Is There a Difference Between Blogging and Being a Blogger?

I've had this blog for several years at this point. I used it to cover the radio show I and a college roommate had together my Sophomore year. It followed me to China, as I shared my perspective on being abroad in a country where access to my blog required circumventing the great firewall of China. I used it to follow my attempts at budgeting eating in and eating out over the summer after Junior year, when I lived and worked in DC. After all of these years, I would tell people who inquired, "I blog," yet I never considered myself to be a blogger.

I was recently invited to be a part of the "Local Voices" section of the Georgetown, DC Patch, part of a network of blogs that follow local news and events. I find it a bit ironic that I am part of the "Local Voices" at a time when I am searching for my voice beyond Georgetown. As an unemployed, recent graduate, the transition is and will be bumpy. However, this opportunity is a way to reach out to other young adults in transition and show them that it is navigable and a part of growing up.

Was this invitation the call to blogger-hood? What about this makes my blogging more official? Is it the fact that I have a larger platform and a larger audience? Was it because now there was an authority who can dictate whether or not my posts deserved to be posted, whether or not my voiced deserved to be heard? I like to think that there is no difference between blogging and being a blogger, just how there is no difference between running and being a runner. I guess it is a matter of doing versus defining oneself by the action. Regardless, I'm beginning to feel like a blogger. And I believe that it will only be more real once my first post goes live.

See Georgetown.patch.com for my posts as a contributing blogger! Add the RSS feed to your Google Reader, make it your homepage, do whatever you need to do...

New Year, More Posts?

I hate New Years Resolutions. I usually don't even think to make any until after the New Year and by then it seems as though there is no point. Same thing happened this year, and so I have no substantive or well-throughout plans to better myself throughout 2011.

I, surprisingly, have enjoyed my time at home. I've relaxed, slept late, tried to overhaul some of the horrible eating that occurs at my parents' home (fries and chicken wings for breakfast, chips for breakfast and waffles for lunch and dinner -- some of the more incriminating occurrences). Now I think it's time to get back on that blogging tip.

I am heading into this last semester with no meal plan and a goal to overhaul my grocery budget. And so there is lots to look forward to for this new year. I've got more recipes in development, shortcuts for cooking, tips for shopping and menu planning, and more.

On that note, let's hope for more willpower this year and happy new year,!

Now I'm a blogger and a tumblr-er

I was beginning to contemplate a switch to Wordpress, however I'm in allegiance with Google. My hope is that Wordpress' recent updates will be an incentive for Google to add some more functionality to Blogger. On the other hand, I did decide to create a Tumblr account. 

My motivation behind the two accounts is to use the two to complement each other. This blog will be the primary source of information, as I will provide recipes and other musings, be it food politics or vuvuzelas. Tumblr will be my way of blogging on the go, and providing short posts and pictures. 

Whatever source you choose to look at, I will continue to bring food politics, healthy eating and good cuisine to college students and those pressed for money and time.

You can find me at Table for Two on Tumblr

Summer 2010: You Choose My Content

So now that it is the summer and school is out, I want to do a little bit more extensive posting, whether it is related to recipes, cuisine, ingredients, techniques or other general know-how. If you have an opinion on what kind of content you'd like to see throughout the summer, post a comment or shoot me an email.

Here are some ideas I have:

World Cuisine Weeks - Prepare of a menu of dinners for certain weeks throughout the summer, based on the cuisine of a specific country or region (ex. French Cuisine, Indian Cuisine, American Cuisine, etc)

Techniques and Tips of the Trade for Beginners and Beyond - I'll provide posts on specific topics relating to preparing and cooking food (ex. knife skills, soups stocks and stews, grilling, braising and roasting, baking, desserts, etc)

Ingredients of the Week - I'll pick feature ingredients, describe their origins and varietals, among other interesting and relevant information, and prepare a dish using them, as well as suggestions for other recipes

Reader's Choice - If anyone is out there reading (I know you're out there, I have a counter and only 1/3 of the hits are my own), feel free to post or email me a question about cooking or a suggestion for something that you would like me to address on the blog and I'll make a post on that topic.

Any other ideas? Let me know.

A Recent Lapse In Blogging

I know it's been a while since I've posted and I'm sure it pains my faithful readers so. Last monday I started a full time job in NY and have dived head first into my preparations for leaving for China in August. I can't promise that I'll be blogging more from now on but I can promise that when I leave for China it will get better. And, frankly speaking, blogging may be the only way that I can keep my English up to par.

So keep checking. I promise I will post soon!