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You are here: Home / Table scraps / Playing catch-up

Playing catch-up

by Jeanne Horak on January 5, 2010 22 Comments in Table scraps

So as you all know by now, I’m back from my South African holiday (and I can’t say that taking off in 30C temperatures and landing in minus 3C temperatures does a lot for your blissed-out holiday feelings!).  Coming back just in time for Christmas was great fun though – lots of cooking and eating and celebrating with friends.  Now that the last glasses have been put away, the last set of guest linen washed, and the hangovers cleared (ahem…), it’s time to get back to blogging! It feels as if I’ve been barely hanging on to this blog for the last 2 months or so – things just seemed so busy in real life! Food Blogger Connect at the end of November, crazy busy at work in the first week of December, then off on holiday minus regular internet access, then Christmas ans new year… phew. Yes, I have kept up my Saturday Snapshots, and yes, I have posted recipes, but I have not had a chance to tell you all about the other stuff that’s been going on at the periphery of Planet Cooksister.  So here goes a short musical recap of all the good stuff that’s been going on in November and December: SWEET CHARITY The Menu for Hope online charity raffle took place once again in the run-up to Christmas and I donated a copy of the BloggerAid Cook Book.  Although the raffle is now closed, you can still make donations – and if you placed a bid, please don’t forget to check back on Pim’s site when the raffle winners are announced on 18 January! WE GO TOGETHER In November I was approached by the excellent South African condiment company NOMU to make the wine selections in their monthly recipe mailer.  Each month they send out a delectable spread of fresh recipes using thier seasonings and products and ask a well-known foodie to select wines to go with some of the dishes.  The dishes I was asked to match included coconut & salmon laksa, orange-glazed pork sausages, and Moroccan lamb kebabs.  Have a look at the matching wines that I chose! THE FAME In November, SA Promo magazine, a magazine produced in London for South African expats, profiled me as one of their bloggers of the month – check me out on page 15!  And in a double whammy, in their December issue they featured my recipe for Cape brandy pudding as an alternative to Christmas pudding on page 34.  Also just before I left for South Africa, Rajani did a feature on me for the Femina website – “A peek into an African kitchen”. PAPERBACK WRITER Many moons ago, I was approached by a publishing house who were collating material for a coffee table book to be published by (wait for it) National Geographic!  Now it’s not every day that you get a request like this, so of course I said “yes please, how many words would you like?”.  The book (Food Journeys of a Lifetime:  500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe) has now been published and was apparently selling like hotcakes over Christmas.  And best of all – there are no less then FOUR individual entries written by me (dealing with Cape Malay cuisine, dining out in Cape Town, Munich Oktoberfest and Easter in Paris)!  As soon as I get my copy of the book, expect a full review here… ADVERTISING SPACE In October last year I received an e-mail asking whether I wanted my food to star in a national outdoor media advertising campaign.  Now usually I delete this sort of unsolicited e-mail.  No, I do not want to audition for your innovative new cooking programme/appear in a celebrity chef’s show/take a day off work and bring my casserole along to the studion on the off chance that you want to photograph it. But this one, I didn’t deete – all they asked was that I send one recipe from my blog, which I did and then promptly forgot about it.  That is, until the agency e-mailed me to say that my dish had been selected as one of four to star in the advertising campaign!  Now I could tell you about the photoshoot at a London studio, or about the dish that I prepared, or about the brand that my food will be promoting (suffice to say that it’s a household name in the UK!)… but instead I am going to leave you all in suspense until the campaign goes live later this week.  Watch this space – or a billboard near you! FINAL COUNTDOWN One of my (sadly) very last regular columns for the popular Food24 website went live today, all about complaining in restaurants.  Please do go and check it out and pretty please show me some comment love.  As ABBA would say, the way od friends do 😉 SINGING WHEN WE’RE WINNING Just before I flitted off to South Africa, an e-mail plopped into my inbox from the charming and talented Sandra at Le Petrin.  Receiving an e-mail from Sandra is lovely enough – but when the e-mail tells you that you are a category winner in that month’s Does my Blog Look Good in This, it’s enough to make your entire day week month! Yes folks, my photo of my blackberry and Prosciutto salad won the aesthetics category in the November competition! Congratulations to all the other winners and thank you to the judges – I will wear my badge with pride!

DMBLGIT winnerNov09border

 

BlackberryProsciuttoWeb

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  1. Dave -nibbleanibble says

    January 6, 2010 at 1:54 am

    Congratz on winning the award, you totally deserve it!

    Reply
  2. Joan Nova says

    January 6, 2010 at 2:03 am

    Lots to be proud of…and deservedly so! Onward and upward!

