January 2008 Food Blog Events

EVERY WEEKEND - Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Kalyn's Kitchen.

WEEKLY - Presto Pasta Night. Channel your inner comfort food muse and join in the new, fun weekly event. Hosted by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast, complete details to participate can be found right here.

WEEKLY - ARF/5-A-Day. Hosted by Cate at Sweetnicks every Tuesday night. Have you recently made a recipe with fruit and/or vegetables? Then this is perfect for you. Come on and join in the fun - complete details are right here.

ONGOING - World Bread Day - After Hours Party. For those that missed out on the recent 113-entry roundup for World Bread Day, this is your chance to join in the fun. Complete details can be found here.

MONTHLY - Weekend Breakfast Blogging. Saffron Trail hosts this event. Complete rundown is here.

MONTHLY - Cooking with Tea Contest sponsored by Tea Chef. Experiment with different ideas to develop the best recipe with that tea, then send it in with a picture. Every month new recipes are posted for community voting (look for the "Vote for this Recipe" links). The highest-ranked recipe will win a fabulous tea-related reward and the acclaim of the community!

MONTHLY - Carnival of Dining Out. Come celebrate your favorite place to eat in this new monthly event. Entries are due by the end of the month, and complete information can be found here.

MONTHLY - FOOD BLOGGY PETS OF THE MONTH. Peanut Butter Etouffe is doing a monthly round-up featuring all your pets. Come join in the fun - all the details are right here.

MONTHLY - GROW YOUR OWN celebrates the foods we grow ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products. Make a dish that uses at least one item from your very own garden (indoor, outdoor, urban, whatever) or meat you have raised and post about it. You can use something that was gifted to you, but the giver must have personally grown or raised the item. Posts are due on February 27 and the round-up will be posted on or around March 1. Check out the full details here.

MONTHLY - SNACKSHOTS #1 hosted by Greedy Gourmet. Take a photo of anything potato. Whether it is dish you made or freshly dug up tubers from your garden, we want to see it! For more info, click here.

ANNUAL - A Taste of Terroir. Between now and January 21, 2008, create and post an entry on your blog which highlights a food or drink, or food/drink product, or recipe which highlights terroir in your location which you can write about with a personal perspective including a photo. Describe how it relates to your locale. Full details are here.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 1 - BREAD BAKING DAY #5. Hosted by Chelsea of Rolling in Dough, the theme is Filled Breads. Mix up any bread you like, white or wheat, roll it out, fill it with something inspiring, roll it up and bake it. It can be fruit, cheese, salsa, sauce, spices, veggies, candy - whatever you are in the mood for. Rolls, calzones and meat pies all count as filled breads and if you have a filled bread that is a tradition where you live, we'd love to read about it. Simply bake your lovely filled bread creation, take some pictures, write about it and post between now and January 1. Please include a link to Rolling in Dough in your post and send me an email at chelsea@tresbonvivant.com, including the permalink to your post, a picture if you have one and your name and general location. I'll have the collection of wonderful breads up by January 5.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 7th- MONTHLY MINGLE. Theme is Drop In & Decorate. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 15th - APPLES & THYME. A celebration of time spent in the kitchen with our mothers and grandmothers (or anyone else you wish to blog about) and what they did or did not pass on to us that influenced how we cook and eat today. The event is hosted by Vanielje Kitchen and The Passionate Palate. We would love you to enter and share with us a person and a dish that celebrates your relationship with them. As we have got a bit of a slow start to this year we have extended the closing date for the third Apples & Thyme to 15th January. It is a monthly event with the closing date normally the 10th of each month with the roundup on the 15th and we will revert to this format in February. More details here.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 19th - 2008 COMFORT FOOD COOK-OFF. Here in the northern hemisphere, we're about to enter the bleakest stretch of winter so it's time to cook up some serious comfort food. What do you yearn to eat when the days get short, the nights get cold, and the going gets tough? Are you a chicken soup chica? A mashed potatoes man? A mac and cheese mama? Or do you find comfort in a food that is(gasp!) not white?!? I'm looking for more than just recipes here -- if there's a story behind your comfort food, I want to hear it! I'm also very curious about comfort foods from other countries and cultures. The deadline for entries in the Comfort Food Cook-Off is Saturday, January 19th. I'll post the round up on Monday, January 21st and announce the winner on Sunday, January 27th. The winner will receive a copy of Macaroni & Cheese: 52 Recipes from Simple to Sublime by Joan Schwartz. Please email your entry to Eve -- gardenofeatingblog (at) gmail (dot) com (all one word, no spaces) and be sure to put "Comfort food cook-off" in the subject of your message. Please include the following information in your message: Your name, the name and URL of your blog, the name of your dish and the permalink to your entry posting (and if you'd include a link to the announcement on my blog: http://www.gardenofeatingblog.com, I'd appreciate that.) Feel free to use the comfort food cook-off logo I've created. If you don't have a blog, you can still participate, just email your entry and a photo with the info above. If your blog is not in English, please make sure that your entry is in English.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 20th - CLICK. A theme-based event dedicated to food photography. The theme for January 2008 is 'Liquid Comfort.' For details, go here.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 20th - WEEKEND COOKBOOK CHALLENGE #24. This time, the theme is Veggin' Out and it's hosted by the lovely Sara of I Like to Cook.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 22nd - "WAITER! THERE'S SOMETHING IN MY..." is back in 2008 and the theme this January, hosted by Johanna of thepassionatecook, is terrines – savoury or sweet, meaty or vegetarian, as long as it’s in pate shape, you’re in business! Submissions are due by the 22nd of January. Details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 24th - FOOD FOR THOUGHT. Proust had his madeleines, but we all have something. Food is evocative. It has the power to transport us, to connect us to times and places past. It has the ability to recall to us lost loved ones. I have never been more aware of this than when I am living far from home. My experiences living in Accra, Ghana have made me acutely aware of the importance of food in connecting to beloved memories and traditions. I am spending January doing a series on food nostalgia. I invite you to join me. Blog about a dish that recreates a memory for you. Tell us about the food, the recipe, the process, and a little about why it is so memorable. Include a link back to The Skinny Gourmet. Post it on your blog before January 24th and send an email, by Jan 24 at the latest, to skinnygourmet(at)gmail(dot)com including your name, your blog's name and URL, the name of your dish and the post's URL, your hometown/region and country. Roundup will be posted by the end of January. Complete details can be found here.

