Thursday, March 31, 2011

Cooking Challenge: Around the World in 80 Days



I don't know about you, but my childhood was littered the stories I read. Tales of cunning and adventure thrilled my tiny heart, and stories with romance and fun just fueled my ever more imaginative games. I wasn't allowed to watch much television, but one of the things we were allowed was the animated 'Around the World in 80 Days'.

A tale of wagers, spies, fast travel, and romance, the story captivated me, and I dreamt of travelling to France, Egpyt, India, and America, helping them on their quest around the world. And while I no longer believe that Phileas Fogg is truly a lion (what? it seemed reasonable to me!), I would still love to travel to those places. While chained to my post, however, I can but dream, and travel through the medium of food.

I'd like to suggest a challenge.

Every month for the duration of 15 months (there are 15 cities that they visited), we'll travel from city to city with Phileas Fogg and his friends, cooking a dish from the area they would've been in, all posting on the same day (or as close as possible to it).

This way, we'll follow his adventures, learn a bit about each country's culture and food, and get to make something fun and out of the ordinary.

It's just one meal, one blog post a month, who's in?

Sign up in the comments if you're keen, and I'll make a list of everyone who's participating!

The countries are as follows:

Around the world in 80 days  
  1. London, England 
  2. Paris, France 
  3. Brindisi, Italy 
  4. Suez, Egypt
  5. Bombay, India
  6. Allahabad, India
  7. Calcutta, India
  8. Singapore, Singapore
  9. Hong Kong, China
  10. Yokohama. Japan
  11. San Francisco, America
  12. Omaha, America
  13. New York, America
  14. Liverpool, England
  15. London, England

Who's with me?



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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

A little appreciation


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So it's been (check posts quickly) 2 weeks since my last post, and that was a guest post! I'm really feeling the loss here, girls and boys! In the last month, more or less, I've taken on another persons job, except there was no-one doing it before.. Doesn't make sense? No, well neither does anything right now!!

You and I both know I've had it rather easy at work the last few years. Mostly enough work, but plenty of time to slack and write posts, think about food, you know, ordinary procrastinatory activities! And then a month ago, I went and stuck my oar in, and told the boss how much better things would go if we had a social media marketing campaign! Yeah. I did that. So now, I'm Social Media Manager, juggling Tweeting, Facebook, blogging, writing newsletters, signing up to sites, groups, and forums all across the interwebs, professionally, for a change! You know, doing what I do for fun FOR MY JOB! Oh. And I still have to do all the other stuff I used to do, which took up about half my time. So now it feels like I have another full time job, on top of my half day, that has to be done in the same time. Confused? Yeah. It's been one of those months.

So while I miss you all like hell, I miss writing, I miss the interaction, I've been fiendishly busy getting something together which might actually advance my career... and that, ladies and gentlemen, is worth it. It's hard mother-effing hard work, more work than I EVER expected (professional social media is harder than personal. I can't swear so much), it's strangely gratifying when I see it work.

So while I have had the odd moment to swing past my Google Reader, and check up on all of you, I haven't had the time to write. Reading is quick, and writing is slow. However, that's not to say I haven't been cooking! I've even been dedicatedly writing down my recipes (with accurate measurements, thanks to Jane-Anne!), and even photographing them, (albeit with horrible photos - you have to start somewhere, I hear!!), I just have no time to write!!

I've made Piccante Sausage and Pepper Risotto, Ginger Chilli Burgers with Parmesan, Pesto Pasta Salad, and Creamy Mushrooms, Peppers and Pork. Mmmm. And all the recipes and photos are just waiting for you.. I just have to write something.. Oh, and remember to bring in the recipes!

Anyway. Lastly, and the reason for the title of this post, is that I'd like to thank you all. My confidence with blogging, Twitter and other social mediums is because of you. It's because you visit my blog, you chat to me on Twitter, and make me feel like I'm doing this right. Marisa spurs me on when I flag, Jessica bugs me to fulfill my promises, Linda has unfailing enthusiasm for everything, which is amazing. Colleen provides motherly support to all the blogosphere, Matt is brilliant at everything and therefore has advice for everything, and Ishay is unfailingly fab and there with a kind word when you need it most. In short, it's you, my bloggie and Twitter friends who make me feel like I can do this, like I can single-handedly turn a non-existent marketing strategy into something that actually works. And that, to me, is golden. So thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

P.S.
As soon as I get my mind around all this, I've got some gems waiting for you, so stick around, y'hear! I'll work all day and blog all night, if I have to, just bear with me, alright?

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