Sunday, January 1, 2012

Ring Out the Old, Ring In the New

I’ve never been one who looks at New Year’s as a time to make resolutions, reflect on the past, or create bucket lists. However, since 2011 was a pretty bizarre one for me (and my family), I decided to check out a few end of year posts by some of the writers I admire and respect. The exercise left me inspired and grateful. So, I thought I’d share those sites with you, hoping you have the same experience.

A few Blogs/Sites that inspired me in 2011:

Monica Bhide’s “A Spice of Life”                                http://www.monicabhide.com/

Susan Ely’s “The Shared Table”                                  http://thesharedtable.com/about/

David Leite’s “Leite’s Culinaria”                                 http://leitesculinaria.com/     and
                            “David’s Blahg”                                      http://leitesculinaria.com/category/blog

Nancie McDermott’s Blog                                             http://nanciemcdermott.wordpress.com/

Michael Procopio’s “Food for the Thoughtless"  http://foodforthethoughtless.com/

Marc and Angel’s                                                              http://www.marcandangel.com/


There are also several people who made my 2011 special and for that I’d like to thank:
the generous and talented Nancie McDermott and the amazing and inspiring Monica Bhide for all they taught me - I look up to you both as mentors and models of success,

the gracious educator Antonia Allegra (http://www.antoniaallegra.com/ ) and the golden standard of hospitality Lynn Swann for hosting one of the most amazing weeks of my life at the Greenbrier in West Virginia (http://www.greenbrier.com/ ),
Don Fry (http://donfry.wordpress.com/ ) for sharing with me a priceless amount of advice and knowledge,

Marilyn Markel of A Southern Season (http://www.southernseason.com/class/default.asp ) and Susan Ajygin of Wake Technical Community College (http://conted.waketech.edu/ ) as well as the hundreds of students I taught in 2011 in their classrooms,

Crash Gregg, the tireless publisher of the Raleigh Downtowner Magazine, (http://raleighdowntowner.com/ ) for continuing to allow me to write about the Capital City’s food scene,
and last but not least, my family and friends for their limitless love and support as well as their ability to put up with my crap.