NEW!!! NOW UNTIL JANUARY 25th - SUGAR HIGH FRIDAY. The theme is baking with candy, and the permalink with all the details is right here.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 26th - HAY, HAY, IT'S DONNA DAY. The latest Hay Hay It's Donna Day is being hosted by Joey at 80 Breakfasts with the theme Pizza. Complete details can be found here. Entries to Joey at eighty_breakfasts(AT)yahoo(DOT)com on or before January 26, 2008.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 31st - LEFTOVER TUESDAYS #11. Leftovers got you down? How about converting those leftovers into something new and intriguing? That’s what the Leftover Tuesdays event is all about. Project Foodie is hosting Leftover Tuesdays #11 where we challenge you to transform those leftovers into tasty temptations. The leftovers can be the remnants of a previous meal (either home cooked or bought) but they can also be the unused portions of the various components you've used to create recent (or not so recent) meals. Basically, leftovers are anything in your fridge, pantry or freezer for which you have no intended purpose and need/want to use up! Get all the details here.

NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 4th - MONTHLY MINGLE. This time, the 17th!! Monthly Mingle will be focusing on Comfort Foods. After all the big fancy meals we have been eating the last few months, wouldn't it be simply great to go back to the simple, undressed-up charms of comfort foods? I keep finding myself creating simpler foods right now. Food that hugs me from the inside out! It's the type of food that picks us up when we are down, warms us when we are feeling lost and cold and blurs out the bad mood. The first mouthful takes us straight back to the familiar, the good; to the time when all was well. That is what I am looking for this month. Your very favorite comfort foods. Comfort food is not to be confused with favorite foods though. Favorite foods are more fancier like a lemon tart, mousse au chocolat or a Chateaubriand steak. Comfort foods are often simple, no frills and easy to prepare kind of foods. So, do something good for yourself and bring over your Comfort Foods to my mingle this month. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 9th - MY LEGUME LOVE AFFAIR. Hosted by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.Looking for a healthy, economical, yet tasty change after the overindulgences of the holiday season? Consider the legume. Full details found here.

NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 12th - MINI PIE REVOLUTION EVENT #2: Small Tarts Have Big Hearts! Here at the Mini Pie Revolution HQ, we know that Valentine's Day requires tarts of a different kind. Grandmothers everywhere would not lie – the stomach leads to the heart, and nothing inspires love like a filled pastry crust. For Valentine's Day, we want to see your sweetest tarts! Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 15th - A HEART FOR YOUR VALENTINE. On February 14th we celebrate Valentine's Day, a holiday honoring love and lovers. In the spirit of the holiday, I suggest to romance the special person in our life not only with a love note but also with a homemade "edible heart." So I would like to invite you to treat your Valentine with something sweet or savory but always heart-shaped or heart-decorated. Give your fantasy full scope and surprise your beloved one with a special heart! Of course we would like to see what kind of heart you give away, so please blog about it from now until February 15. More information about the event can be found here.

