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Work with me

PRs and advertisers – please read this first before contacting me about potential opportunities.  

FACTS AND FIGURES

I have been blogging at CookSister since May 2004 and the blog has built up a solid following.  My traffic stats (available upon request) are healthy and consistent – here are some general facts and figures:

  • CookSister’s readers are overwhelmingly located in the UK, USA and South Africa.
  • 2,700+ Facebook followers.
  • 10,500+ Twitter followers.
  • 4,700+ Instagram followers.
  • 3,500+ Pinterest followers.
  • Google Pagerank of 5.
  • Domain Authority of 50.
  • CookSister has been ranked no. 1 fourteen times since December 2013 on the Foodies 100 UK food blog influence rankings and ranked at no. 1 on the 2014 annual Foodies 100 chart. CookSister features consistently in the monthly and annual Top 20 rankings.
  • CookSister has also ranked in the top 10 in the Trips 100 index of UK travel blogs.

I HAVE A FULL-TIME DAY JOB

This means I am not usually able to attend midweek daytime events.  However, should the event be particularly interesting to me, I can arrange time off to attend, provided that I am given enough advance notice.  Although I do not support myself financially from this blog, I value my leisure time and I reserve the right not  work for free, whether this is in the form of  providing content/coverage; developing recipes;  hosting a giveaway; social media promotion or any other time-intensive activity.

HERE’S WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU FOR FREE:

  • Feature your restaurant, hotel, airline or destination after a review visit has been arranged. Posts will be detailed and photo-heavy, but please note that I reserve full editorial control at all times and publishing posts by a particular deadline will incur a fee.
  • Review your food, drink or tech-related product after samples have been received.  If you send me a sample, I will write or not write about it at my sole discretion and I will retain full editorial control of every post. I will only include a link where I think it is appropriate, not because I have been told to. If you would like your product, logo or link to appear on my website, the only way of ensuring that this happens is to buy advertising space.  All links, where included at the request of a PR or brand will be nofollow links.  This means that the link will still click through to your site, but the fact that I am linking to you will not be taken into account in determining your Google PageRank. The reason why I do this is because of this rule made by Google and this is not negotiable. 

WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU FOR A FEE:

  • Write commissioned articles of any length for your website or print/online publication. Click here for my print and online published writing portfolio.
  • Provide high-resolution recipe or travel photography (day rate – £500)
  • Develop, write and photograph recipes for your site/business (from £250 per recipe)
  • Provide social media promotion of your destination or campaign including but not limited to Tweeting, Instagramming or Facebooking according to a particular schedule and/or using a particular hashtag
  • Train/mentor/coach on a variety of aspects of social media and blogging including photography (day rate – £500)
  • Speak at a conference or event. Have a look at my full speaking portfolio.
  • Host a Twitter chat session (from £200)
  • I am willing to consider selling sidebar ads if the product or service is a particularly good fit for my blog but PLEASE NOTE that these will all be nofollow links.

AND WHAT I WILL NOT DO:

  • post press releases, videos, or other content on CookSister that I did not generate myself, even for payment
  • review or write about an event, product or place that I have not experienced or sampled
  • write a product review that does not include a recipe of some sort using that product
  • include paid-for links in posts
  • fail to disclose that a review or link in a post is sponsored or utilised free samples (This violates trading standards rules, so please do not ever ask me to do so.)
  • host giveaways, unless I feel the prize would be of real benefit to my readers (and I reserve the right to charge an appropriate fee for doing so)
  • work for free “in exchange for exposure on our website”
  • accept unsolicited guest posts

EXAMPLES OF MY PAST WORK WITH BRANDS:

  • Press trips:
    • Exploring Singapore’s cultural diversity
    • my 5-part series of posts on West Sweden
    • my series of posts on Atlantis The Palm Dubai
  • Recipe development:
    • beetroot & goat’s cheese papardelle (for Capricorn goat’s cheese)
    • Christmas cake semi-freddo (for Paradise Estates rum cakes)
    • smoked salmon & avocado stacks (for Forman & Field)
    • pork pibil (for Mexican achiote paste)
  • Restaurant reviews:
    • Catch,
    • Club Gascon,
    • Corrigan’s Mayfair
    • Jordan winery
    • the Balcon
    • Cigalon
    • The Cube

 

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Recently on Cooksister

  • Perfect broccoli and Stilton soup [keto, low carb, GF]
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The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a 7 metre diameter scale model of the moon suspended in the Painted Hall at the  @oldroyalnavalcollege in Greenwich this week, by @lukejerramartist. A surreal and fabulous sight!
Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need to get down to @canarywharflondon between now and Saturday 28 Jan to catch the free Winter Lights 2023 event, back for the seventh year.

