faq

What type of camera do you use?

I shoot with a Canon Rebel, most often with either a 100mm macro lens or a 50mm 1.4 lens. I also shoot with my iphone when I’m out and about!

Have you ever taken any photography classes?

Nope!! But let me make it known that I really know nothing. I’ve learned everything just by trial and error and have picked up a few pointers from my boyfriend, who’s much more of an actual photographer than I am.

What about exercise? This blog is “Eat Live RUN” after all.

You’re right! But in my case, the “RUN” stands for any physical activity that is crucial to a balanced lifestyle, as well as just being adventurous and facing life head-on! To stay active, I mainly just do yoga and take walks. You can read the post on why I quit the gym here.

What culinary school did you go to? Did you go to college as well?

I went to Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando, Florida. I started out in the basic culinary program and then switched over to baking and pastry midway through. Before culinary school, I attended College of Charleston and have my bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing. To read more about my culinary school experience, click here!

I definitely don’t think you HAVE to go to culinary school at all to become a great chef. I actually went for purely selfish reasons because I couldn’t find a post-college job to save my life (figured why not get myself further in debt? great idea) and attending culinary school had always been a secret dream of mine. Great chefs, in my mind, are made by experience and passion. You can find that in the classroom, yes, but you can also find that on a stool in your grandmother’s kitchen, learning how to make perfect gnocchi one by one.

What is the “Recipe Box Project” you keep talking about?

The Recipe Box Project is my own personal project to create (and adapt if necessary) all of my great grandmother’s recipes. In the fall of 2006, I stumbled across her box of faded recipe notecards in my grandmother’s attic and finding those recipes completely changed the course of my life. After finding the recipe box, I finished my last year of undergraduate work and then attended culinary school with hopes to one day work through work through her recipes with a chef’s knowledge.

Five years later, I decided take on the challenge of baking all of Great Grandma’s recipes as well as researching my family history. Hope you enjoy!

I wrote you a long email and you never wrote me back! What gives?!

This is a toughie. While I love to get your emails (and read every single one..promise!), there’s only one of me and many of you. I can’t possibly answer every email that comes my way, plus develop new recipes, write a book and still have some sort of life.

Okay, I really don’t have a life…but still. In a perfect world I would respond personally to each of you, and even though I really try my best, that often times doesn’t happen. But please! Still send me an email. I respond to as many as I can every day and they always bring a smile to my face.

What do you DO?

This! I’m a full-time blogger and food writer. I write recipes for Health magazine and PBS, and have a book coming out at the beginning of 2012. In terms of blogging, I work with Foodbuzz, which is an advertising network specifically for food bloggers. I also am an Amazon Affiliate and do receive affiliate compensation for books, music and kitchen tools I mention on the blog.

What are the kitchen tools you can’t live without?

I have two: my Kitchen Aid and my VitaMix. I just purchased a new Kitchen Aid after mine broke (I know, right?!) last year. So, for the past nine months I was using a vintage thrift store egg beater on a daily basis. Finally I caved and bought a new Kitchen Aid mixer and love it. I use my VitaMix also on a somewhat daily basis to make soups and sauces. I’ve never owned a food processor so I don’t know what I’m missing on that account, but I’ve been able to get pretty much everything done in the VitaMix.

I also love: my electric tea kettle. My microplane. My spoons, knives and whisks. And I have about five colorful rubber spatulas! I can’t live without those things. For a full post on what I love in the kitchen, read this.

Do you ever worry about weighing four hundred pounds with all the desserts you bake? I have no self control and could never have so many sweets around my house! How do you do it?

To be quite honest, no, I don’t ever worry I’m going to be “four hundred pounds”. I don’t believe that indulging every once and a while on a rich dessert will ever make you become four hundred pounds. It’s if you take that indulgement to an extreme (eating an entire cake or pie when it’s meant to serve eight), will you gain weight. I do bake or cook every day, but I’m also great about staying active and physically fit.

I consider cooking and baking to be my job, and that helps in the mentality of always having delicious sweets laying around the house. I taste every single thing I make and usually pawn extra off on my boyfriend, my church, neighbors and friends. Trust me…it goes fast!

