PFB #1 | My Project Food Blog Equation: Food + Wine + Entertaining = Happiness

Excitement, anticipation and curiosity are emotions that are running through my veins right now. Extraordinary opportunities don’t come along every day. One such chance has been presented to food bloggers through Foodbuzz with a unique contest called “Project Food Blog”. As Foodbuzz states, Project Food Blog is the first-ever interactive competition where thousands of Foodbuzz Featured Publishers are competing in a series of culinary blogging challenges for the chance to advance and a shot at the ultimate prize: $10,000 and a special feature on Foodbuzz.com for one year.

The first challenge is aptly titled, “Ready, Set, Blog” – where Foodbuzz is asking each blogger to create a blog post that defines us a food blogger and why we would have what it takes to be the next food blog star. Why are we unique and what sets us apart from everyone else. These are thought provoking questions and do challenge us to think introspectively.

January 2009 I embarked on the blogging journey by introducing my blog, Authentic Suburban Gourmet. It began as a way to chronicle my recipes and share my thoughts and ideas about food, wine and entertaining. Everything would be all in one spot and with the World Wide Web, I would be able to easily share with my friends and family, anywhere and anytime. The name Authentic Suburban Gourmet spawned from being myself and expressing my creativity and thoughts (authentic) through using ingredients and resources that are available most everywhere (suburban) and bringing an elegant, sophisticated touch (gourmet).

My love affair with food began when I was a small child. It was the simple things like homemade tacos, soups and chocolate chip cookies. I remember being so excited when I received my first Easy Bake Oven – I thought – Oh my gosh, I can actually cook my own cakes and cookies. The process of mixing the batter, putting it into those tiny pans and watching it cook by a mere light bulb was so incredibly fascinating. Simultaneously, my Mom would teach me about the basics of cooking with the measuring, reading recipes and the various cooking methods. To this day, I appreciate all of the techniques and information that my wonderful Mom taught me. I am obsessed with bon appetite, food and wine, saveur, the cooking channel, taking cooking classes and checking out the latest gourmet dining spot. Food and wine just facinate me.

{ My beautiful Mom }

{ My good friend Helen and me at Tante Marie Cooking School in San Francisco }

During the day I am a Vice President for a Human Capital Firm which is an extremely rewarding career and I am passionate about being successful. I believe that leading a balanced life is critical for true happiness. This brings me to my title of this blog post – “My Project Food Blog Equation: Food + Wine + Entertaining = Happiness". I am so fortunate to be born and raised in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area and I have an immense affinity for great food, wine and cherish the art of entertaining. I am lucky to be in close proximity to the wine country, abundant farmers markets, gourmet food resources, and brilliant restaurants. All are resources of inspiration for me. Since I can remember, I have been blessed with the artistic and creative gene. With my passion for food, wine and entertaining, I am able to unleash these qualities and share through my blog.

Sharing my creative food ideas and recipes with other people makes me happy. When I receive a comment on my blog from someone who appreciates what I have created, it puts a huge smile on my face. Just the other day, a friend on facebook sent me a comment that read simply – “I love your blog”. Cooking for other people and knowing that they are enjoying each bite, is blissful. My husband is my biggest fan and was hooked when I prepared a gourmet dinner on our third date. As they say, the rest is history; we just celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. Planning and executing a dinner or cocktail party exhilarates me. From the inception of an idea to planning the menu to shopping to cooking to setting the table to serving the food to hearing what everyone thinks is pure joy. It brings me much happiness to share my passion with other people and in return it makes them happy.

{ My wonderful husband Charles }

Over the last year and half I have learned so much about blogging, photography, writing, technology, social media, food styling, recipe writing, cooking and myself. Learning is a life long journey which never ends. The journey is just beginning and I look forward to the roads ahead. One of the rewarding aspects of blogging is the people you meet along the way - all wonderful people and sharing with them.

Combining food, wine and entertaining together in one blog gives me the opportunity to share my passions with my friends, family and readers. Being real, creative, passionate and truly obsessed about food, wine and entertaining is one of the reasons that Authentic Suburban Gourmet is unique. I look forward to continuing to share my equation for happiness!