Adopting a Blogger
June 7, 2010 by Andrea 
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Filed under Announcements
Meet Anne, who writes about her love of food at http://annacotta.wordpress.com. Anne started blogging after her senior year in high school and says she’s “glad it stuck.” She spent a gap semester in Indonesia and fell in love with the food, and is now a college student spending this summer in a restaurant kitchen learning about technique and how restaurants work. In spite of her busy work and school schedule, she still manages to find time for cooking and baking at home. Her gap semester in Indonesia reminds me of how I wish I had done something like that during my college years, and I highly recommend it. Spending time in another country while working on your degree can be one of the best things you’ll ever do, both for your professional career as well as your world view.
Anne and I are partners for Adopt-a-Blogger, a terrific program founded by Kristen at Dine & Dish which pairs experienced food bloggers with newer bloggers. We get to know each other, help each other with blog stuff, answer questions, and share tips. Anna and I have both been busy this spring: she’s had school and work; I’ve had the kids, the garden, blog duty, life in general. We might have gotten off to a slow start, but we are catching up now.
Anne and I decided to introduce each other with a brief interview, so we chose some mutual questions and picked a few of our own. I hope you enjoy meeting Anne and getting to know her through her blog.
My questions for Anne:
You are working in kitchens now. What are your professional aspirations?
Hm. Well, I like working in the kitchen, but I think my real interest is turning out to be in the broader restaurant business. It’s exciting back in the hot kitchen, but I’m more interested in FOOD as a whole rather than just cooking, if that makes any sense. Making the same thing over and over in the kitchen seems like it could easily become more mechanical and job-ish than inspired and exciting. Plus I just love the idea of having my very own restaurant; the thought of finding a space and designing logos and choosing linens and creating my own menu makes me just squirmy with excitement. The food-love isn’t going to die out though, I can say that for sure. I’ll be involved in the strange world of feeding people in some way, whether I stick in the kitchen or venture out into restaurants or make my own jam and sell it on the side of the road in Kentucky.
Eat out or cook in?
Depends what’s in the fridge. Or where I am. If I’m away from home, I feel the need to eat at as many restaurants as humanly possible, doing a bit of a scavenger hunt meal; apps here, entrée there, dessert at that shiny little bistro around the corner.
You wake up in the middle of the night, starving. What do you make?
Depends how lucid I am. Probably a banana with Nutella.
What’s your favorite dish to order at your favorite restaurant?
Any of their ever-changing pasta dishes, or lamb chops.
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
Breakfast or dinner, lunch is the awkward middle child.
You have to cook in just one style (Italian, Basque, Thai, etc.) forever. What’s it going to be?
American I suppose, because it’s sort of a big grab bag of everything.
Favorite fruit?
A really good mango. But more often, strawberries.
Anything you’ve eaten traveling that you craved for ages but could never re-create just right?
Soto ayam, this deliciously limey and almost-spicy Indonesian chicken soup.
Street food or Michelin starred restaurant?
How sketchy is the street food? How pretentious is the starred-restaurant?
Any guilty pleasure foods? Mac and cheese from the box? Oreos? Orange Fanta?
I love Coke. I wish I didn’t, but I get insane hankerings for the real-sugar Mexican Coke that comes in a bottle.
Summer favorite? Winter favorite?
Winter: our very dear family friend’s Christmas Day coffeecake, I swear it could heal the world’s problems it’s so amazing. Get all the world leaders around this cake and there shall be peace among men. She delivers them on Christmas Eve, I get almost equally excited for “Camie Cake” as the rest of Christmas.
Summer: Raspberries from my mom’s garden… or caprese salad eaten on a deck… or ribs… or corn succotash…
Top three reasons food bloggers rock.
1. Humor. There are some clever ones.
2. Creativity. Always new stuff getting posted.
3. The fact that bloggers often get little glory but do it anyway because they are rad.
Finally, tell us a few things you enjoy besides food.
I like waffles, puppies, dancing poorly and wildly, being on planes, Google, sunshine, warm laundry, sitting in coffee shops, lemon soy yogurt, people who play harmonica, The New Yorker, and my ma and pa.
You can find my interview responses at Anne’s post Little Orphan Annie.
It’s been fun reading your two mutual interviews. I guess I’ll have to try Nutella now that I know you both rely on it at times — but I will do it Andrea’s way since banana’s are icky
Thanks for introducing us to Anne! I’ve adopted several bloggers and it’s been such fun. I hope many bloggers follow your lead.
Yes, it is fun! I think the best part of Adopt a Blogger is getting to know the person behind the blog.