Announcing the July Monthly Mingle – a Taste of Yellow for Barbara

In September 2006, Barbara Harris of Winos and Foodies was challenged to complete a meme detailing “5 things to eat before you die”. The last on her list was the following:

“My 87th Birthday Cake – I used to say I wanted to live until I’m 100 but I’ll settle for 87.”

This was particularly poignant because in 2004 Barbara was diagnosed with cancer, a diagnosis which instantly changed her life forever and altered her long-term horizons.  If you have been on the internet over the past week, you would know by now that Barbara never did get to eat that cake.  On 29 June, Barbara lost her long battle with cancer and the food blogginging sky lost one of its most inspirational stars.  Barbara started her blog Winos and Foodies in January 2005, less than a year after I started my own blog, and was soon known by all who ran across her online as kind, funny, talented, gentle, brave and inspirational.  She was open about the hardships and indignities imposed by her disease, but at the same time she remained reolutely optimistic, always planning for and looking forward to foodie adventures when her latest treatment regime ended.

One of Barbara’s most lasting online legacies was the creation of the LiveStrong with a Taste of Yellow event in 2007.  This yellow-themed event co-incided each year with LiveStrong Day, created bycancer survivor Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong Foundation to raise awareness of cancer. Each year, bloggers from around the globe shared yellow recipes and stories of loved ones who were fighting cancer – or who had lost the battle. As a tribute to Barbara’s memory, we have decided that this month’s Monthly Mingle event (created by Meeta of What’s for Lunch, Honey?) will be dedicated to Barbara’s memory, and that the theme will be A Taste of Yellow.

Here are the rules:

1. Make or bake something yellow (sweet or savoury), or something using yellow ingredients. Let your imagination run wild: lemons, yellow peppers, yellow plums, yellow carrots, yellow squash – the possibilities are endless!

2. Post the dish together with any cancer stories or memories of Barbara on your blog between the 1 July and 6 August 20012. Older posts will not be accepted. Please also note that your post should be prepared exclusively for thre Monthly Mingle and should not be submitted to any other events.

3. Please link your post to this announcement and to Meeta’s Monthly Mingle page. Use of the lovely logo Meeta designed is optional in your Monthly Mingle post.

4. Please submit your entries before midnight (your time) of the 6 August 2012 by sending me an e-mail (emailcooksister AT gmail DOT com) containing the following:

• “Monthly Mingle entry” in the subject line
• Your name
• Your blog name and URL
• Your location (just the country or city is sufficient)
• The name of the dish
• The URL of the post in which the dish appears
• Please attach a photo of the dish (max 500 pix wide) to your e-mail

I look forward to sharing your dishes and your stories – let’s make this the biggest Monthly Mingle ever as we eat yellow one more time, for Barbara.