Acts of Compassion #AFundForJennie

August 22, 2011
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When many of us in the food blogging community learned of the tragic loss of Jennifer Perillo’s husband, Mikey, we felt the compelling need to give something of ourselves. We banned together in great numbers and reached out to each other and to Jennie with prayers, words of hope, and images of compassion.  Thousands of [...]

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Find Your Accountability and Visioning Team

August 18, 2011
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The Big Dream is hard to achieve when you don’t have anyone but yourself to rely on. You need strength, talent, and motivation to fulfill your desires, but self-will can only get you so far.  If you want to be successful in realizing your Big Dream, you better have a few key people in your [...]

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A Love Letter for Jennifer Perillo

August 12, 2011
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“If a you drop a big enough rock into still waters, the ripples will spread out wide enough to rock a boat clear across the lake.” –Pema Chodron Jennifer Perillo’s life changed this Sunday when she lost her husband Mikey from a sudden heart attack.  Like a meteor striking the ocean, the magnitude of this [...]

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Service 101: Slow Down and Vision Your Life (or Business)

August 3, 2011
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The faster our society gets, the looser we get with our systems. We cut corners. We text and walk. We don’t read the recipe through to the end before we start cooking. We go to the grocery store without a shopping list. We show up to popular restaurants without a reservation. We don’t prof proof [...]

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Service 101: Living A Life of Service

July 21, 2011
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Even though this blog is about the food industry, it’s also about exploring the world behind food. Past the great meals, restaurants, the work, and relationships with talented chefs–there’s the deep stuff that goes on between meals that’s vulnerable and important.  The more I write about living a life in the service industry, the more [...]

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The Unhappiness Factor

July 8, 2011
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One of the main goals of being of service, is to give to the customer what they want. The problem is, many people in this world aren’t exactly clear on what exactly that is. Customers–people like you and me–get mucked up by all the No’s, the Should’s, and the Can not’s. We have a hard [...]

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Santa Barbara Weekend Getaway: a Brief Video

July 1, 2011
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Sometimes you just have to get out of dodge. Summer time is the season to make the most of the great weather and have fun. Whether you’re taking road trip, swimming at a faraway swimming hole, or captaining a boat for a few hours, personal time outs are incredibly soothing for our busy lives. My [...]

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Louisiana and Creole Tomato Salad On My Mind

June 28, 2011
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A great trip lingers with you long after you return home. A successful vacation is one where memories are unpacked long after the suitcase is emptied and the laundry is done. For me, the best journeys are the ones that get inside my heart and rearranging things. It’s been more than a week since I [...]

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Louisiana: The Food Tour

June 23, 2011
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Food isn’t just a meal in New Orleans, it’s a way of life. Of all the states I’ve visited, I have never been to any other American city where its inhabitants are so closely aware of their cultural history and culinary traditions. New Orleans is a mélange of spicy cultures (French Canadian, Spanish, Africans, English, [...]

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Louisiana Seafood: Is it Safe?

June 21, 2011
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“When you think of all the news you’ve seen about Louisiana, what images flash through your mind?” asked Mike Voisin, a seventh-generation Louisiana oysterman. Voisin, the CEO of Motivatit Oysters, paced around the air-conditioned conference room as he spoke to his visiting guests. An assortment of bloggers and food writers from across the States–hand-picked to [...]

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Food Blog Masters New Orleans: Video

June 18, 2011
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I’m a film school grad, but you wouldn’t know it from reading this site. You’ve never read any drafts of my screenplays, I don’t rant about movies, and you’ve certainly never seen any short films. But the times they are a changing, my friends. Don’t worry. I’m not looking to change the way I do [...]

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A Food Mask for a Food Traveler

June 10, 2011
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No matter what, food factors into everything I do. Travel, work, play, politics, religion, health, business, family, love–you name it, my perspective is influenced by my relationship with food. No matter how distant the matter may be from food, some how I’ll work a tasty morsel into the subject line. Even my pre-trip beauty regime [...]

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Most Improved

May 31, 2011
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It was the summer between my junior and senior year and I was away at a summer youth music school. My parents were getting a divorce, my home life was a mess, and I was happy to spend almost two months with other kids my age focusing on the one thing I really loved: music. [...]

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Magical Thinking, A Scone Recipe

May 26, 2011
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Some rather grandiose dreams spring to life from the enjoyment of a single morsel. At least, that’s how it works in this odd little brain of mine. One really good bite and an aspiring career is launched, imaginary restaurants are born, and desired franchises are launched. Maybe you experience magical thinking, too? It starts with [...]

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Greater Than, Less Than

May 17, 2011
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In the equation of life, I liked to put myself on the gaping side of the greater than symbol. To be greater than was the only option I could fathom. It was the strongest position to play. I was an army of one. I was the captain of my destiny. I was greater than any [...]

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Food Blogger Bake Sale for Share Our Strength

May 13, 2011
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Something I would never expect happened to me today. I was browsing in the baking section at one of my favorite cooking supply stores and day dreaming about baking. I know. It’s a miracle. Or maybe it’s the Food Blogging Bake Sale for Share our Strength that’s got me thinking about something other than getting [...]

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Service 101: Help Me Help You

May 12, 2011
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“I’m not usually a difficult customer,” The Beverly Hills housewife said out of the corner of her red lipsticked mouth.  “I just don’t understand why getting me a drink is such a production.” It was a Friday night and the restaurant was packed. I had spotted the guests’ unhappiness across the room when I scanned [...]

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Mother’s Day Baking Epiphanies

May 5, 2011
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Before there was fear, there was love. Baking wasn’t always something that frightened me. When I was a child, baking was something I longed for. The art of bread and baked sweets was something rare and special. It was sacred. One of my first memories of baking was when I was quite young. Maybe I [...]

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Ascension and Getting over the Fear of Baking

April 29, 2011
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Ever since Easter and Passover weekend I’ve been thinking a lot about the world ascension. The word has been looping dramatic arcs through my psyche ever since I took one of those deep, restorative, midday naps last weekend. For over an hour I took in the sleep of the dead. It was the kind of [...]

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Service 101: On Becoming the Service Coach

April 16, 2011
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Teaching the art of giving great service is a gift. Thanks to my business as a service consultant, I get the chance to learn on a daily basis that to be of service one must maintain humility, vulnerability, empathy, confidence, and courage in everything I do. I’m discovering that in order to teach the art [...]

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