That's What SHE Said...The Times, UK

Just as you heave a thundrous *sigh*...

Just as you throw your hands up in the air...

And wave 'em like you just don't care...

woot!

Okay, so I got a little carried away there at the end. I am a little bit giddy.

Leave it to a teeny tiny mention in a newspaper that isn't even close to home, and suddenly the heavy *sigh* that’s been deflating my lungs like a cold day pressed down on a soufflé, pitches up by three octaves into a Hello Kitty of an *eek!* It is silly. I know. It's not an article I wrote. It's not an article about me. In fact, there isn't a single shred of information about The Delicious Life in the article in the Sunday Travel section of The Times UK. It's just a quote.

But the quote made me smile anyway. Especially since Gourmet said Ciudad shows the rich diversity of Los Angeles, and immediately after, I said that I’d rather pick up empanadas and mix mojitos at home. LOL!

You see, it's been quite a rough month. Hell, it's been quite a rough year. Blogging about food has always been one of few activities that has kept me sane in the past year and a half. I love food. I love cooking, I love (to try) baking, I love picking the perfect restaurant, making reservations, dressing up, eating out, eating in, planning menus, thowing dinner parties, and in the end, I love to write about all of it. All. Of. It.

Blogging has always and only ever been intended for fun, for in the end, food is fun. I never wanted to think of it as job, something I had to do, or something *gasp!* that might bring me to tears. Blogging has, yes, brought me to tears. Frustration, stress, sometimes tears. And when it brings me to tears for whatever reason – technical glitches, low traffic, not-so-positive comments and otherwise – I know I have to step away from the laptop and ask myself, "Why am I doing this? Wasn’t this just supposed to be…you know, fun?" Is The Delicious Life truly a reflection of my life, or have I let The Delicious Life become my life?

I have not yet definitively answered those questions for myself. I am still working on it.

Yes, it is always for fun. I am blogging for neither fame nor fortune. If I wanted fame, I would have headed straight for Hollywood and…waited tables. If I wanted fortune, I would have gone back to my previous-to-b-school career and continued to amass my hard(ly)-earned dollars. No, I am here in a little hidden corner of the blogosphere, unemployed, but happily blogging away. About food. I am famous in my own little fantasy world of me, myself, and I, and as for fortune? Oh, this is rich, baby, rich.

But I am human, just like everyone else. Even when I deceive myself onto higher, more noble ground, I know that every once in a while, I am self-seeking (only every once in a while). I need those Stuart Smalley moments. Affirmation. Encouragement. I appreciate blogging for what it is, but I also have the utmost respect for the old-school media. And when someone you admire even so much as acknowledges that you exist, winks at you, blows a kiss in your general direction so that you think it’s for you, but maybe not, but who cares you can pretend to catch it anyway, well, it’s enough to make me swoon and shriek and weep with an autographed 8-by-10 glossy pressed to my bosom.

So although being quoted in the Sunday Travel section of the Times UK may not seem such a big deal to anyone else, it's a big deal to me. Big. Huge. It made me smile.

*shrugs* Oh well.

I thought it was kind of cool. :)

Who Else Said "That's What SHE Said?"
Epicurious' Epi-Log's Food Blogs We Like (Mar 2006)
Food & Wine - Jealous because I wasn't mentioned *sigh* (Mar 2006)
Gridskipper's Urban Blogging Awards (Dec 2005)
The Los Angeles Times - Blogging LA (Dec 2005)

** a year ago today, i noticed the pushers on every street corner **

tags :: food : and drink : latin : restaurants : reviews : blogs : blogging : UK : los angeles