Did you see this?

It’s an article in today’s LA Times Food Section. It’s about the ethics of food blogging, written by Elina Shatkin.

It’s timely and very interesting, I’d even say newsworthy.

I have given a lot of thought to the ethics of SippitySup. I don’t really do restaurant reviews. Which is the focus of this article. But I might someday. Still many of the points in this article are quite relevant to so many of us, and may be worth a little soul searching.

Every time I post a recipe I think about its accreditation. I am not sure I have ever run a recipe that was absolutely someone else’s (except my mother’s and brother’s). I often find recipes I love from a variety of sources. But I tweak them to suit my tastes and cooking skills. I then say it was adapted from a source. I will often say that a chef or cookbook inspired a recipe when I took a broad concept and made quite a few changes.

But after that there is some gray area.

Well, big news at SippitySup. First things first. It's Monday and we have Scott here for more tips and encouragement for all of us TomatoManiacs.

Just in time because my harvest is starting to come in. I have quite a few small orange cherries from my Jenny plant. I even have one beautiful green-shouldered black tomato called, Nyagous. I picked it the morning I left for Sonoma and decided to let it sit and sweeten on the window sill a bit more while I was away for the long weekend.

You can imagine how excited I was to get back here and slice into that beauty and have my first real taste of a big juicy summer tomato.

But life, she is a bitter muse. Because she dealt me an irony that is almost epic in its comic proportions.

I broke my jaw in Sonoma and have had my jaw wired shut. It may be closed tighter than a tin can for the next 6 weeks! Can you stand it? A food blogger that can't eat! I would be laughing right now if it did not hurt so much...

I have spent countless weeks attempting to grow perfect tomatoes and now I can only look at them. This photo from the first of my harvest is going to have to satiate my tomato appetite.

And before anyone asks about the mysterious circumstances of my accident. Let's just say it involved 7 kids and one foolish adult in a game of tag. Because what happens in Sonoma stays in Sonoma! GREG

You know I have been a fan of StumbleUpon for several months. But like so many of these social networking tools I have come to find that I was not really taking advantage of all it has to offer. I want to pass along a few things I have learned in order to encourage you to use and benefit from the community building aspects of StumbleUpon.

In the food specific blogworld, sites like FoodGawker, Photograzing and TasteSpotting can indeed drive traffic to your blog. They are great at helping you build brand recognition, but their format actively discourages the reading of your material. So they really only service food-blog lovers, and only one type (albeit, a very important type) of food-blog lover.

Facebook is great for bragging rights and announcing new posts and reconnecting with your high-school BFF. But it can only go so far towards bringing you new readers. Which (for me) is what blogging is all about, readers!

Twitter is at least for “readers”. It is a lot of fun and can quickly make you a twitterstar, which will undoubtedly help your blog. But it is time consuming and a destination all its own for most of its users.

To me StumbleUpon is an amalgamation of all these social media outlets. It is great way for enhancing the image of your blog, it encourages cross-pollination of many types of blog lovers (not just foodies) and it’s unmatched in building an audience.

Nancy Silverton and Dahlia Narvaez I was lucky enough to be asked by FoodBuzz  to cover a very exciting event here in Los Angeles. The event was the 21st Annual Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation.

Share our Strength is a national organization that raises funds to help end childhood hunger in America.  According to the L.A. County Children’s Planning Council, “25%, or 1 out of every 4, children in L.A. County 17 years and under are living in poverty.  Furthermore, over 4,000 children 5 years old and under are homeless on any given night… More than 12 million children – 1 out of every 6 or 7 face hunger in America.”

50 restaurants and 30 beverage venders participated in this event. So the choices were mind-boggling!

Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger of Border Grill and Ciudad led the event. They steered the crowd through a host of speakers, demonstrations, an auction, and even a mole tasting contest. It was a lot of fun but these women also knew the greater purpose behind these festivities.

Here we are. Another ManiacMonday. You have come here for your weekly fix of TomatoMania. In fact you may be expecting more great advice from Scott on growing these perfect jewels of summer. But we are giving him a week off.

You also may have been expecting me to post Sups! version of one of the contest winning recipes today. But in truth, I am dragging my feet a little bit because I know those great tomatoes of summer are right around the corner. I figure with just a little more patience I can make these recipes using the very best tomatoes. Maybe even tomatoes from my own backyard!

