Andrea the Gastronaut: Back in business

Two and a half weeks later, and it’s back.

Over the next few days I’ll be changing the template, working with widgets and adding plugins again. I should have kept a list of plugins but I’m glad that the exporting of blog data and importing worked.

In the absence of a WordPress blog I was using Tumblr as a temporary home. I’ll be keeping Tumblr for quick posts.

Stay tuned for blog posts about Mideastro Yorkville (restaurant), the S. Pellegrino® Almost Famous Chef Canada Regional Competition, dinners at The Depanneur, and more.

I’ve got some giveaways as well because, well, my birthday is later this month and I want to GIVE gifts!

Be patient over the next couple of days. You might not notice the construction dust around here but I do.

It’s good to be back.

Website maintenance – she's going down

With my domain hosting expiring on Friday, I’m moving my hosting from GoDaddy to Dreamhost, in part due to SOPA.

It’s possible the blog will be affected.

Call for submissions: 2nd Annual Food Photography Awards

Ivy is doing it again for the second time at The Drake Hotel, open to photographers of all levels, amateur to pro.

Competition is now open!

Deadline for submissions is January 7th.
This year’s judges: Laura Calder, Jacob Richler, Mia Nielsen, Rob Firing and Jeff Stober.

Categories:

Food
Raw, cooked, vegetable, animal – living in a meadow or sliced and on a plate.
This category is all about food itself.

People
Chefs, farmers, recipe testers, fishermen, winemakers, restaurant reviewers.
This category includes any and all people who deal with food.

Places
Restaurants, barns, gardens, vineyards, fishing boats, home kitchens.
This category is all about where food comes from and is cooked and eaten.

Things
A knife, a cutting board, stockpots, wine glasses.
This category is all about the tools and utensils we use every day with food.

Drinks (new category this year!)
Coffee, beer, soda water, champagne.
This category is all about drinks.

Fun
This is where you send in your not so serious food photography, pictures of food that are informal but still beautiful. This category is where all those Instagram shots you took at the potluck can finally get some respect.

Rules:

• only one picture per category may be entered
• only photos taken in 2011 may be entered
• each picture must have a name/title
• all pictures must be sent as jpeg attachments-Photographers retain ownership of their copyright. The Drake reserves the right to display photos/images at the Awards event and the right to use winning photos in conjunction with post-promotion and PR of any future Food Photography Awards
• please submit photographic entries to ivygknight@gmail.com with “Food Photography Awards 2011″ in the subject line-all entries must be submitted by midnight on January 7, 2012, entries received after that time will not be eligible to compete.

Winners will be announced at The Drake Hotel on January 16, 2o12.

I entered last year. It was fun! Of course I’m going to enter again. I’ve been putting photos aside all year and am looking for more. Check your own collection!

See what else is coming up on Monday nights at The Drake in January:

Merry Christmas

Happy Festivus, Merry Christmas, etc.

Wishing you all a healthy, happy, peaceful holiday.

Andrea's chanukah guide

Taking a break from the gift guide, here are some chanukah resources and articles that I’ve carefully curated (and in some cases, have received already curated):

What’s chanukah about anyway? Read the basics:

• Wikipedia
• Chabad’s guide with articles that are shorter than the Wikipedia entry.

Recipes

• Jelly Doughnuts Reinvented: Creative Sufganiyot for Hanukkah [Chow]. Sufganiyot with ginger-lime curd? Salted caramel? Mexican hot chocolate–glazed sufganiyot with marshmallow filling? Okay!

• Jewish Girl Guilt Sufganiyot [Huffington Post]

• Healthy Hanukkah? Yes, It’s Possible [The Jew and the Carrot]

• The Complete, No-Nonsense, Slightly Neurotic Guide to Making Great Latkes [Serious Eats]

• Jewish fried treats from around the world. Eight distinct specialties to try, one for each night. [Philadelphia Jewish Voice]

• Moroccan Chanukah orange doughnuts (sfenj) and fried plantains (called patacones) [be'chol Lashon]

• Vegan latke recipe from vegan poster child Alicia Silverstone on her website The Kind Life.

Other resources

• Healthy, Sustainable Hanukkah Resources [Hazon]

• With Hanukkah Microbrews, A Taste of Jewish History [NPR]

Also check out The Huffington Post’s articles tagged “hanukkah”.

Feel free to add your favourite resources and such.

I leave you with this:

HAPPY CHANUKAH! MAY YOUR WEEK BE FILLED WITH BLESSINGS AND LIGHT, MAY YOUR LATKES BE THE WAY YOU LIKE THEM AND MAY YOU EAT WELL.

(Part 3 of my holiday gift guide to follow.)