Tag: food blog

#5 – Life Bites & Where is Julie Powell now?

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This blog or bust post is brought to you from a West End sushi shop called Daija, on Denman between Robson and Haro. The staff have been refilling my green tea for the last hour and kindly allowed me to, ‘stay as long as I like’ following a late lunch.

My favourite time of year is here now, sunny looking crisp air on the verge of winter once again.  Looking through the restaurant window, it is simply sunny and warm outside, then the door opens and I feel the cold air hit me as it rolls along the floor.  It’s quiet in here right now, busy outside, and I feel like I am tucked away while I share my next blog or bust post.

During a meeting earlier today with a fellow foodie, I learned about another Vancouver based food blog that is very new, just over two months old! This Blog or Bust share is Life Bites – an infant food blog headed in the right direction with her local food adventures! On first glance, the blog reminds me of the Julie & Julia blog in a way, with a courier font look over a crisp mint green back drop. Complete with simple photos and fun articles of food adventures in Vancouver.

If you’re curious about where Julie Powell is now, after the popular book to movie – Julie & Julia – she has a new site called Julie Powell Books.  I loved the movie and the book and the blog, and well, I can’t deny, Julie Powell may have been a contributing inspiration to Beyond The Dough…

Julie & Julia movie

Julie & Julia movie

Baker’s Market: A Sweet Find in South Vancouver (with #4)

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Connie at Bakers Market

Connie, founder of the Baker's Market, staff's her own booth on opening market day.

This past Saturday the Vancouver Baker’s Market reopened for it’s second fall season, after opening last year. It will now be open every Saturday from now to December, 11am – 3pm; and although it’s a bit of a trek to get to in South Vancouver, it is worth the trip!

Connie started the Baker’s market last year, and is excited about kicking off another season of local bakers. “Every week we get different vendors, so you gotta come every week to check it all out,” she said amongst the buzz of the market.

Buttercup Cake Design at Baker's Market

Buttercup Cake Design at Baker's Market

The opening Saturday vendor’s included our friend Amanda Goats, local pastry chef, who I chatted with a few months ago and has since launched her own business: Buttercup Cake Design.  Amanda will be at the market every Saturday this fall, and is just one of many fun vendors on display.

Miss Mandy’s Sweet Treats, selling mini bundt cakes and home made chocolates, is another vendor at the market and sold out quickly.  Damien’s Belgian Waffles, real Belgian waffles, in many flavours and even chocolate covered were heavenly to sample.  Other vendors included fresh baked bread, cupcakes, cookies, mini-pies, and much more.

Damien's Waffles on display at Baker's Market

Damien's Waffles on display at Baker's Market, white chocolate covered in bottom right - rich & yummy!

The vendor list is available on the market website, but be sure to arrive early because the fresh baked goods move quickly!

There were approximately 12 vendors on Saturday and 10 new vendors will join this coming Saturday – making it a tight squeeze with all the more to feast your fall sweet-tooth on!

Connie had a minute to spare while staffing her own booth at the market, so I could ask about the market’s beginning.

How did the Baker’s Market start? Basically I love baking, and my friends got tired of eating my stuff. And I really felt that there are so many talented people out there who want to share their products, so instead of giving it away I thought we could try a central location where people can share their love of baking.

Baker's Market Guest Book table

Baker's Market even has a Guest Book table with fun fridge magnets!

BLOG OR BUST #4: GOURMET FURY!

The Gourmet Fury is another great Vancouver Food Blog, who also happened to cover the spring season of the Baker’s Market earlier this year.  Although I first learned about Melody Fury, the author, earlier in my summer of blogging. Then, she had just covered solid ground during the Winter Games through her posts with videos, photos, and recipes as part of her culinary tourism angle.

Melody is also the founder of Vancouver Food Tour; and has an accolade of coverage and awards already for her quality food blogging. As another great foodie to follow, Melody continues to validate Vancouver as a quality place to eat. She eats and Tweets, and is a fun follow – enjoy Gourmet Fury!

#3 – Vancouver Eating

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Well after a rough day yesterday, of recovering my hard drive (post-crash), I have to say day three of blog or bust challenge was on the verge of a prompt end all too quickly!  Fortunately Apple Geniuses are in fact Geniuses! My macbook was saved along with my important files; and now I can forge on confidently with day 3 of 30 blogs.

That said, today’s blog #3 is very short and sweet.  I chose VancouverEating.com simply because I like the name: Vancouver Eating.  Straight to the point – its about eating in our favourite city!

The blogger, Josiah Tam, includes reviews of restaurants and great photography as he also is a photographer (his profile links to a second blog, about photography as well).  Since eating is half visual, great blog photography makes for a quality food blog…

#2 – Butter On The Endive

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The most important food blog ever, is Owen Lightly’s opening header for Butter On the Endive.  I think he can take that claim.  Owen is the blog’s editor-in-chief and works at Araxi in Whistler; he has one blog contributor, Katie Sanders, and each have professional culinary training. When I met Eric Pateman earlier in the summer, this was among the blogs that came up as we chatted about local foodies.

This is blog #2 for me because it is one of the first food blogs that was referred to me. Since then I have read about Butter on the Endive numerous times – and agree it is quality food blogging. With great photography, by contributing photographers, writing and recipes, they even include videos too.

PS. For those who may not know, endive is a type of leaf lettuce.

Endive from KitchenGardens.org

Endive. Photo source: kitchengardens.org

Blog or Bust #1 – Everybody Likes Sandwiches

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Naturally, I had to share this blog first: Everybody Likes Sandwhiches.  Why? Because it was one of the very first blogs that came up in one of my very first searches – so it stands out for me the most.

The author, who shares a familiar name to myself, Jeanette, is an award winning blogger, with her classic style of writing, photos and recipes. She has been writing since 2005 – dedication alone is reason enough to check out her site.

To my fellow blogger, Jeannette, if you happen to read this somehow, without my having shared directly to you, then I think we should meet because I love your Vancouver food blog! And I believe in cyber-serendipity…

October 2010: Beyond the Dough Blog or Bust!

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Any blogger out there will tell you that blogging is time consuming! Stories take time to plan if you have quality content and short web articles are not as easy to write as they look.  While I haven’t been able to post daily with my blog, I think about it EVERYDAY and I tweet (@beyondthedough) when I can.

On that challenging note, I’m setting myself up for a blogging challenge: A Blog or Bust campaign – 30 days / 30 blogs!

I am going to share 30 Vancouver based food blogs to you over the next 30 days.

Over the past few months, I have come across many other blogs, some international some domestic and some local. There are 1000s out there. And just like Vancouver’s food scene – we have some great bloggers too: I am merely a needle in the haystack really (and I love you for following me).

This challenge will add more value to your local dining experience, and I hope it will continue to encourage local tourism too.

Here we go folks, my first blog challenge: stay tuned for 30 more sites… Do you think I can do it?!