So I am choosing this Monday to give you an update on my tomatoes. Which have not only started to flower, but they are beginning to fruit as well.

As I have mentioned in weeks past am growing my tomatoes in pots because I do not get a lot of sun in my yard.  But that has not stopped my little seedling from growing HUGE!

I think I am having so much success because Scott helped me pick varieties suited to my conditions.

It’s been a mad rush of a week.

My tomato plants are waist high. They are beginning to flower and they look healthy and happy.

Scott talked briefly about pinching off (or not pinching off) some of the branches that begin to form at the joints where the leaves connect to the main stalk. I am growing mine in pots, so I think my tomato support choices are limited. In fact I am choosing a very basic pyramid of 3 bamboo stakes per pot. Because of these limitations I am choosing to pinch my side shoots. Besides it’s a nice way to start each day. I take my tea out there and I pinch away.

I like the way it makes my fingers smell too!

I’ll be bringing Scott back next week for some real advice, about support systems. In the meantime, wasn’t there a contest or something here at SippitySup. Aren’t you curious how that came out?

Well, had a great response to our TomatoMania recipe contest. I am so honored by all the talent and love out there.

Every single entry was fantastic. I wish we had the budget to print up all 46 entries and pass them all out at the Los Angeles Garden show. But the reality is we do not! Besides what kind of contest would it be with out winners! Everybody loves a winner. And here they are! Congratulations and Thank-You all...

Monday’s are good days for announcements. So today’s announcement is about a website I like called Wasserstrom.

It’s funny when I post something here I can never really say what the reaction will be. Last week I posted a recipe for a “meatloaf” the French would call a terrine. It was an entry into Mindy and Chef E’s Monday Mouthful Challenge. People really seemed to like the recipe. That’s nice.

But the reaction I was not counting on was people’s head over heels zeal for my terrine mold. Here we are a week later and I am still getting emails about it. I am not just getting emails from “Friends Of SippitySup” and the other regular commentators. But I am getting emails from people I have never heard of before.

There seems to be one question on everyone’s mind. “Where did I get my terrine mold?”

Well you can all stop jamming up my inbox because I am going to make a quick announcement so we can all move on.

I wish I could say I got it in Paris, or that it was an heirloom from Julia Child’s own kitchen… but in truth I am stuck behind this keyboard for more hours than I like to admit. So, guess what I got it online!

That’s right. I got it at Wasserstom. They have a phrase at Wasserstrom “We carry every culinary essential you could need…to make your kitchen sizzle”. Yet, despite this proclamation... I shop there anyway!

They have great categories of professional cookware. There is no need to (always) pay Sur La Table prices. Especially on work-horses like this terrine mold.

I also get open stock on Buffalo China there. You never know when you need to add to your collection of good quality bistro-style tableware!

TomatoMania ContestI know it’s not Monday. So I should not even be uttering the word Maniac. But I just wanted to remind you TomatoManiacs to get to work on a tomato recipe.

I know you want thousands of new tomato loving foodies to discover your blog. As I stated in the tomato recipe contest announcement, I can help 6 people do just that. Because I am going to be handing out recipe cards at the Los Angeles Garden Show printed up with your recipes and your logo and/or url!

Dig back in your blog. You must have something. The only thing I ask is you not steal the recipes or the photos. Make these recipes your own, or have permission. Better yet, turn in a great recipe passed down in your family. What a great way to honor your Great Aunt Tilda!

TO ENTER: Send an e-mail to greg [AT] sippitysup [DOT] com (ONE entry per person, please!) with the following information by MIDNIGHT, Monday, April 20  PDT:

• First name
• Blog name (or hometown if you don’t have a blog)
• Blog URL (if you have a blog)
• An ORIGINAL Recipe (Word Document preferred))  300 words or less
• AN ORIGINAL photo of your tomato recipe, at least 400 px wide (preferably square)
• A one-line description of your recipe
  
• I will contact the winners for their logo and url on April 21st or 22nd
• THANKS GREG
  

As you may know I am right in the middle of my tribute to mustard. As long as the hills near my house are bursting out golden-yellow from the blooms of wild mustard plants, then I am posting mustard ideas.

But it is Maniac Monday so I will divert momentarily so that all you TomatoManiacs can get your weekly fix of tomato info.

Tomorrow it’s back to the business of mustard with something everybody can love. Grilled Cheese (with mustard)!

