~ Culinary Q&A & Kitchen Therapy Too (1/27/12) ~

For those of you regulars to Kitchen Encounters, it is no secret that the past week here in Happy Valley has been one of the saddest in our University's history. We lost a great man in Joe Paterno.  It is not a stretch to say that Penn State has temporarily lost it's sense of identity, but even though our beloved Coach is gone, we will be back.  He'd want that. To read my memorial post:   ~ Sunday Dinner for JoePa ~, just click into Categories 16 or 17!

Over the course of the past week, Melanie's Kitchen has had more than the usual amount of activity.  Having lived in this community for over thirty-five years, we've made a lot of friends (who've moved away), met a lot of students (because our son graduated from Penn State), and, even welcomed football players and athletes from other sports into our home.  Many of all of the above were back in town for the memorial services and we were thrilled to hear from several.  Some called just to talk, others stopped by for their traditional "cocktail and spirited conversation" at my kitchen counter.  In the course of one of these visits, our "old" friend Lynn, whom we haven't visited with in about fifteen years asked a simple question, which is the premise for this Q&A:

How do you decide what recipes to post on your blog?

Firstly, while I am relatively new to blogging, most people who don't know me personally probably don't know that I've been researching, developing, documenting and writing recipes for over 30 years. This makes me quite different from other bloggers in that I have over 700 meticulously tested recipes written and at my disposal.  I also have a continual stream of 100 or so "in progress", meaning:  once they pass the kitchen and taste tests each one will be added to my archives and eventually get published/posted.  So, folks, I'm in no danger of running out of my own material in my own lifetime.  Pictured here is just one of many, highly-organized stacks of Melanie's Kitchen recipes, each printed on my own signature "hearts 'n flowers" stationery. Those of you who take my classes and receive printed hand-outs of my recipes are familiar with it.  My dear friend of 32 years, Esther Del Rosso, an extremely talented local artist and graphic designer, hand-designed the border for my paper (as well as my business cards and notecards), just for me, over 20 years ago.  I've never changed it, nor will I.  I love it, and her, to this day! 

Now that I'm am a blogger, several criteria goes into which one of my recipes I decide to post and when.  These are in no particular order, because they are all very closely intertwined:

A recipe must be seasonally appropriate (Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall).

A recipe must be in keeping with a particular holiday or celebration.

A reader has specifially requested me to post a recipe.

A real life or current event occurs that spawns a creative culinary brainstorm.

I get so hungry for something I can't stand myself, so, I cook it and post it.

When all is said and done, I just do my best to keep it everyday real, always original, well-balanced, inspiring, informative and educational, for a wide-range of readers.  Everyone isn't a gourmet, everyone doesn't like everything, everyone can't cook like a chef, and, everyone doesn't have time to cook.  I even have a few readers who hate to cook.  More appropriately stated:  I can't please all of the people all of the time, but I sure try my best!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and once again:   To leave a comment or ask a question, simply click on the blue title of any post, scroll to the end of it and type away... or, email me directly!

"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti

(Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2012)