My favourites include @lukejerramartist ‘s Floating Earth; Tom Lambert’s Out of the Dark; Fluorescent Firs; Toroid by This is Loop; and the surreal and mesmerising Anima by MEATS - a tunnel filled with hundreds of thin optical fibre lights that change colour and move in the breeze 😍 

Have you been to Winter Lights? What was your favourite?
“When we look down at the Earth from space, we s “When we look down at the Earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism. But it also, at the same time, looks extremely fragile.” - International Space Station astronaut Ron Garamond

To experience the “overview effect” (a phenomenon experienced by astronauts viewing the earth from space), head down to Canary Wharf in the London docklands this week where you can see @lukejerramartist ‘s beautiful Floating Earth installation as part of the Winter Lights event. 

This giant 10m diameter installation is created using high resolution NASA images to create a floating scale model of the Earth, lit from within so that it glows from its current home on the Middle Dock, surrounded by the headquarters of international banking and finance corporations.

The artist hopes that viewed in this context, the installation will make visitors and the bankers working in surrounding buildings question how their money in savings and pensions is invested, and whether investments can be greener.

Aside from being a thought provoking piece, it is also mesmerising and surreally beautiful, so make sure you visit the free Winter Lights event before ends on Saturday 28 Jan.
Happy lunar new year! [Invited] To celebrate the Happy lunar new year! 

[Invited] To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, why not head over to @mamachensdumplings currently doing a residence at the @thegantrylondon in #stratford where you can feast on prawn & chive dumplings; pork, Chinese cabbage and shiitake mushroom dumplings; pork & prawn wontons with Mama Chen’s chilli oil; vegetable dumplings; smacked cucumber salad; and spicy noodles coated in garlic and Szechuan pepper oil.

And afterwards, make sure you head up to the @unionsocialoc bar for a cocktail - I loved the Moreish Fashion with bourbon, PX sherry, chestnuts and mandarin orange bitters!
Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Chr Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Christmas? Turn it into this super simple and super indulgent broccoli and Stilton soup! So easy to make and soooo delicious to eat - and it is low carb and GF. What more could you want?! Click the link in my bio for the full recipe. What’s your favourite soup?
CELEBRATE. So the fireworks are over, the champag CELEBRATE.

So the fireworks are over, the champagne is finished and the leftovers are all eaten. We are one week into 2023 and I have had some time to think about what my intent is for the year. 

In 2022 my brother had a life saving kidney transplant. Since the operation, he has had a Peanuts cartoon as his WhatsApp profile pic, where Charlie Brown and Snoopy are sitting on a pier talking. Charlie says “Some day, we all die Snoopy.” And Snoopy replies: “Yes - but every other day, we will live.”

Waking up in the morning is a gift, every day, and it is so easy to forget this. The last few years have been difficult for so many people and the coming year promises its own challenges. But every day that we don’t die is a day to live, to celebrate life in some small way.

So my intention in 2023 is to celebrate. Celebrate our achievements however small. Celebrate our friends and family. Celebrate small things. Celebrate life.

Did you make any resolutions or goals for 2023? I would love to hear them in the comments! Wishing you all the very best for 2023 🥂
Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes fro Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes from last night with friends in Deptford. My deconstructed avocado ritz; @twinkleparkstephen ‘s bobitie; Giles’ Ottolenghi tomato salad; and Jean’s clementine trifle - and the London night sky ablaze with fireworks!  How did you spend your evening? 🥂🎇🎆
Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope your day was merry and bright, filled with family, friends and love 🎄🥂. Mine was spent alone at home - my choice and the result of a combination of Covid (not mine!) and rail strikes 🤦‍♀️ but very relaxing and indulgent!
Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter y Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter you can make ahead? Look no further than my individual smoked salmon terrine! Hot smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives wrapped in cold smoked salmon in a ramekin. Still one of the most popular Christmas recipes in my blog, it looks cheffy but is soooo simple to make - and will save you time and effort on the day! Get the recipe by clicking on the link in my bio.

How is your Christmas meal prep going? Are you entertaining at home or going to friends or family? 🎄🥂🎄🥂🎄
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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…

Latest Recipes

Bowls of broccoli and Stilton soup
Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli

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