results like "you really need to work on pleasing your man" or "you are a strong independent woman." I'm starting to think that maybe those quizzes aren't designed for men who are just killing time at the grocery store checkout. Anyway, Fitnessista's Glamour quote had something to do with healthy living and loving your body. I didn’t really read it. But I did see that she said something about doing Zumba. Kate and I tried doing Zumba once in South Beach with my Uncle Joe and Aunt Rolando. It was not pretty. My uncles were Zumba professionals and we were not.  I think Kate and I were both two entire songs behind the rest of the class. I also like Fitnessista because Kate can’t even come close to pronouncing her blog’s name correctly. So I like to ask Kate what she’s looking at (while I know she’s looking at Fitnessista) just to hear the pronunciation.  Kate’s version includes about 12 S’s and 6 I’s.

Matt at Brew and Bake just posted his 7th step in his how to home brew series. 7 steps and we can’t even drink the beer yet! I’ve decided that if anything takes more than three steps to explain, I’m probably just going to buy it instead. Or, I’ll just hang out in Matt’s garage when he gets to the ‘bottling’ step. And when he goes in to type out his blog post, I’ll just take the beer. Probably shouldn’t have written that plan down – there goes the element of surprise.

Stock Up/Stock Down – With Commentary. Sometimes.

Stock Up
Green Smoothies – Yeah, somebody thought it was a good idea to put spinach or kale in a smoothie. I’m sure it’s pretty healthy. It’s been a great weight loss tool for me. No, I haven’t tried one of these, but Kate has jumped on the bandwagon, and every time I see the post-Green Smoothie Blender in my kitchen I start to throw up in my mouth and skip my next meal. Thanks ladies!

Kombucha – So it costs like $3.50 and tastes like garbage water…what’s not to love? Oh, and it’s the only drink I’ve found that still doesn't taste good, even after you mix it with alcohol.

April Fools Jokes – Seriously... saying you ate something fried or had fast food is not enough. Ladies, this is your one day out of the year when you can lie and nobody can get mad at you. Go out on more of a limb. Next year I’m expecting a food blogger to say they were coked out with Lindsay Lohan or huffed gasoline for breakfast with an Olson twin. 

Breakfast Cookies - I stopped getting excited when I found it they weren't talking about Oreos


Stock Down

Pistachio Nuts - This latest recall hit the food blogging community very hard. We're going to pull through this. I promise.

Exercise-related injuries - Everyone seems to be magically healed now.

30 Day Shred – Level II - That was so last week.

Using the terms 'sammie' and 'brekkie' - Specifically for sandwich and breakfast. Actually stock is way up on these two. I just really want it to stop. So I thought maybe putting them in the stock down category would lead to their demise - at least on this side of the Atlantic.


That’s all for this week. I should be back next Friday. Give me a couple weeks and this food blog roundup will have its own blog. It'll probably have a weekly long post and then some shorter stuff on a daily basis. The new design will be fun, flirty, and feminine with a spunky edge. Not really. I actually just stole that from a food blog.  A free VeggieGirl blondie to the first person who can tell me where I stole that last line. I'm lying about the blondie too, but curious if anyone can name that blog. 

Alright, time to go.  See y'all next week.

70 comments:

Genesis said...

does kombucha really taste like garbage water? i've seen it all over 'blogland' and have never ever seen it at the store. really curious about it.

hey have you ever heard of joel mchale? your sense of humor reminds me of him.

Jen said...

Gen,
There might be a male/female divide on this one. My husband had a form of Nate's post-Green Monster blender reaction to it. YMMV

Nate,
YOU. ARE. AWESOME. Anyone who can make me laugh out loud at work on a Friday afternoon deserves some blondies. And since you've stepped right into the middle of Food Bloggerdom, I have to ask: How goes the Heba challenge I read about awhile ago?

Janet said...

Hilarious! I love it. You are really very funny.

I think Kombucha is delicious, though. But I agree with you on "sammie" and "brekkie" - make it stop!

Nate said...

