Go Vote. Or Not.

Apropos of nothing, except perhaps my mood, here is a photograph of the full moon rising on New Year's Day evening.

What a surprise to hear that my blog was nominated as one of the Top Five Blogs (Rural) in the annual Food Blog Awards. Please go and vote for either Farmgirl Fare or Lucullian Delights, don't waste your vote on me: I don't want or need or deserve a win in this category.

My recommendations:
Best City: Becks Posh Nosh (Sam Breach: San Francisco)
Best Food Industry: Egg Beater (Shuna Fish Lydon)
Best Group Blog: The Ethicurean, hands down
Best Humor: How in the hell did MattBites and David Lebovitz get omitted from this list?! No recs! (Though I myself voted for the Food Whore.)
Best New: How in the hell did MattBites and Michael Ruhlman get omitted from this list? And a Rachael RAY blog "best" of ANYTHING? Dark times indeed. No recs!
Non-Blogging: Leite's Culinaria, of course. Gorgeous. (CHOW? Gulp. Nope. Nazis run the forums.)
Original Recipes: Stephen Cooks
Best Overall: La Tartine Gourmande
Photography: Again, no MattBites? No StillLifeWith? No recs!
Best Single Post: hands down, Gluten Free Girl's YES. Adam's post is pretty clever, too, but nothing approaches the inspiration and care that GFG employed in her post.
Best Recipes: 101 Cookbooks, of course.
Best Restaurant Reviews: again, BecksPoshNosh. Sam is the best.
Best Blog with a Theme: Meathenge.
Best Writing: Kitchen Notebook. What a lovely site to visit.

That's all. I am disappointed in  a lot of these categories, and disappointed that some really high-quality blogs are not on there—but maybe I should blame myself, because I was too busy to see that quality material was nominated. Derrick Schneider's blog, An Obsession with Food, for one, deserves an award. And the Eat Local Challenge as a Group Blog would have been nice to see. (Though I still would vote for The Ethicurean.) I'm disappointed that Cookie Crumb's "I'm Mad and I Eat" wasn't nominated for humor, too.

There should be a Best Activist blog, I think—for those of us who are having to strip the wool from people's eyes about what constitutes real, clean, humane, sustainably-grown food, and what food-from-a-box means, environmentally and socially and even emotionally. (Hint: Rachael Ray cooks with cake mixes, frozen vegetables, and Bisquick, for God's sake. See a comment below about that—I am not a saint, and I use frozen vegetables, but I absolutely will not support a multi-millionaire who recommends these products in a recipe or on her show.)

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah, big news coming up about some people here in town doing fabulous things with farm-fresh, real-life food. Watch this space for yet another reason to be visiting Santa Cruz.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Ultimately the Emmys are a popularity contest.” — William Devane

Thanks for visiting.

Comments

[nika]

Tana: thanks for visiting! I would love to stop but I am too far way! my sis lives in SC tho...

[shauna]

Thank you, Tana, for your comment here and at WellFed. I woke up this morning to the news, via people coming to my site from this post you did. I really appreciate it.

And I love your blog. Sorry about last year. Do you think you could taek that plastic voodoo doll down now?

[Cate O'Malley]

To respond to a couple of your points:

1. E-mail is set to go out to notify everyone that they are in the running; I just finished the list. The results only went up last night.

2. I was not able to find a poll that met our criteria AND included hyperlinks. Believe me, as I sit and copy and paste all the URLs to get the nominees e-mail addresses (many of which aren't even included on their site), I would have appreciated a URL hyperlink as well.

3. I don't believe Ruhlman, I'm Mad and I Eat and/or Eat Local Challenge were nominated, though I could be wrong. That's not to say that they aren't worthy. Of course they are. My favorite music doesn't always get nominated for a Grammy. ;)

4. As far as an Activist category, we actually toyed with the idea of including a Blogivist category, going to someone who really works with the food blogging community, coordinates events, etc., but at this point I think there are too many categories, and there are changes sure to come for next year.

5. Your comment on the Best Food Blog - Post is there. Our comments are moderated just like yours, and you'll see there is no censorship with them.

6. Lebovitz did not make it as a Top 5 in the Humor category, but he is in at least one other.

Feel free to nominate your favorites next year. There are a LOT of good food blogs out there, and unfortunately, they can't all make it to the end (final nomination, award). Hey, some of my favorites didn't make it either. ;)

Congrats on your well-deserved nomination, Tana.

Cate

[Mimi]

Lot of busy people cook with cake mixes, frozen vegetables and Bisquick. For some people that IS
"real life food."

[Squeat Mungry]

Tana, beautiful evocative photo (as usual)!

And congratulations!

(Sorry I haven't been in touch recently -- I've been trying to find time to put together all I've wanted to say to you, but lots going on and no adequate chunks of time. Keep an eye on your email.)

Anyway, Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Squeat

[Tana]

Hi, Mimi,

I didn't thank you for the note you left me the other day about my comment on David L's blog, so thank you for that, and apologies for not writing sooner. I am buried in family matters.

