• A look inside Cook – I had the opportunity to attend a supper club at Cook in Philadelphia. I’ll have photos, thoughts, and info.
• Top local foods for Thanksgiving
• Holiday recipes
• The Versatile Blogger Award: Fellow Jersey food blogger Jennifer bestowed this award on SJL. (Thank you)
• more…

What does this have to do with my friend Bethe, the brains behind The Grass Stain Guru blog, you might ask? Well, Bethe is wise and has a lot of common sense (she’d, apparently, never make it in NJ politics). So I’m shifting my focus to her and introducing you to her because she gets the importance of the great outdoors. And she deserves a day that’s dedicated to her because she spends every day championing getting kids and grownups to unplug and go play outdoors.

Yesterday, while I was calling politicians and annoying my friends with pleas of “please contact your representatives,” Bethe was encouraging adults to let their kids play in mud. That right there earns Bethe the right to have a day dedicated to her. She interviews squirrels on her blog and writes lists of childhood moments that should not be missed (whistling with a blade of grass, catching fireflies…). She encourages parents to let their kids be bored.

My kids are much better off because I know Bethe. She has encouraged me to limit screen time. To take them for walks in the woods. To remember that skinned knees heal. To appreciate the huge hole the boys and their friends dug right in the middle of my back yard because while they were digging it, they were outside (and not playing video games). To remember it’s okay to say “go play outside and don’t come in until dinner unless someone is bleeding from the head.

If you aren’t already regularly reading The Grass Stain Guru, I encourage you to do so. It’s Bethe Almeras Day! Go stop by her blog and look around and say “Happy Bethe Almeras Day!” to her on Twitter. Then get off your computer, stop worrying about politics, and go play outside.

The girls from my Blogher Food clan: Lisa from Snappy Gourmet, Liz from Corkscrews & Curls, Anna from Cookie Madness, Angela from Foodie Road Show, and Lisa from Jersey Girl Cooks.

Last week, I told you a little about my trip to the BlogHer Food convention in Atlanta and introduced you to the two other South Jersey Food bloggers that I hung with while there – Lisa of Jersey Girl Cooks and Allie of All I Eat Food. One of the things that I told you about Lisa is that she’s very good at introducing people and making everyone comfortable.

She introduced me to some wonderful friends she has that she knows from the blogging/food contest circuit. I truly enjoyed meeting all these women, and in the short span of  3 days spent more time with them than I get to spend with some of my best friends in a year. So Lisa and Allie were two of the women in what I’m calling my BlogHer Food clan (cause it sounds hipper than BlogHer Food group), and I’m about to introduce you to the rest.

If you enjoy reading food blogs, discovering new recipes (many of these girls create original recipes – something I rarely do), and being inspired by creative women, check out these blogs and their awesome bloggers.

• Cookie Madness – Would you take baking and cooking advice from a Pillsbury Bake-Off winner? Sure you would. Anna won the top award for her Baked Chicken and Spinach Stuffing recipe. You won’t find a mention of that on her blog, though. She doesn’t wear a t-shirt announcing she’s won that coveted cooking award. Gotta love a girl who doesn’t rest on (or brag about) her laurels. I wouldn’t have known if Lisa hadn’t told me. I’m particularly interested in sifting through Anna’s Breakfast Cookie category, because seriously, if I could give the boys healthy cookies made with real ingredients for breakfast, I’d be mom of the century!
• Corkscrews & Curls – Liz is new to food blogging but she’s already found a very specific niche – a blog for curly-haired girls who like food and wine (like me!). You don’t really have to have curly hair to enjoy her blog that focuses on affordable wines, make-ahead dishes that allow you to enjoy your dinner guests, and the occasional tip for the curly-haired girl. Check out this Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast recipe that Liz featured on her blog recently.
• Danica’s Daily -
  

  Danica and her husband Jay. They are great people.

  Danica’s blog features recipes for the foods she eats while doing Weight Watchers. Before you think it’s diet food, think again. Weight Watchers has changed the way it’s done things, and the program focuses on eating real food. So her recipes are for real foods that anyone would eat – she just calculates the Weight Watchers points associated with them. Really, you’d never guess that a blog featuring a recipe for Bacon Baked Vegetable Tortellini had weight loss as a feature. Perhaps Danica will be the inspiration I need to get back to the Weight Watchers meetings I was going to earlier this year.

