Moving back to the United States has been a mixed blessing. I still think about Sicily every day and I miss so much about it. But living overseas wasn’t always easy and wonderful. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, but I will say that we endured enough stress and hardship in those four years to last a lifetime. From burglaries to natural disasters to lengthy separations, we did it and we survived.
So, as I was saying, it’s a mixed blessing being back. I miss the markets, I miss the travel opportunities, I miss walking via Etnea on a sunny day with a pistacchio gelato in hand. But I love being back in California because I’m close to my family again. I love that I will be able to spend time at the cabin this summer. I love that I was finally able to take my first photography class. And I am really excited that I have been able to meet and become friends with some really great people here in San Diego.
I already talked about the Food Blogger Meet Up at Eclipse Chocolat, but since then, I’ve had several mini meet ups with some really great bloggers! First, I had lunch in Del Mar with Kathy, the blogger behind Panini Happy. We hit it off and spent a fun afternoon eating sandwiches at an outdoor cafe and telling stories about what made us start writing about food. Then Justin and I had a fun evening eating dinner with Roger of The Fifth Deadly Sin and Amanda and Tyler of What We’re Eating. We had some good food and a lot of laughs.
Most recently, I had the pleasure of spending yet another afternoon with some of my favorite bloggers. Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen was in town visiting some old friends and she contacted a few of us to organize a lunch. I became friends with Kalyn last summer at the BlogHer conference in Chicago, so it was really fun to meet in person again. I also got to meet Susan of Food Blogga for the first time. I have been reading Susan’s blog since she first started, so it felt like meeting an old friend. Also at the lunch were Amanda from What We’re Eating and Alice from Alice Q. Foodie, both of whom I’d already spent time with. Alice picked a great restaurant in La Jolla and it turned out to be a really fun afternoon filled with great food, great conversation and great creme brulee! Kalyn recently wrote about the lunch and included photos of us and all the amazing food.
So where was I headed with this post? Oh yes, new friends and FoodPorn! Just as I was hoping would happen, we have really hit it off with Tyler and Amanda of What We’re Eating. I have been reading and loving their blog since I first discovered food blogs. The combination of their crazy banter, Amanda’s creative recipes, and the excellent food photography had me hooked right away. And since their personalities in person are pretty much exactly the same as their personalities on the blog, we’ve obviously had a great time hanging out with them.
So when am I going to get to the FoodPorn??
Well, Tyler and Amanda have had a FoodPorn project in the works for longer than I’ve been able to comfortably use that term (it still makes me blush a bit). When they decided to share it with me a while back, I was just blown away by the gorgeous photos and simple design of the site. But it wasn’t until they asked for me to actually participate in the project that I got really, really excited!
So what’s the new project? It’s simple: big, gorgeous, luscious, drool-worthy photos of food. A new one each day. Click on the photo and you’ll see another. Keep clicking and you’ll eventually end up back at the beginning. Then come back the next day and you’ll see another new one. But I bet you can’t stop yourself from clicking through the old ones again. Just try.
That’s it. Foodporn, daily. Because sometimes, it’s enough just to look.
Annie Jones says
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