NEW!!! NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 21 - WEEKEND COOKBOOK CHALLENGE #25. The theme is Nigella Lawson, and the due date is Feb 21. Ani from Foodiechickie is hosting and complete details can be found here.

December 2007 Food Blog Events

EVERY WEEKEND - Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Kalyn's Kitchen.

WEEKLY - Presto Pasta Night. Channel your inner comfort food muse and join in the new, fun weekly event. Hosted by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast, complete details to participate can be found right here.

WEEKLY - ARF/5-A-Day. Hosted by Cate at Sweetnicks every Tuesday night. Have you recently made a recipe with fruit and/or vegetables? Then this is perfect for you. Come on and join in the fun - complete details are right here.

ONGOING - World Bread Day - After Hours Party. For those that missed out on the recent 113-entry roundup for World Bread Day, this is your chance to join in the fun. Complete details can be found here.

MONTHLY - Weekend Breakfast Blogging. Saffron Trail hosts this event. Complete rundown is here.

MONTHLY - Cooking with Tea Contest sponsored by Tea Chef. Experiment with different ideas to develop the best recipe with that tea, then send it in with a picture. Every month new recipes are posted for community voting (look for the "Vote for this Recipe" links). The highest-ranked recipe will win a fabulous tea-related reward and the acclaim of the community!

MONTHLY - Carnival of Dining Out. Come celebrate your favorite place to eat in this new monthly event. Entries are due by the end of the month, and complete information can be found here.

MONTHLY - APPLES & THYME. Apples & Thyme is a celebration of time spent in the kitchen with our mothers and grandmothers (or anyone else you wish to blog about) and what they did or did not pass on to us that influenced how we cook and eat today. We would love you to enter and share with us a person and a dish that celebrates your relationship with them. Complete details can be found here.

MONTHLY - FOOD BLOGGY PETS OF THE MONTH. Peanut Butter Etouffe is doing a monthly round-up featuring all your pets. Come join in the fun - all the details are right here.

MONTHLY - GARDEN-COOK-EVENT. This is a monthly food blog event, although the theme will change each time. For November, the theme is Sunchoke (Jerusalem Artichoke). The English version can be found here, and the German version right here.

MONTHLY - GROW YOUR OWN celebrates the foods that we grow ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products. Make a dish that uses at least one item from your very own garden (indoor, outdoor, urban, whatever) and post about it. If you don't have a garden, you can use something that was gifted to you, but the giver must have personally grown the item. Posts due on December 29 and the round-up will be posted on January 2. Check out the full details here.

MONTHLY - Cooking in Microwave has always been a big challenge, at least for most of us. Most I have done has been to bake a cake or just use it for for reheating. So this event is a learning experience for many to target on specific theme each month and cook up in microwave. So calling all food bloggers to send in their dish which will be part of "Microwave Easy Cooking". Details can be found here. Dish can be of any cuisine.

MONTHLY - HOMEGROWN GOURMET #4: Participants must make a stew/casserole that somehow represents their home region - town, state, area. Representation can feature a local ingredient, be a traditional dish from your area, or be a creative twist. Deadline 31 December. More info can be found here.

NEW!!! ANNUAL - A Taste of Terroir. Between now and January 21, 2008, create and post an entry on your blog which highlights a food or drink, or food/drink product, or recipe which highlights terroir in your location which you can write about with a personal perspective including a photo. Describe how it relates to your locale. Full details are here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 1st - A SPOONFUL OF CHRISTMAS, dedicated to Food Gift Ideas. A Spoonful of Christmas is an event designed for all the people who love to cook for their loved ones; those who are willing to spend some time in the kitchen in order to come up with great ideas for food as a gift. In order to participate, please post an entry with a recipe for food that can be wrapped and given away as a gift - such as Chutneys, pickles and other relishes; Jams and marmalades, Home-made wines or liquors; Flavored vinegars or oils; Herb and spice mixtures; Chili sauces and other condiments; Curry powders or masalas … and many more. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 7th - ADOPT A FOOD BLOGGER. We all can remember what it was like starting out in the world of food blogging. This is your chance to share your expertise as a "veteran" food blogger and take a "newbie" under your wings. Sign up to adopt a blogger or to be adopted by Friday, December 7th. Complete details can be found at http://dineanddish.squarespace.com.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 9th - FESTIVAL FOOD FAIR. It’s that time of year again when we’re busy preparing feasts for Diwali, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa & Christmas, etc. Just like we did in 2006, the Festive Food Fair is an opportunity to share special food/drinks from around the globe. And who knows, maybe your dish will be enjoyed by a family on the other side of the world! Blog about your "feasting food" any time from now until Sun 9 Dec and share it with the global foodie community. We had 67 entries last year, let's see what 2007 brings. More info on how to participate can be found right here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 17th - A RECIPE FROM THE CREASE OF MY RIGHT EYE. This event is a celebration of Catherynne M. Valente's The Orphan's Tales. To participate, all you have to do is post a recipe inspired by the books. This includes any recipe involving things that are layered or things that are stuffed (which echo the structure of the stories), as well as things that are otherwise inspired by the books. This event comes with a prize. The author of the best recipe will receive a copy of both Orphan's Tales books. If the winner already has them, he or she will receive a copy of two of Cat's other books. For details, go here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 18th - GINGERBREAD HOUSE EVENT. One of my favorite things about the holidays is the gingerbread house. If you enjoy it too, then show us what you can do and make one! It can be from scratch or from a kit, just be sure to use your imagination! The deadline for entries is Tuesday, December 18. A full “neighborhood” roundup will be posted on Friday, December 21. Happy holidays and happy house decorating! To be included in the roundup post a photo of your gingerbread house (either on your blog or photostream) and send the following info to yumsugar@gmail.com