As far as boxed foods go, that isn't my idea of real food. I have and use frozen vegetables, too, but I would never buy a cookbook or watch a show that relied on them. That's blasphemy in my world.

To each, their own, though. I think Rachael Ray has undermined real cooking in the world, and compromised the integrity of the Food Network, which I'd been watching almost since the beginning. I don't turn it on at all any more, because I'm afraid I will see her or, worse, Paula Deen or Sandra Lee (Dee? I can never remember).

I am not a saint or even THAT much of a purist...somewhere on my blog is a confession of just how much compromising I have to do. But in the quality of what I ingest VISUALLY, I will not compromise. I don't want to learn how to cook fast food. I can take my own shortcuts if have to, but I won't seek or read recipes that start out with low quality ingredients. I don't think that makes me a hypocrite: we all have to compromise (and rationalize).

Thanks for your comment!

Tana

(Cate, I will respond soon.)

[Bonnie]

Tana: Thanks for being so supportive of us from the beginning. It's been comments like yours that get me to stay up late blogging. And regardless of whether you want or need the award, I love your blog and I voted for it. So there!

I agree that Cookiecrumb and Derrick were wrongfully omitted. Melissa's photo of bacon toffee on OWF should win some sort of food photography award, too. But then again, sometimes excellence has to be its own reward.

Purdy photo of the moon....

[erin]

Tana, I have to ask--why so harsh on Rachael Ray?? I don't think she's nearly as bad as you make her out to be. In the past few months, I've made salmon burgers, lamb burgers, turkey meatballs and spicy chickpeas from her magazine--none of which included the type of ingredients you describe. If she gets people in the kitchen and not scared of cooking, I think that's a good thing. Overall, she encourages much better cooking than 75% of Americans do these days. For example, her mag has articles that focus on not needing recipes but teaching folks to feel comfortable with experimenting in the kitchen. Better frozen veggies than frozen pizza, no? I try to be committed to eating locally and sustainably, but I work 10+ hour days trying to save the world from a nuclear holocaust (exaggerating for effect, but you get my drift), and if I come home and can use a Rachael Ray recipe to make something half-way decent, I don't think I should feel guilty.

Your blog is great, Tana, and highlights important farms and information, but I don't think it's necessary to disparage the Rachael Ray blog.

[David L]

There's frozen vegetables on my site???

[lee]

Too bad, I'm voting for you anyway.If I were doing things the right way, my blog would be more like yours but with a Midwest perspective. Keep up the good work and remember- when someone gives you a compliment, try not to spit in their eye!

[Lisa (Homesick Texan)]

While Lara's Still Life With wasn't nominated for photography, her other blog, Cook & Eat, was nominated in the category. I agree, Still Life With is a brilliant site that is equally informative and beautiful, but hey, at least Lara's amazing photos are being recognized in some capacity.

[Madeline]

Tana,

When I make Rachael Ray's recipes, I use as many fresh, organic and locally grown ingredients as possible. I am lucky enough to have the income to spend more to buy these products, but others aren't so lucky.

In my experience, most of Rachael's recipes call for fresh vegetables (red bell peppers, herbs, broccoli, green beans, zucchini, onions, celery, carrots, garlic, kale, chard, mushrooms, asparagus come to mind). Usually, if a recipe does call for frozen veggies it's because of the time required to prep them to be ready to throw in the dish, like peas or spinach.

I've worked really hard on my blog and I'm disappointed to see it belittled by a fellow blogger.

With that said, if you'd like to respond or ask any questions about Rachael, her recipes, or my blog, please feel free to email me, since it's unlikely I will return to a blog that bashes Rachael Ray (and me by association). Thanks for reading.

[matt]

Who's Rachael Ray?

[matt]

T, you are very good to me. I love and adore you. I also read what was said about my blog being omitted on Food Blog S'cool and wanted to wait til it was all said and done to say THANK YOU.

I also wanted to respond here, and not there or my site, lest everyone thinks I'm screaming Sour Grapes.

The truth of the matter is that I am thrilled just to have you and a few others raise the point, but contests and awards are not me. I learned early on in my professional career that they are good for some, but it became the reason I never entered design contests or juried awards programs. In fact, I've kept a copy of designer Bruce Mau's "incomplete manifesto for growth" with me for years, with one point touching on staying out of competitions and awards.

(Also, I am a professional, and have recieved paid gigs from my blog alone. I think the awards should be for everyone else, not someone in my position. Just sayin')

I am thrilled for the winners, they deserve it completely. But like so many, I blog because I love it, and a competition doesn't change a thing for me, whether I win or was never even nominated to begin with.

I feel the love from you and many others. I need nothing else :)

p.s. Rachael Ray is the Devil.

[Dr. Biggles]

Yay !!! I win, at least as far as you're concerned. Mucho thankee!

Biggles

[Brenda]

Stumbled on your blog through a google search. Very nice, very informative, very inspirational!