Ok, I need to vent. About Blogging. Not my own blogging, of course. About Food Blogging. I was introduced to this phenomenon years ago and have had a love/hate relationship with it ever since.
It all began when I couldn't cook. No, really, I could not cook. Luckily, as newly weds both JT and I had good jobs and were able to support ourselves and avoid cooking by eating out - every day. Ok, not every day. On Sundays I cooked. Swedish Pancakes or Campbell's Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. Until JT taught me how to make a Cheese Quesadilla- and then I made pancakes, tomato soup, sandwiches or quesadillas. (How I gained weight on my mission without fast food or knowing how to cook is beyond me?) But when Riley came along - things changed. (for starters, I quit my job) And I met friends in the ward who liked to cook. Yep, these Mormon Moms liked to cook. I was intrigued. And soon, I began to test out this new concept- Cooking. They introduced me to Allrecipes and the online world of food. And at the same time- my best friend had a love affair with Food Network. She introduced me to Emeril Live and the joy of watching others cook.
Soon this new idea- Cooking- had taken root. I accepted it as a reality in my stay-at-home-mom life. Not only did grocery shopping and feeding my family seem like the new trendy thing to do- it also appeared to be a necessity! And slowly I began to embrace it. I searched out my own favorite recipe sites and found myself enjoying Alton Brown and America's Test Kitchen while Riley was taking naps. (this is the geek in me who needs to understand the science behind cooking) Suddenly I had all but forgotten recipes from my mom and that red checkered cookbook that I got 4 copies of as wedding gifts (apparently it was no secret that I did not cook). I was relying on the media to feed me.
So here we are. Almost 6 years later. And one of my favorite hobbies is baking. I have come along way. And some of my food even tastes good now. (all sarcasm aside- some of my food tastes really good now) I can actually cook! I didn't go to culinary school, I haven't taken any classes, it is not even a natural gift of mine- but I can do it! But that does not mean I should blog about it.
That's right- I am venting about Food Bloggers. (not all, like I said, I have my sites that I trust) Lately, in the newest craze of pinterest I have found myself blindly trusting food bloggers and being very disappointed. I may end up getting some hate mail about this... some food blogger who is sick of us life bloggers who babble on and on about our daily lives and the boring story of getting accepted to P.A. school or whatever. I am prepared for that. If you don't like my blog, don't read it.:) But when I get on Pinterest and see some yummy gooey delicious treat that I dream about making all day, drive deliberately to Fred Meyer in the middle of the night for the last ingredient, and wait patiently next to my oven to discover that it is all a hoax- I get angry. Your food is gross! Your timing is bad. Your directions are confusing. Your pictures have to be touched up. You are wasting my time. I think I am being careful. Trying to "screen" my recipes. Searching the comments. (but that is the problem with food blogging- most of the comments are people saying "this looks good" who haven't actually baked it to say- "gross!!" or who are too chicken to get on a blog and say to their cyber face "uh, I made this for my family and my 3 year old cried-- so your recipe only gets 2 stars") But I keep finding myself frustrated and my taste buds disappointed.
From now on- I follow only trusted foodies. You know who you are. I go back to relying on the brutally honest comments on allrecipes and the sites of cooks that are better at making food than doctoring up their pictures with photo shop. And maybe I will even go all old fashioned and open up a cookbook that claims to be the best for 25 years.
At any rate...
This post comes to you from a girl who is "monstrating" (that word will only make sense if you love Modern Family- and are a female and can mention that kind of thing without getting in trouble) that just wanted some wonderful comfort in the form of food and who is obviously a little hysterical and maybe even over reacting and will probably regret this in the morning when my blog gets egged by a bunch of angry food bloggers (who hang on my every word and read my every post) and that is when I will realize I actually read the recipe wrong and messed it up myself... but for now- I am sick of bad food blogs!
I am totally with you on the Pinterest food. Only about half of my things have been good from there. I think that is the flaw of Pinterest... We can't rate things or share with others that something we pinned that was repinned was horrible.
ReplyDeleteKey word "bad" food blogs. I am totally right there with you. I never knew how to cook anything until a few years into our marriage. My worst experiences with recipes have come from Martha herself! Her instructions are so vague or just plain incorrect. I definitely have my trusted sites, but even then find myself searching for a better version of a recipe I found because I'm not quite satisfied. I think that's why I like baking more because if you cook chicken wrong it's disgusting and ruins everything else, but you can't mess up something like chocolate too often. Even if the brownies come out gooey I can still lick them out of the pan, right? :)
ReplyDeleteThat is exactly why I like baking more than cooking! You can't go too wrong with brown sugar, butter, and chocolate, right?
DeleteI'm with you on the pinterest food too- I pin it thinking I may be brave enough, but always skip it in favor of my "trusted" sites- unless a pin comes from a site I could maybe trust- like that sour cream chocolate cake... Williams-Sonoma was worth giving a chance to & they didn't disappoint!
ReplyDeletePS I LOVED that Modern Family episode!
ReplyDeleteIs't America's Test Kitchen the best? I knew we were friends for a reason when I found out you like it too :)
ReplyDeletePinterest. Ha. I delete pins I don't like. Of all types. I have found though, that trying the recipes that turn out badly has helped me be better at screening new recipes to begin with. So at least there's that, I guess. I'm with you on going back to trusted sites for actual recipes--a lot of the dessert pins I pin are just to inspire to make something look a certain way--even if I don't use the sited recipe.
ah, Meg, and the reason we are friends is that you have a bright side for everything! :) I should thank those bad recipes for making my good recipes taste even better! thanks!
DeleteI have had the same experience... although I should have know when there was no salt in the entire recipe. How do people get such awesome pictures of their food to post on pintrest anyway????
ReplyDelete