It's been a while since I've written about life as a full-time freelance writer—since quitting my paralegal position last February, I've touched on some of the initial challenges and the ups and downs. Now that I've passed the one year mark, I wanted to look back and reflect on how my life has changed since making the leap.
Risotto is one of my favorite dinners—it makes me feel like I have it all together, no matter how stressful my day has been. If I have the time, I make traditional risotto. But if it's a hectic weeknight and I need an easy dinner before a workout, I throw together a hands-off version.
As I mentioned in my post about my trip to Mason City, the city has a notable collection of Prairie School and Frank Lloyd architecture. Prior to my visit, I didn't know much about this distinctively American style and architect, other than many drives past the Frank Lloyd Wright gas station near my hometown and reading Loving Frank, a novel based on Wright's relationship with Mamah Cheney.
When Mike got home from work last Wednesday, he stumbled across a miniature photo studio in our entryway: lights, cords, a camera, a baking sheet I was using as a backdrop. "What have you been up to...
One of my favorite streets that I've come across in my travels is the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado. It's lined with local shops and restaurants, several blocks are pedestrian-only, and it has street performers and excellent people-watching. Most importantly for someone like me who grew up in relatively flat state, you can see the Rocky Mountains.
This is the time of year for best-of lists: the best songs, the most talked about news stories, the most important books. 2018 has been a banner year for me personally—in February, I quit my job as a paralegal to make my side gig as a freelance writer into a full-time career. While there have been plenty of ups and downs, one thing has been constant: so much delicious food. When it came time to sum up 2018, really the only way to do it was...
Christmas is a hard time of year for me. I struggle with seasonal affective disorder, which brings out a very specific sort of sadness. The best way I can describe it is that it's like having your emotional range shifted a few notches downwards: the highs aren't as high as you know they could be, and the lows are worse than usual.
A street lined with small shops, each decorated with fresh pine boughs and Christmas wreaths. Dozens of Christmas trees. Twinkling luminaries along the sidewalks. It sounds like an illustration from the front of a Christmas card, or maybe the opening scene of a Hallmark Channel holiday movie. But actually, I'm in Iowa's Amana Colonies.
The running joke about Minnesota is that we have two seasons: winter and road construction. Likewise, when it comes to what I'm cooking for dinner, there's CSA season and soup season. From June...
As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm working with Barlean's this month to promote their Seriously Delicious Omega-3s. Omega-3s are the healthy fats found in fish and flaxseeds, and Barlean's Seriously Delicious Omega-3s are a sweet and creamy way to add them to your diet.
Culinary truths my mom taught me: 1) The best part of a loaf of bread is the crusty end. My mom refers to it as the "gunta", a term she picked up from her Finnish-American grandmother—I think it's a...
This month, I'm working with Barlean's to promote their Seriously Delicious Omega-3s. What are Omega-3s? They're the healthy fats found in fish and flaxseeds. Barlean's Seriously Delicious Omega-3s are emulsified for three times better absorption than traditional liquid or soft gel fish or flax oils, so you get more Omega-3s without an aftertaste.
There are certain foods that are often associated with fall, like apples, pumpkin pie, and butternut squash. But there's something missing from that list—pears from the Northwest!
As I mentioned in my post about 5 reasons pears are the perfect fruit for fall, pears are a tasty pairing for fall flavors like roasted squash and maple. As part of that post, I developed a recipe for a Roasted Squash and Pear Salad with Maple Vinaigrette.
Before I started planning my recent trip to North Dakota, I knew absolutely nothing about Bismarck besides its role as the state capital—including how to spell the city's name.
At a recent work event in Minneapolis, someone asked me what I had been up to over the summer. "I've been traveling a lot," I said. "I've been doing some press trips—one through Wisconsin, one in Iowa, and I'm going to North Dakota next week." A colleague sitting next to me rolled his eyes. "Wow," he said sarcastically. "You're really hitting the highlights."
A perk of my job as a freelance writer is that I often get to check out restaurants before they open to the public. Sometimes it's pretty informal—I take some photos of the space, interview the owners, and maybe get to sample some food—and other times, there's a structured media preview event. In order to write my post for City Pages about Keg and Case, the food hall in St. Paul that opened in September 2018...
As an introverted person and an introverted traveler, New Orleans has never been a destination at the top of my list. If it was a person, New Orleans would be the life of the party. I'm the person who's standing off by the buffet, nervously eating hors d'oeuvres and counting down the minutes until I can leave.
As I mentioned in a recent post, I attended the International Food Blogger Conference in August. Blogging conferences are a great way to learn about new opportunities in the industry, get ideas about how to be more effective, and network with fellow bloggers and brands. If you happen to be me, blogging conferences are also a great way to make you feel insecure about your blog, your career path, and your hair.
As I've mentioned previously, my travel goal this year has been to explore my own backyard. Travel doesn't need to be far-flung to be satisfying, and some of my favorite travel memories are from trips close to home: wine tasting in the St. Croix Valley, taking a cheap trip to Germany via New Ulm, and doing a food tour in Stillwater. So this year, to celebrate our ten-year anniversary(!) as a couple, Mike and I took a very short jaunt to St. Paul...
