"Olive Jar" by Naomi Shihab Nye + Eggplant with Lentils and Pine Nuts

As a food blogger, publishing a post is like extending a hand or inviting someone to the table. After months of reading someone's blog, you feel as if you're getting to know a friend, someone you'd like to sit and have tea with, if only you lived in the same city. We often watch each other from afar, sharing in the joys and frustrations of cooking, writing, and finding our place in the food community. Although we've never met, Elizabeth Winslow from Farmhouse Table has helped me overcome my aversion to eggplant, so I'm grateful I stumbled across her recipe when I did. Elizabeth, if you're reading this, thank you!

"A Leek Haiku" from Gather + Leek Risotto + a Video

In the latest issue of Gather Journal, a small haiku was tucked away on the bottom corner of page 45. Turn the page too quickly, or fix your gaze on the potato and leek tart it was paired with, and it would have been easy to miss the haiku entirely. But when I noticed it there like a crumb on the page, I knew it needed to be here, too.

A Leek Haiku

By Fiorella Valdesolo

Onion it is not.
Slender. Mild. Ribbons and roots.
Beauty in a stalk.

From Gather Journal, Fall/Winter 2013

10 Tips for Blogging With Soul

It's a new year. Hello!

One of my recent newsletters covered the topic of blogging advice, and it received such a positive response from readers that I wanted to share it here to kick off 2013.

(If you're interested in more content like this, consider joining The Right Brains Society. A few times a month, you'll receive a letter from me in your inbox with exclusive content.)

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Almost exactly one year ago, I was fighting off a cookie craving by standing in the hallway with a book of poetry in my hands. Eat This Poem was born just hours later, so it's only fitting that I'm in a reflective state of mind as 2012 comes to a close.

When a friend suggested I start a blog in 2008, I laughed it off. Only after we discussed it more did I realize that a blog would solve a very critical problem in my life: I needed a creative outlet. I had always been interested in writing and photography, and had been teaching myself to cook for the past five years. I didn't see what an opportunity it was at the time, but I realized much later that this was a space to find my voice. I also resisted starting a Twitter account, but have now made genuine, real life friendships because of it. What a world we live in!

I've given a lot of thought to blogging, what it means to me, and the opportunities its provided, but have rarely written about it. Almost five years in, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the final authority on blogging, but I have learned a few things along the way that I offer to you here.

10 Tips for Blogging with Soul

1. Blogs are planted like seeds in the ground, so start where you are. The blog you have now will grow and change in ways you might not be able to imagine in two or three years from now. You'll be a better writer or cook or artist in six months or a year. Don't let this stop you from beginning.

2. Write, create, and dream for yourself first. It's crucial you don't lose this ability when starting a blog.