18. Februar 2007

we are friends, right?

here's the thing:
i really like you.
you leave comments.
you send emails.
hey, we bond! we connect! we share!

while comments on me going all organic lately are the virtual pat on the shoulder i can't help but wonder why i only see well photographed and mouthwatering recipes in food blogs and i myself strive to only show you pretty dishes too. shouldn't we be able to share the not so successful things as well? why is it that i am so obsessed with only showing off my good side here? shouldn't i be able to tell you about the terrible food i eat? the unhealthy stuff? the recipes i fail at? well, i certainly should!

but i don't want to show you recipes that don't photograph well.
and i don't want to show you the mess i made in the kitchen.
i certainly don't want to show you humiliating shrink-wrapped food!

why is that?

because i want your approval.
i want to look good here!

so in an act of confession i will lower myself into the catacombs of convenience food and i'm going to show you the dinner i just ate.

i have been a fan of texmex-food for a while now and i have never even attempted to cook it from scatch. never made tortillas myself, never bought spices for seasoning, i believe the only ingredient i add is the minced meat, the cheese and the avocado. i don't even know how to fold those babies, i just wrap them up as tight as humanly possible, throw them in a little dish and stick them in the oven for a few minutes. i believe every texmex fan would slap me in the face for that.

texmex or what?
texmex or what?
texmex or what?
texmex or what?
texmex or what?
texmex or what?
shouldn't we share our failures as well? in real life that's the part where you learn something: you make a mistake, you try again, you get help and guidance from friends and you become better in what you do. and you most likely never make that mistake again.

hey, somebody should really invent a food blog event that deals with failures in cooking.
like: "the worst accident in my kitchen" of the month for terrible flops or "the dish that tastes great but looks like sh**" of the month for improving photographical skills ... readers could leave comments to help you on!

but on the other hand: do i really like to see a gazillion blogs with terrible photos of uninspired tv dinners? i doubt that. i have my hands full with all the blogs i want to follow, i couldn't possibly handle hundreds more.

we could make a compromise, dear friend, shall we? i am really bad at asking for help. like really really bad. i am too proud, i always want to do things on my own. so in order to loosen up a bit i could write my food questions on my dinner for one table here. because i often have questions and i almost always lack the resources to have them answered. not many of my friends are obsessed with food. and i never dare to ask if something does not turn out the way i expected. as i said, i am really bad at asking for help. but you could be my kitchen aid (pun intended!). i think i feel comfortable enought now to ask you for help. i think i should even make a whole new blogger label for that.

just needed to get that off my chest, sorry for interrupting.
thanks for listening, friend.

ps: being really new to the foodblog scene at the time (and having no idea what a food blog event is), here's an interesting challenge from november 2005. rachel at fresh aproach cooking hosted my blog went up in flames back then - thank you for drawing my attention to this, sam!

10 Kommentare:

Anonym hat gesagt…

I actually really like hearing about disasters. We only ever get to see the perfect dishes, but we all make yummy things that look disgusting. It makes the blogger seem more human, I guess.

Sam hat gesagt…

Just over a year ago Rachael from Fresh Approach Cooking had that same idea and made a spoofy My blog went up in Flames event asking us all to admit to our bad food photography. Here was my awful entry to that very funny event.

Anonym hat gesagt…

It takes a lot of guts to show your kitchen catastrophes and the photos that are not so stunningly beautiful. But some of my favorite posts are ones from Anne's Food blog about her disasters.

Anonym hat gesagt…

Friends should discuss disasters and successes. No harm in laying bare your faults. In fact, it takes loads of guts do so. I appreciate your effort and must congratulate you on making a dish as good as that, I could never do that myself, and I am totally serious. Nobody could be quite as bad a cook as I am.I am trying to learn though.
Glad to come by your blog.
Check out my blog on friendship greeting cards for some beautiful e-greeting cards and friendly tips.

Trig hat gesagt…

I nearly published a photo of my squidgy pavlova semi-failure the other day but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. You are very courageous but I'm not sure anyone will thank you for it. Anyhow, you've got plenty of successes to show without worrying about the failures.

Anonym hat gesagt…

I think disaster posts are good - I posted about a pumpkin gnocchi disaster some time ago... we can see nobody is perfect and other cooks struggle, too (the "my blog went up in flames" sounds like a fun thing :))

If you have any foodie and cooking questions, I am sure your readers will come up with answers or at least ideas to help - go ahead!

tschoerda hat gesagt…

some interesting thoughts ... while i must agree with trig that nobody will thank us if we write posts with disgusting pictures in them ... i also think there should be something like a monthly cooking event like my blog went up in flames ... just reminding us all that we indeed DO make mistakes may our regular posts and pictures be ever so beautiful. i really start to like the idea of showing you kitchen disasters ... (well, not the really disgusting ones ...)

Sam hat gesagt…

there's a job for you then!
tschoerda the flamin' blog host.

I also did an end of 2006 roundup with all the bad photos from the last year, the ones that never made it to my blog, called Worst Photos of 2006

I had an idea back about a 'keeping it real' stamp on my pictures too. For example - my food is usually photographed in under one minute before being eaten and I don't spend a lot of time staging the food for the photograph, or dressing the scene.

I have decided I refer this realism approach and I wanted to distinguish myself from bloggers who spend much longer setting the scene or using tweezers, for example, to position the herb pieces, etc. I am not saying there is anything with that, it's just not where I am coming from personally.

I might still do that. Your post has reminded me.

thanks.

tschoerda hat gesagt…

me? nope, i am not a good hostess ... *blushing* ... besides, that wasn't even my idea - i am just jumping on a bandwagon! maybe i should start bugging some high profile food bloggers with that idea ...?

Marc hat gesagt…

Disasters, or even minor mistakes, make great blogging. I can think of four or five posts of mine in recent months about mistakes (e.g., amaranth seeds in cookies, ridged gourd).

As for "boring" food, I find it interesting to see what everyday food is like in Austria.

And, finally, on the subject of flour tortillas and their fillings: one of my favorite meals is a flour tortilla filled with melting cheese and some hot sauce (Bufalo chipotle is a great one) then cooked on a griddle until golden brown, a bowl of black beans, and some sauteed greens.