• Foodie Road Show – Angela was the one (mostly) vegetarian in our little clan, and her blog will be a definite source for Meatless Monday (and other meatless days) recipes for me. She does eat meat, but it’s very rarely. She’s working on a vegetarian grilling series on the blog right now and these Halloumi and Eggplant Kabobs look yummy. Halloumi is a firm, white cheese that is mild and salty and has a very high melting point (I just learned that on Angela’s blog). Cheese kabobs – oh ya!
• Snappy Gourmet – Lisa introduced me to another Lisa, the blogger for this website that has lots of original recipes and tons of foodie giveaways. Lisa is also an award winning cook. Her list of original award winning recipes is quite impressive. You can find recipes that look delicious but are out of the norm – like Sweet Heat Mango Chicken Sliders – on Snappy Gourmet. It will definitely keep you from making the same old, same old.

The boys have off from school most of next week so I’ll be taking a little break, too. I’ll be back again next Friday with odds and ends, but I probably won’t post again until then.

Here are a few things that might interest you this week.

• Saturday is going to be beautiful. Mostly sunny and 74 degrees. A perfect day to visit one of our wineries. Sharrott Winery in Winslow invites everyone to come in this weekend for its Riesling Bench Trials. They have several versions of their Riesling at different levels of sweetness and need taste testers to vote on their favorite. They will also have experts on hand to help you pair wines for your Easter dinner.
• Auburn Road Vineyards announced this week that their Merlot Reserve 2007 and Sole 2008 each won Bronze medals at the Finger Lakes Int’l Wine Competition for 2010. Tonight (like every Friday night) Auburn Road is hosting “What’s for Dinner” catered by a local caterer/restaurant  (reservations required) and tomorrow night there is live music. If you’re going, make sure to try one of their award winning wines.
• If you want to find a winery near you to visit this weekend, head over to the Garden State Wine Growers website to find your closest one. Go to the wineries website and see what they have in store for the gorgeous weekend.
• Tonight, for Good Friday dinner, Chef Mark has tracked down some fresh water, sustainably farmed yellow perch for dinner to use in a Yellow Perch Burrito at Tortilla Press Cantina ($15.95 with sides).
• This is a little outside of the food realm, but I thought it might interest the do-it-yourselfer in many locavores. There’s a workshop in the University City section of Philadelphia that provides space and tools for those who want to build things themselves but don’t have room in their house. NextFab Studio has a woodshop with industrial-grade equipment, a metal shop, computer equipment to help with designs, and most important of all, classes and training.
• Lastly, I’ve joined the Celebrate Green mother/daughter team Lynn and Corey on their Celebrate Green blog. Once a week, I’ll be posting recipes that celebrate the season or even simply celebrate one of our national food days (National Oatmeal Cookie Day is coming up at the end of the month – yum!). My first post went up yesterday – Early Spring Vegetable Saute – a great side dish for your Easter ham or lamb.

- Molly Katzen in an interview for Civil Eats

Image: Britton

• Sprindale Farms in Cherry Hill will hold its annual pie tasting this Saturday and Sunday, March 20th and 21st from 10am to 4pm. You can sample several of their yummy pies. I’m drooling just thinking about it. I stopped by Springdale Farms earlier this week to get my cider doughnut fix.
• If you go to the Spaghetti House in Marlton, you’ll be able to enjoy one of our local wines with your dinner. The restaurant  is now serving wines from Sharrott Winery, and you can also buy them to take out.
• The great, local supporting Sweet Life Bakery in Vineland got a shout out in SouthJersey.com’s dining section as one of four places in SJ to stop for a snack or a sip. Check out what other three locations made the cut.
• From Monday March 22 thru Saturday March 27 (starting Tuesday at the Cantina), Tortilla Press and Tortilla Press Cantina will offer a special meatless menu to give the earth a break. One of my favorites from the Tortilla Press is on the special menu – the Chile Rellenos – roasted poblano peppers stuffed with chihuahua cheese & queso fresco, battered & lightly fried served with tomato, jalapeno & cilantro broth.
• My friends at Twilight Earth are giving away six copies of DIRT! THE MOVIE (which is timely considering my ramblings about dirt on Wednesday, huh?) Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, DIRT! THE MOVIE tells the story of humans trying to re-connect to dirt—the living skin of the earth. Traveling from the vineyards of California to the plains of Kenya, DIRT! reveals how repairing our relationship with dirt can create new possibilities for all life on earth. Hop on over to Twilight Earth to find out how you can win a copy. The contest ends April 5.

Image: Rochelle, et. al.

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- Ms. Shopping Golightly

Image: EraPhernalia Vintage