No doubt everybody thinks this blog is just about perfect, and that’s why they didn’t say anything in my call for suggestions.
That means Joanne Seiff, who offered the only suggestion, is the winner of my now out-of-print cookbook, Recipes Worth Sharing
. (I have no idea why anyone is offering to sell these for the prices showing up on Amazon; I just offer the link in case you want to know what the book looks like.) Joanne has a fiber-focused blog at http://joanneseiff.blogspot.com/ but the title you’ll see on the page is Yarn Spinner, and you should think of that term’s two meanings, since Joanne also is a writer.
Joanne, send me your mailing address via the form on the Contact page, and I’ll get a book in the mail to you. The always-generous Diane offered a compliment, and I’m giving her a book, too. I know where to find her, though.
Joanne’s suggestion:
… to do some reviews of healthy “prepared” condiments and food? That would be super. Like, when you go to the super market, and you need, say, mayonnaise, is the new olive oil mayonnaise put out by Hellman’s better for us? Or are they all about the same? Are there grocery store products that one can’t make from scratch that you’d recommend?
My response: I’m going to keep the suggestion in mind, Joanne, but among the obstacles to putting it to work is that I don’t buy too many prepared foods.
Regarding the mayo specifically, you might be interested in this discussion on Chowhound. It would appear that the olive oil version is better for you in that it has fewer calories, but possibly worse for you because it’s got extra additives. So, I guess it depends on what your criteria are. As one who leans to real food, I’d probably stick with the original mayonnaise.
Meanwhile, though the prize has been awarded, I’m always eager for your suggestions. Let me have them in comments or through the Contact page if you don’t want to make a public comment. (Email subscribers, you just reply to your email.) Thanks, everybody!
Janet Majure // Jun 24, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Glad to say Joanne contacted me, and I’ll be sending her book to Kentucky tomorrow. Here’s the note she added:
Meryl // Jun 24, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Wow, I missed this one.
This might be a little outside the scope of what you have going, but I’ve been looking for a good local restaurant review blog for a long time now. I’ve thought about doing it myself even, but we’re so stuck on two or three favorite places (Free State, Milton’s, Wa) that it wouldn’t be very interesting for long!
Janet Majure // Jun 26, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I might be persuaded to give you a cookbook, too, Meryl, although I’m not likely to take your suggestion. Like you, I have a couple of favorite places, but I don’t think Lawrence has enough restaurants to support a whole blog. The restaurant section of Lawrence.com does provide pretty good information and allows people to comment, in case you weren’t aware of it.