Read more about my food approach here!

I just started my own blog…do you have any advice?

Great! The best advice I can give you is just be dedicated. I believe that blogs are content driven, and if you keep on writing to the best of your ability, people will read. When I started three years ago, I only had two readers (my parents), but because I stayed dedicated my reader-base grew over time. Photographs help, too. If you can invest in a good camera, it’s worth it. Even though I used a tiny point and shoot for years, I love my DSLR to death and couldn’t live without it.

Are you “still” writing a book?

Every time I get this question, I laugh just a little inside. Yes, I’m “still” writing a book. As if writing a book is a simple, carefree process that’s finished as soon as my pen hits the counter.

I’m still writing.

It’s been two years…and I’m still writing! Well, not really. I actually am done now but it took two whole years to get the manuscript the way I wanted it—four drafts completely rewritten, actually. It’s been the most challenging and the most rewarding experience of my life. But now it is done and in production and will be on a bookshelf near you in September of 2012. The book is a memoir of my time going through culinary school and will include about thirty recipes in it (some new, some old). Thank you so much for your support!

I made one of your recipes and it didn’t turn out! What did I do wrong?

Unfortunately there’s a million and one things that can go wrong in the kitchen. Ingredients not properly measured, oven temperature not set right, yeast gone bad….it’s just one of those crappy things we all have to deal with! If you made one of my recipes and it didn’t turn out, I would check the quality of your ingredients and make sure you didn’t accidentally skip anything.

I’m not in your kitchen with you so I can’t one hundred percent guarantee anything; we all just have to do our best and know that, from time to time, things don’t work out. If something doesn’t work for you though, I’d love to hear about it. Shoot me an email and we can try to troubleshoot together.

Can I use your photos and recipes on my site?

You may use my recipes (but please link back to me), but not my photos. All my photos and recipes are copyrighted under Eat, Live, Run. I work very hard on recipe and photo you see, so please give credit where credit is due.

Can I substitute whole wheat flour for white and applesauce for butter?

Well, technically you can do whatever you want but I definitely do NOT recommend it. The recipes that I feature are all tried and true in my own home (most of which I learned along the way in culinary school and working in restaurants), and I use the ingredients I do for specific reasons. Whole wheat flour is much more dense than white and applesauce (in my opinion) should never, ever be substituted for butter. The make-up is not the same and the final product will NOT be the same.

If you do try to sub ingredients in my recipes, know that they might not turn out so please don’t blame me!

I’m going on my honeymoon to wine country. Can you give me a list of restaurants to go to?

But, of course! You’ll find a whole page dedicated to Northern California restaurants (with my reviews) here.

Tell me more about your yoga training. Will you teach classes soon?

I am working towards my RYT 200 hour certification with California Power Yoga. I started practicing yoga in college during a particularly difficult time in my life and after the first class, was totally hooked. Yoga is so much more than just a physical practice for me; it embodies a lifestyle of peace, service, non-judgment and compassion towards others. Since beginning my personal practice in 2005, I have been incredibly blessed with amazing teachers and mentors. Now, the time has come in my life and practice where all I want to do is give back and serve others with the way I’ve been served for the past seven years. That’s why I am becoming a yoga teacher! After I receive my certification in June, I would love to start teaching power yoga classes part-time, dabble in podcasts for this blog (!!) and teach private lessons in my community.

What do you do with all the food you make? You can’t possibly eat it all!

You’re right! I totally cannot eat it all. But I hate to waste food so I really try to make good use out of everything that comes out of my tiny kitchen. I love to cook for my friends and most people who know me know that they can always show up at my door around noon every day and get a good meal. Cooking is my favorite way to serve others.

Comment Policy:

I reserve the right to remove any comment that appears for any reason and nasty, hurtful, rude comments will not be tolerated in any way, shape or form. My whole family reads the comment section and I like to keep it clean. That being said, if a recipe didn’t work for you…or if you just didn’t like it, tell me about it! Debates and dissent can be healthy and I have no desire to ruin that for anyone. Just keep it classy.

Disclosure:

I don’t accept money or monetary goods to write nice stuff. My opinions are my opinions. Consider yourself fully disclosed.