Gen - Thanks. Yeah, I like Joel on The Soup. I tried Kombucha once and thought it was terrible. Kate says it's an acquired tasted.

Jen - Thanks. Heba challenge is still moving along. No chance of catching Heba at this point (and a trip to Napa Valley didn't help) but back on track again. I'll give another update on this blog in a couple weeks.

All - I should've mentioned this in the post, but please don't hate on any of the people I write about. It's hard enough for me to be a nice guy, so don't write anything too mean in comments. I don't like being comment czar but I will if I have to. It's a family show. No really, my parents read this.

Kate said...

hi Gen-i think kombucha has a vinegar smell/taste, you really have to get use to it. but, i'm a fan and i feel better after drinking it...maybe it's all in my head :-) try the grape flavor first

Leila said...

I love both round up posts, why didn't someone think of doing this sooner!

Rock on.

Anonymous said...

Come on, green smoothies are great! haha

Meghan at Making Love In the Kitchen said...

My smoothie just isn't right without something green in it :) I showed off my freaky smoothies yesterday: http://meghantelpnerblog.com/2009/04/02/smoothie-ing-on-up/
And will be coaching anyone interested in a green smoothie cleanse starting April 19th. You want in? ;)

Genesis said...

if i ever find a store that sells them, ill be sure to try em and then let you know how that goes.

Carli said...

In my opinion kombucha tastes like rotting fruit...I guess it kind of is...isnt it fermented something or other? The other one I bought(2 for $5) is still in the fridge now. Has been for about a month!

Nate, your good. Keep it up. Great job on the stock up and down and I have to agree on the sammies and brekkie as well.

So excited that the food blog review will have its own blog. I am hoping that means there will be give-aways too!!! You know we can comment on something and then link it back to our own blog (if you have one) and also send an email commenting on whatever and then we would have 3 entries to win something...oh maybe I can give you that second kombucha for your first giveaway!

p.s. spinach in a fruit smoothie IS good...cause you cant taste it, but you get all the good stuff from it without having to chew it!

Nate said...

Hey Carli - Rotting fruit is a good description. There's probably rotting fruit in most garbage water, so we're both right!

Oh, giveaways for sure. Since I'm already doing the blog roundup, the master plan is to also have a bulletin board where people can post their giveaway contests. We'll see if that one happens.

RunToTheFinish said...

oh the green smoothies are great! don't be such a boy and try one :)

thanks for the recommendations on other crazy blogs to read!

haya (living and learning) said...

i am so excited that you're keeping this up and expanding even!! and i'm not really into those gossip magazines/websites etc. but you are golden.

i've got my money on oh she glows for that last bit on your new extra girly design ;-)

Nate said...

Haya - You are absolutely correct! It was indeed the OSG redesign. Congratulations on winning a virtual blondie.

Meghann said...

You can't be replacement meghann because I am not letting Caitlin move. She is staying here, even if I have to lock her up in my attic. She is mine and you can't have her. :P

Meghann said...

oh and just wait until my Bake Sale on monday, I hope to give you something to talk about with that one :)

Nate said...

Meghann - You can have her vampires, shredding DVDs and see bride run domain name. Everything else is coming to the queen city.

Amanda said...

I am totally loving your blog and can't wait for "The Foodie Soup Blog" to hit since I will be a regular. :)

I wish I could get my husband to become a blog reader...unfortunately all he wants to read is about the stock market...bleh.

Anna said...

i cannot WAIT to have this be it's own blog. 30 posts in my google reader and I went straight to this one first.

On a different note, I also want some VG blondies.

Anna said...

oooo excuse my grammatical error. ITS not IT's.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Love this!! :-D

Kath said...

LOL - another great post!!!

I absolutely hate "brekkie."

Lol about the Shred. It's everywhere!!

Mara @ What's For Dinner? said...

God, this cracks me up. I don't get kombucha either... garbage water, vomit, something like that.
p.s. if Shred level II is so last week, then I'm SO 2 decades ago. Jazzercise baby!

Nicole said...

I can't get into the green smoothie either. Something about chard in a smoothie makes me want to vomit.

