in praise of sardines

Hola!

Hello newbies! If this is your first time here, welcome to In Praise of Sardines!

Who doesn't relish a day spent basking in the glow of the spotlight? Today IPOS is the Featured Weblog on the Typepad homepage (update: my 24 hours in the spotlight have passed, so click here to see what you missed). Thanks, Typepad!

I'm busily unpacking boxes from my move this past weekend, but I'll break for a few minutes to take you on a quick tour of my 2-year-old site. Follow me as I guide you down the righthand column of this page.

The inevitable first question is "Why sardines?" Follow the link below my picture to discover the answer. Next, click on the About link above my picture and read a little bit about me. There you'll discover I'm a chef and I'm opening a restaurant in San Francisco. You can read all about the ongoing saga in my series, Olallie Update, named after my future restaurant, Olallie. Olallie? That's a curious name. What's it mean? Read here to find out. Click here to see a slideshow of the kind of food I'll serve at my restaurant.

Other favorite posts are listed below my Categories and Archives menus under the heading "Take the Bait." One of my most popular posts is the true story of how I missed a flight for a slice of pizza. Check out the other stories, too. More recent posts you won't want to miss describe my journey to this year's Burning Man festival, my love for the kitchen I designed at my last house, and my girlish style of cooking.

Our next stop is the links to Slideshows on my FlickR page. If any thumbnail picture or topic grabs your attention, click on it to see more. The photos of my meal at Spain's El Bulli or my visit to the farmers' markets of Paris will surely whet your appetite.

You must be famished by now! If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, you're in luck (if not, come visit soon!). Decide what you're craving, then check out my "Bay Area Shortlist" (the final item in the righthand column), follow the link, and go grab yourself a bite to eat.

I hope you enjoyed your tour. Thanks for visiting and come back soon! If you're curious about what goes on behind the scenes in the restaurant world, you won't want to miss my upcoming tales (and construction photos) of opening a little neighborhood bistro. Construction starts next month and the restaurant will open its doors 6 months after that!

Wow. That's soon. I better get back to unpacking my house so that I'm ready. Ciao!

"Maybe we should call the police. Dial 911. It's the lobster squad."

Last week I received a comment in my post about migas, the pork-saturated Spanish breadcrumb dish, from someone who identified herself as "lobstersquad." The phrase sounded familiar, but I couldn't recall where I had heard it or to what it referred. Curious, I clicked on the link to her website and was astonished by the lovely little world I had landed in.

Ximena Maier modestly describes her 2-month old Lobstersquad as a "food blog with drawings." Ximena is a talented artist, so each of her lovely posts, many of which feature delectable-sounding recipes, are accompanied by one of her whimsical, heartwarming illustrations, which inevitably manage to bring a smile to my face.

I have another reason to promote Ximena's blog here. Ximena is one of the few food bloggers writing in English who is based in Spain!

The 30-year-old resident of Madrid is a professional illustrator (check out more of her work on her drawing blog and click here to hire her). Her work has been featured in Spanish travel and women's magazines, children's books and cookbooks, including one, A Taste of Cuba, which has been translated into English and is available in American bookstores.

Ximena let me know via email that one perk of being an illustrator is that she is often able to work from her home, which just so happens to be located a short stroll from a lovely market. There she often picks up whatever strikes her fancy, brings it home to her kitchen, and lets it simmer away while she finishes her work. Later, she shares her culinary creation with her husband, who she told me is "very happy to eat any experiment, however much lemongrass or cilantro it may contain."

I am particularly smitten with the title character of one of the Spanish children's books Ximena illustrated, Marcela (written by Ana García Castellano, published by Anaya Infantil y Juventil) which, according to Ximena's recent post on the joy of picnics, stars a quirky little girl who is fond of eating cauliflower while on picnic. I wonder if little Marcela would like my cauliflower recipe?

Illustration by Ximena Maier in Marcela - have you ever seen a happier scene?

So, where does the title of Ximena's food blog, Lobstersquad, come from? It's an homage to the famous lobster scene in the 1977 Woody Allen film "Annie Hall," of course! As a fan of Allen's movies, I should have known. In the film, Allen, as the neurotic and crustacean-phobic Alvy Singer, recites the lines I quoted in the title of this post, to Annie, played by Diane Keaton, as their dinner scurries across the kitchen floor of their Hamptons beach house.

If I were you, I'd make like an escaped lobster and scamper on over to Lobstersquad straight away!

Food|and Drink|Food Blogs|Spain