My wife, Katherine, may kill me for writing this particular column, but I'm willing to take the risk. If you don't see a column next month, you'll know why!
A few months ago my wife expressed a strong interest in working with her younger sister on a food blog (cardamommyandcoriaunty.blogspot.com). She envisioned something the two of them could use to showcase recipes that they are making to spice up their lives (yes, pun intended). You see, my wife has really come to enjoy cooking not something she would have thought ever possible when we were married six-plus years ago.
Part of her style of cooking includes trying new recipes, unique flavors or combining foods that you otherwise would not expect to see occupying the same space on your plate. I love it!
The latest recipe is a perfect one given the recent weather and time of the year. Cranberry-Orange Caramel Corn. Yep, flavors you wouldn't normally expect combined with popcorn, but perfect once you taste it! We had to put a limit on our oldest daughter, or she probably would have consumed the entire bowl.
Katherine's sister, Stephanie, is the photographer in the bunch. But, since she lives three states away, it has fallen on Katherine to tackle the uncomfortable task of figuring out how to take high-quality pictures of her food. Not an easy task. Especially when a big part of a food blog, or any blog for that matter, is the visual aspect pictures, graphics, drawings, etc. But, I have to admit that her pictures have really improved since the first couple she snapped. And, I think the best part was when I stopped trying to help and just got out of her way!
So, the question you may have already asked is, "Where did the name of their blog come from?" - cardamommyandcoriaunty.blogspot.com. For those uneducated in the culinary ways (which definitely includes me!), cardamom and coriander are two spices in a good cook's kitchen. Since one of the two bloggers is a mom and the other is an aunt, tack those monikers on to the end of the spices and voila! Cardamommy and Coriaunty. Unique and representative of both Katherine and Stephanie.
I think their blog is excellent of course, I have a particular bias. So, don't trust me, go check it out yourself. I guarantee you'll fall in love with (cardamommyandcoriaunty.blogspot.com).
(Mark Lyman is a community columnist for The Minot Daily News)