Anyway, I must be a badass in the blog world because I defied the pistachio recall today and made pistachio cupcakes. Mmm.

Courtney (The Hungry Yogini) said...

Hahaha I love this. What a fabulous post. Keep 'em coming =)

Pearl said...

i just discovered you! now i think i've fallen in love. :)

Anonymous said...

HAHAHAHA, ohh man, i wish i had another way to express my laughter. you have an incredible skill for capturing the "essence" of each blog in just a few words and in an only slightly offensive way that is actually worth any potential offense because of the complete hilARity. and i foresee an unprecendented decrease in the use of brekkie and sammie ... THANK YOU!

Ryane said...

Hilarious.

BUT you should know there is a bit of alcohol in the kombucha. I drank my first one on an empty stomach and was like, wow, this really does make you feel tons better. Then I read the label.

No wonder Jenna likes to drink them at work! haha

I do like that you have your wife to discuss blogs with. I try to explain to my friends when they see me looking at a bowl of oatmeal... I just get stares.

Keep it up!

Anonymous said...

highlight of my week!

that either makes you hilarious or me just really lame.

Amber said...

omg lol! Love it. Such a great recap. So funny I follow Kelsey's blog and totally missed the Negative Nancy and your "Marcy" response! lol The April fools thing omg SOO funny! and Love your take on the shred, it's right on. Keep it up, I was waiting for it this week!

Jessica said...

Kee 'em coming, can't wait for your full blown blog of reviews.

PS. My husband has his own subscription of Cosmo! I'm trying to get him to read your blog as well...

Jessica said...

BTW, I'm in today's Raleigh News & Observer newspaper, featured as a Durham Cook!!

You'll love the headline... http://www.thedurhamnews.com/need_to_know/story/194629.html

Aimee said...

There is no blog that makes me laugh more than this one!

Thanks so much! And I hope the stock down on brekkie and sammie helps those words go away!

Anonymous said...

Delurking to tell you that I love this...so hilarious.

I've noticed that giveaways seem to be out this week, and sales are in. Just saying.

Someone, please send this guy some baked goods to keep the creativity and motivation fires burning!

Anonymous said...

LOL! I loved last weeks, and I'm so happy this is back for a second installment - PLEASE keep it coming! Especially the stockup/stock down part! :) Have a great weekend!

Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point said...

hahahahah best.... post.... ever! and sammies rule.

Danielle said...

I am loving this series! Keep it up!

Lynne said...

Laugh out loud funny!!!

Debbie said...

I would pay you to post a video of you doing the zumba. You crack me up. I don't read all the posts but I love your sense of humor. Keep it up.

sarah (SHU) said...

YOU ARE AWESOME. i too hate sammie and brekkie. and i think i win for "Most Upbeat Blog with the Most Depressing Name." oh well.

sarah (SHU) said...

okay, i put you onto my google reader and read a few posts other than your 'blogging round-ups' and oh my GOD you are fantastic. seriously, i dream of being this funny and perceptive some day. i just wanted to tell you that. keep writing!

ps: i kind of like the mishmash of the food reviews on your regular blog, because i like the variety. then again, this is coming from someone whose site has about 17 different focuses (foci?) so take that with a grain of salt.

Anonymous said...

I'm looking forward to this becoming its own blog - it's such a refreshing take on the world of food blogging :o) You've got a way with words, Nate!

Anonymous said...

You made my afternoon with this post! Anything that can make me laugh out loud at the computer deserves gold (in blondie form of course.)

BTW - I can't wait for Matt at Brew and Bake to get to the "drinking" step. haha.

Nate said...

Thanks everyone.

Caitlin - You can give your sammies to your vampire friends. Bring the beer and bowling with you. And drogging.

Eatingbender - Thanks. Kate is a big fan of yours and has told me I need to start reading. That means you'll probably be featured next Friday. I'll be nice.

Anonymous said...

You rock. Keep it up!

emily said...

The extent of how cool I feel for getting a mention on this blog makes me seriously uncool!

Haley said...

