[FOOD] Foodies on the Web

Those who actually check out bloggers' blogrolls may have noticed that mine keep growing and this week gained a few links prefaced by [FB].

Whazzat?

Well, zat means the link is to a foodie blog, one of the foodie sorts of things I covered in the column I just sent off to Computer Bits. That column was triggered by the angst I'm feeling as I box up books (and books and more books) -- more specifically, the angst I'm feeling about boxing up my cookbooks. The book boxing is happening now so we can get the free-standing bookcases out of the way and show off the size of the rooms when we put the house on the market. All the bookcases, except for the built-ins, are headed over to join the other books and bookcases in the warehouse until we get the movers in.

All the cookbooks have been boxed, except for about three-feet worth. The books remaining will be kept in the built-ins down here until we make the final skedaddle up to Telegraph Hill. I am missing my boxed cookbooks already.

Paul and Ellyn were up for a BBQ on the deck a couple weekends ago and I was whining about boxing up the cookbooks, all forty or fifty boxes (or more) of them. Ellyn asked, "But really. How many cookbooks do you need?" What can I answer to something like that?

Cookbooks aren't just something for checking out a recipe for mu-shu pork or Char Siu Bao or gingersnaps. No, when I need a recipe, it's usually not a specific cookbook I head for. I pull out five cookbooks and find five recipes and mix them up, or I go to the Web and do something similar with Google.

Cookbooks are for dreaming over, for sitting curled up in a chair with a breeze coming in off the Bay with a pad of sticky notes, marking pages with possibilities for future dishes or snacks or desserts.

I only have three feet of shelf space for cookbooks at the place on Telegraph Hill. The rest of the cookbooks will be stashed in bookcases at the loft annex and I'll need to dash down and retrieve them if I suddenly realize I need one of Madhur Jaffrey's recipes or something out of Moosewood.

With most of my cookbooks elsewhere, I'll be depending on the Web for my foodie fix. Aha! a subject worthy of a column.

I sorted through an enormous number of sites and blogs to come up with the ones I mention in the column. There were many, many more I didn't have space for.

Ready for a whirlwind tour? Starting from my links over there -->

Chocolate & Zucchini from Clotilde Dusolier in Montmarte. Clotilde turned 25 yesterday, as you might've noticed. She writes deliciously about food, cookbooks, shopping at the markets, travel, restaurants and yet more food.

I mentioned 101 Cookbooks here the other day. The theme behind Heidi Swanson's blog is "exploring my collection of cookbooks, one recipe at a time." Recipes, musings, market shopping and the weather in the City by the Bay. But only 101 cookbooks?!?!! Oh. My.

chez pim, an occasional chronicle of intemperate pedantry. I came across Pim in eGullet's forums. Pim writes about food and restaurants and travel and food and books she's reading and food. I especially liked reading about her visit to Manresa. We'd eaten at Manresa when it first opened because I loved David Kinch's food at Sent Sovi and Manresa was just a little bit further in the other direction. Three miles away maybe?

Perhaps it was opening jitters, but even though Aimee was there keeping a handle on the front room, the experience fell flat for the price. It seemed Kinch was trying too hard to impress with original, over the top creations. Pim's (and Liz's) hearty cheers for their Manresa experience convinced me we need to go back, now that the dust has settled, and see how it is -- maybe for my birthday next month.

My latest supper -- modern italian home cooking -- and more -- from the south east of england is not just about cooking, as the title explains. Where else could I find out that Bertolli olive oil is owned by Unilever?

!

My column mentions Chocolate & Zucchini and 101 Cookbooks but not the others. Other sites the column doesn't mention, but which deserve mention somewhere, are

the daily bread - also from the other side of the pond.

a spoonful of sugar - recipes galore. Angela sorts everything into categories: "dinner is served" "low fat" "soup" and such.

Mikiko Itoh's I was really just very hungry recently shared a recipe for zucchini basil muffins. Have I mentioned that I like reading recipes?

Deb's In My Kitchen is a chatty blog with recipes and discussions about cookbooks and food.

... and last but not least (not because I've run out of links but because I could go on for days), is the Domestic Goddess - devoted to the art of food and its preparation - with scrumptious food descriptions and recipes.