During the month, I read many blogs, look at hundreds of recipes, check out new, traditional, and unusual kitchen or food items, and by month’s end have more than five favorites to share with you. But a promise is a promise, so I limit the choices to keep the post short and sweet. And what doesn’t make it in this month’s five favorites may show up in future posts, so most will be revealed eventually.
And the winners of the five favorites for April are…
19 ways food photography is a total lie
When I was starting the food blog, I did a little research on food photography. I was appalled at some of the tricks photographers used to make the featured dish look tasty. I just can’t do that to my food pictures and besides, we’re eating the results! So now you understand why some of my photos are not quite as appealing as the professionals. There are no foreign substances in my photos and no food was harmed. 😉
Spring is on the horizon so those of you who like to grow garden vegetables might be interested in this article from The Cottage Market. Of course, I love the fact that they focused on the Italian garden. (My garlic and onions went in the ground in the fall for a summer harvest and are growing quite nicely.)
I remember my Italian grandfather dumping the morning coffee grounds at the base of trees and in his garden every day. I’ve continued that tradition to this day and have reaped the rewards of abundant harvests. This article explains the benefits of using coffee grounds and if you’re not a coffee drinker, where you can obtain them (thank you Starbucks).
Check out the short video of Ina Garten. She is one of my favorite cookbook authors and Food Network shows. Ina seems so down to earth and inspiring. The video reveals how she got started in the food business and her successful journey. Want to guess what her estimated worth is?
I saw this post from The Cottage Market about 21 Fabulous Raskog Ikea hacks and just had to have one! A friend of mine has three and uses them for sewing projects. The blog has some very clever ways to use this cart. I may end up with several myself.
I decided to make this first one a bar cart (photo at left) for after dinner drinks and espresso. I ended up purchasing mine at Target just because I could order it on my phone while on the road and they had it ready for pickup when I arrived about 20 minutes later. (I was not driving BTW, I was a passenger in the car so I could use my phone safely.) I never made it to Ikea to see the real Raskog cart, but happy with the one I purchased and the price was the same at both stores.