At least that’s the answer I would expect to get from fellow food-blogger Adam, over at The Amateur Gourmet. Though I have never met Adam, I like him immensely. I feel we share a certain… je ne sais pas. Scratch that, je do, in fact, sais… what we share is a conversational approach to blogging and a flare for the over-dramatic everyday.
Like me, Adam is aware that he is Not. Famous. (It’s hard to hear sometimes, though). He knows that his words are not the be-all and end-all of food, and he is aware, on at least some level, that many people on this great green Earth have no. idea. who. he. is.
So he has to spice things up a bit. Maybe we don’t automatically cling to his every word, as if he were Oprah, Ellen, Perez, or [insert here someone you admire]. Without that automatic authority that some who actually Is. Famous. might possess, Adam has had to get creative. Take, for instance:
On a drowsy Saturday morning, you stumble out of bed and look at what you have in the kitchen. You don't have much. There are hot dog buns, there's cream, there are eggs (hopefully untainted by salmonella) and slivered almonds. You scratch your chin, you lift your eyebrow, you hold your monocle closer to your eye. Might you? Might it be possible? Why perhaps it might!
From Adam’s post “Hot Dog Bun French Toast.”
What Adam’s voice does here so effectively, is pull the reader in to what could ordinarily be seen as mundane, by using dramatic language and creating conflict and conflict resolution where there once was none. He could have said:
“There wasn’t much in my fridge this morning went I went to make breakfast. I had some hot dog buns, cream eggs, and slivered almonds. I had to think of a way to put those together so I could eat something that tasted good.”
But he didn’t. It seems Adam is a skilled story-teller. He also has one of my favorite characteristics in a writer: He doesn’t take himself too seriously.
That’s important.
It’s especially important once we start talking about sense of humor, which Adam sure has. When noting the merits of his newly invented recipe, he writes:
And it was based on laziness and cheapness too.
I don’t see Wolfgang Puck admitting to anything of the sort (at least not publicly). Humility definitely comes through in Adam’s posts and it is not unappreciated.
I also enjoyed Adam’s post entitled “Strange and Exotic Candies from Around the World”. In the post, he gives purpose to an otherwise-purposeless heart-shaped candy bowl. Adam decides to fill the bowl with strange and exotic candies he comes across. And then to enjoy the candies (the best part, duhhh).
He takes us on a journey from Chinatown ginger candies:
I didn't like them because they stuck to my teeth too much.
to White Rabbit candies:
...once again, I didn't love it because it stuck to my teeth.
to Iridescent gummy candies:
Even though this stuck to my teeth, I really enjoyed it.
Adam’s playful and relaxed tone are definitely something I can sink my teeth into (groannn…. sorry). But what I have to say I love the most is the fact that he understands his audience. Food is not serious. It’s fun. Mom taught you not to play with your food? Well, she’s right. (That’s gross.) But, at the very least, lighten up a bit when you’re talking about it after the fact. After all, who wants to merely dine when he can DEVOUR?
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