Scott Daigre is off to another TomatoMania event and will be back with more growing tips next Monday. But I am going to use this time to tease you with a tomato contest we will soon be announcing. More on that very soon…

I also want to give you a little background about the tomato from a culinary standpoint!

Despite its firm place in European cooking the tomato has it’s origins in the Americas. It was cultivated by the Aztecs and was an important part of their diet as far back as 700AD.

It was brought back to Spain by merchant vessels. Though the British deemed the fruit “poisonous”, it quickly caught on culinarily throughout Southern Europe where growing conditions were ideal.

This morning I had a particularly spectacular walk in the hills near my house. It was such a typically spring Southern California morning. Which means a touch of what some people erroneously (even on the news) call fog.

But really it is called a marine layer, or inversion layer. If you live anywhere near a very large body of water you probably know what I am talking about.

Here in Los Angeles the inversion layer is particularly pronounced in spring. Some call it May Gray or June Gloom. But these are rather dreary monikers because this morning “fog” has it’s own special charm I think. Partly because you can count on it “burning off” by lunchtime and leaving you with some of the prettiest blue skies LA is capable of producing.

But what I really like best about these mornings is the special kind of “hush” that falls over the city. I don’t mean hush like quiet. LA is never quiet. There is always a certain low buzz or hum that permeates the atmosphere (11 million people are incapable of producing complete silence). But there is a gentleness in the atmosphere that envelopes everything.

Something has come over Sup! (watch Peeps for My Peeps video)

I think I have turned over a whole new leaf, “I feel happy and peppy and bursting with love”. Do you remember that toe-tapping tune from Felix Unger?

Of course you don’t you're too young!

Funny how quickly my mood sours.

Now I sorta regret having made this cute little ode to the spring. Why did I make it so “happy and peppy”?

I don't know.

I don’t really consider SippitySup a great vehicle for cute. Or sweet. Same goes for adorable, beautiful, charming, dainty, delightful, pleasant, or pretty.

I don’t know what came over me. This is so out of character.

Oh yeah, I remember it was that Jennifer over at Savor the Thyme. She MADE me do this for her Peeps Challenge. I am so impressionable or do I mean malleable? Pliant...?

Oh well have a "Happy Peppy" Spring (watch Peeps for My Peeps video)

TomatoMania finally had its first 2009 Los Angeles area event. It was at Tapia Brothers Farm Stand in Encino. It was a big hit (as always!). So Scott Daigre is recovering this week.

As you can imagine he really throws himself into these things (because he’s the original “maniac”). So he asked me to step in on this the latest of what has officially become, and will remain through the tomato growing season, Maniac Mondays.

The weekend was an undeniable hit. The line snaked out the front gates and through the parking lot. The die-hard TomatoManiacs were the first to arrive…in force!

But the regular old TomatoManiacs like me kept a steady stream of plants moving from the sale grounds to the trunks of cars.  All kinds of cars too.

You may know that SippitySup supports Seafood Watch. An organization designed to increase awareness about the importance of taking steps today to ensure that the oceans will continue to produce the seafood we all love in an ongoing and sustainable manner. One of my most well-recieved posts outlines exactly what sustainable seafood means. Read it and educate yourself, so you can make the best choices possible. It's an issue that is important to me. So when Serena Federman from The Monterey Bay Aquarium asked me to pass this information on I did not hestitate. Not only that, but you can expect a recipe with Arctic char from me later in the week. GREG

Arctic Char: Another Green Option

Arctic char is an up-and-coming alternative to farmed salmon because the texture and taste is similar. For this reason, we added it to all regional Seafood Watch pocket guide versions as a "Best Choice" back in January.

Chefs.com is picking up Sup for their blogging series!      (click on the screen grab)

Which is pretty cool because I do not consider myself a chef. I just plain don’t. The chef moniker requires training and a mastery of technique that I don’t have and can’t touch. I am just a cheeky cook with strong point of view.

Of course (as you know) that doesn’t stop me from passing on what I do know (or at least think I know) about food, cooking and life.

But if you are looking for definitive information about cooking, or some insight into the world of professional kitchens Chefs.com is a great resource.

The bloggers seems to get short shrift however. I don’t think they add our articles to their database. Which makes searcing for us difficult. So if you want to see my first pick-up use this link for SippitySup on Chefs.com.

You can bet I am going to be speaking to someone about this. I may not be a chef but “I will not be ignored Dan!”, err well I mean Chefs.com…