    Reply
  3. Firefly says

    January 6, 2010 at 7:00 am

    Cool. You are one popular blogger. No wonder you are rated so high by everybody.

    Reply
  4. Gourmet Chick says

    January 6, 2010 at 9:23 am

    I received a copy of the National Geographic book as a christmas present and totally didnt put two and two together that you had written some of the sections – I will re read those parts with interest. Congratulations!

    Reply
  5. Marisa says

    January 6, 2010 at 10:22 am

    Congrats!!! You deserve every single great thing that has happened!

    Reply
  6. WendyT says

    January 6, 2010 at 10:52 am

    Congratulations on all the above Jeanne!! An inspiration for all of us! xx

    Reply
  7. Nic says

    January 6, 2010 at 11:30 am

    How wonderful! I feel this is going to be a great year for you Jeanne.
    All the best for 2010, and Happy New Year!

    Reply
  8. GeenaMn31 says

    January 6, 2010 at 11:50 am

    We get know about this topic from the different sources. And People would suggest to buy essays choosing the writing services. So, men always order custom papers.

    Reply
  9. Solange says

    January 6, 2010 at 12:22 pm

    Brilliant & well done you, all the best and better for 2010

    Reply
  10. bellini valli says

    January 6, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    Woah slow down Jeanne. What an exciting few months you have had!!!!! And guess what.. I have “Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe” Hugs

    Reply
  11. Christina says

    January 6, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    Big Congrats on all of the above. 🙂
    Glad you had a nice hot Christmas – I so miss sitting out under the grapevine arbour, sunning myself and eating traditional English Christmas dinner [pouts].
    Hope to see you soon!

    Reply
  12. Kit says

    January 6, 2010 at 4:35 pm

    Wow what a busy few months – it all sounds brilliant and totally deserved! Wishing you lots more good stuff for 2010!

    Reply
  13. Kerri says

    January 6, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    Wow, congratulations! What a busy few months you’ve had!

    Reply
  14. rajani says

    January 7, 2010 at 8:26 am

    wowwow!!! jeanne i am blown away! congratulations 🙂 and i am really looking forward to getting hold of the the national geographic book. sounds very interesting!

    Reply
  15. Kitchen Butterfly says

    January 7, 2010 at 8:17 pm

    Beste Wensen voor 2010, Jeanne. Wow, what accolades. Inspiring and motivating.

    Reply
  16. Kevin says

    January 7, 2010 at 10:55 pm

    Congrats on the ad and the well deserved DMBLGIT award! That salad certainly does look good!

    Reply
  17. Soma says

    January 8, 2010 at 3:44 am

    A lot to be happy about with the start of the year! Happy New Year and lots of Congrats and hugs. All well deserved (well not the last column 🙂 ) & really happy for you. That picture makes me want to pick the berries and pop. Lovely.

    Reply
  18. Manggy says

    January 8, 2010 at 5:06 am

    Congratulations on all the success Jeanne! What a great way to start the year! 🙂

    Reply
  19. arcadia says

    January 8, 2010 at 11:05 am

    sjoe, baie geluk! en ek is bly jy het jou kuier hier geniet 🙂

    Reply
  20. Jamie says

    January 8, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    Wow Jeanne, what an exciting way to end one year and begin another! Fame, fortune and fame! Excellent! But you well deserve it! And looking forward to following your great blog and all of your adventures this year. Now I’m off to check you out on all of those links! Happy New Year!

    Reply
  21. Mowie @ Mowielicious says

    January 12, 2010 at 3:29 pm

    Congrats on all this success Jeanne. You really deserve it. Plus, I absolutely loved your salad and gave it top marks! Totally deserved to win =)

    Reply
  22. Jeanne @ Cooksister says

    January 13, 2010 at 5:51 pm

    Thanks to ALL of you who left such lovely, lovely comments! Who is this person you are all describing??? *BLUSH*!!
    Gourmet Chick and Val – yaaay! You have the book! I received a copy from the publisher last week and I was well impressed with the supr-high quality – thanks, National Geographic! Granted, there is no way you would know which pieces are mine unless I told you – my name is merely one in the list of “Acknowledgements” in the back of the book… But if you want to check them out, I wrote the pieces on Cape Malay cooking; Dining out in Cape Town; Munich Oktoberfest; and Easter eggs in Paris. Need to get a proper review posted…
    Mowie – oh yes, I see now you were one of the judges! Thanks 🙂 If I’d known earlier I would have lavished expensive gifts on you at FBC09 😉

    Reply
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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

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