Sorry for the last comment...but I think you are selling out to the food blogs. Your introspect and honesty ring true. I sincerely enjoy your random jabs at anything and everything else...especially that beeotch Heba...real food = beer. I don't generally wish to offend. The last one was honest... I think you agree.

Alison said...

Dude, for the first 2 weeks I read food blogs I thought "sammies" were some kind of special sandwich!

Excellent work again, and now I have a couple of new blogs to read, too!

Rose said...

Here's my question. Is it sammie? Or sammy? Every time I type it out, I question myself.

Thank you for your words about On a Lobster Placemat.

Marianne said...

Mmmm, sammies. I'm all about sammiches. Because apparently, I'm 5.

I'm loving these rounds ups. They bring tears to my eyes. Tears! Keep up the good work.

Kori (All Things B.) said...

Nate- this is THE funniest thing I've read in a long time! I love Kelsey's phallic fruit displays- I think her and my husband were twins separated at birth, 'cause he can't enter a produce section without making it X-rated! hahaha! You made my day!

Nate said...

Rose - You're welcome. I actually had to google Sammie. I went with Quiznos to get my official spelling.

Haley - No worries. The food blog is absolutely a more filtered version of me. Not sure anything can be referred to as selling out unless money changes hands. Hopefully that'll happen one of these days (it ain't gonna happen with one lame google ad). Don't worry...bitter Nate and YIFY will be back soon.

Emily - Happy to hear you were okay with SCCD being featured. One of those things...never know how someone is going to take it. Keep on finding those magical foods.

Becca said...

This is definitely one of the highlights of my week!

But I have to disagree with you on kombucha, I love the taste!

Kristen's Raw said...

I love VeggieGirl!
I love Green Smoothies!
I love Kombucha (especially High Country)!

Have a great day!
Kristen

Leah @ Simply Fabulous said...

Love it Nate!!!

You just caught me up on the blogs this week since I haven't had a chance to catch up on my google reader. Thanks for the laugh!

Erin said...

I love these weekly round-ups! So hilarious!

Unknown said...

you just made my sunday morning :) loved the roundup, and now i'm off to read some later posts!!

ashley (sweetandnatural) said...

Hilarious once again. Can't wait for the fun and flirty blog. :-P

bb said...

Do you think that you get weekends off YIFY?..

Nate said...

bb - YIFY has taken entire seasons off in the past. I think six months was my record. Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow...

jane said...

absolutely hysterical! i love how you capture all the ridiculous parts of food blogging while still respecting the writers.

p.s. i loathe the word brekkie. i feel the same way when i read that word as you do when you see a green smoothie.

Anonymous said...

I miss Clearly Canadian, too! The lime flavor was bomb-diggity.

HangryPants said...

It took me far longer than I am willing to admit that brekkie meant breakfast.

Nate said...

Hangry - It took me longer to know that 'WW' Bread meant whole wheat (and not something like Weight Watchers or some other brand name).

Also, I'm still not entirely sure what Hangry means, although I think it's a combo of Hungry and Angry. Am I correct?

Erin said...

I Adore your Stock Up and Stock Down bits. Truly.

And I fully agree that spinach in breakfast oats or smoothies is vomitous. *hurk*

Fitnessista said...

i'm so glad someone else agrees that kombucha tastes like death. i'm hoping to like it one day :/
thank you so much for writing about my blog (and for being nice to me) :D i loved the pronunciation tidbit- you crack me up
have a great day!

Betsy said...

Not only does Kombucha taste like garbage water... it also explodes. I had my first taste yesterday and it ended up in my bathtub, fizzing it's vinegry crappiness everywhere.

polly said...

Nate,
You would be somebody my hub and I would love to have for dinner. Please bring Kate! I look forward to "This week in Blogs" and so please don't stop!

Green oats are even yummier than green smoothies. :)

Rae said...

Keep this up, I love it!!! You are the Us Weekly/People of the food blogging world with a lil bit of SNL thrown in....FABULOUS!!!

HangryPants said...

WW doesn't mean weight watchers?

Hangry: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hangry