- Name you want me to use & city (so I can give credit)
- Your blog name
- Link to your post
- A photo of your gingerbread house - preferably 200px wide

Full details are available here: http://yumsugar.com/824036.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 21 - NOVEL FOOD #2. The culinary/literary event Lisa of Champaign Taste and Simona of briciole co-host is back for the winter season. We would like to continue on the same path of finding culinary inspiration in literary works. Read more about the event here or here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 22 - GRINDLESS GARVIES. There are days when you want a thick, refreshing gravy but not the bother of grinding much of the stuff that goes into it, not to mention having to wash the food processor later. Grindless Gravies aims to be a collection of recipes that can be made without a grinder/mixer/blender. The deadline is December 22, 2007. Details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 24 — EAT CHRISTMAS COOKIES. The sky is grey, it’s 68 degrees F, and it’s drizzling. It must be Christmas time in San Diego. This is about as Christmas-y as things are gonna get around here. So please help me get in the Christmas mood by baking and eating cookies. Post about a Christmas cookie between now and Monday, December 24, 2007 and send them to Food Blogga. Please try to send them by Monday, December 17th so others will have a chance to make your recipe before Christmas. Rather than having a final round-up, I will post submissions as I receive them. For complete details, click here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 25th - MINI PIE REVOLUTION! Maybe you've always preferred pie to cake. Maybe you like tiny things. Maybe you feel, in your gut, that the cupcake's so last year. Well now it's time to preheat your ovens, fill your cupcake tins with mini pies, and aim your cameras at the delicious results. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 30th - CLICK. A theme-based event dedicated to food photography. The theme for December 2007 is 'Nuts.' For details, go here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 30 - BEST OF 2007. Browse through your blog archives, think of the year that just flew by and write your own Best of 2007 post highlighting the very best that your blog had to offer this year. It could be your favorite recipes of the year, new techniques/ingredients/gadgets that you discovered this year, or anything at all that you feel was your favorite this year. The deadline is December 30, 2007. Details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 1 - BREAD BAKING DAY #5. Hosted by Chelsea of Rolling in Dough, the theme is Filled Breads. Mix up any bread you like, white or wheat, roll it out, fill it with something inspiring, roll it up and bake it. It can be fruit, cheese, salsa, sauce, spices, veggies, candy - whatever you are in the mood for. Rolls, calzones and meat pies all count as filled breads and if you have a filled bread that is a tradition where you live, we'd love to read about it. Simply bake your lovely filled bread creation, take some pictures, write about it and post between now and January 1. Please include a link to Rolling in Dough in your post and send me an email at chelsea@tresbonvivant.com, including the permalink to your post, a picture if you have one and your name and general location. I'll have the collection of wonderful breads up by January 5.

NOW UNTIL JANUARY 7th- MONTHLY MINGLE. Theme is Drop In & Decorate. Complete details can be found here.

November 2007 Food Blog Events

EVERY WEEKEND - Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Kalyn's Kitchen.

WEEKLY - Presto Pasta Night. Channel your inner comfort food muse and join in the new, fun weekly event. Hosted by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast, complete details to participate can be found right here.

WEEKLY - ARF/5-A-Day. Hosted by Cate at Sweetnicks every Tuesday night. Have you recently made a recipe with fruit and/or vegetables? Then this is perfect for you. Come on and join in the fun - complete details are right here.

ONGOING - World Bread Day - After Hours Party. For those that missed out on the recent 113-entry roundup for World Bread Day, this is your chance to join in the fun. Complete details can be found here.

MONTHLY - Weekend Breakfast Blogging. Saffron Trail hosts this event. Complete rundown is here.

MONTHLY - Cooking with Tea Contest sponsored by Tea Chef. Experiment with different ideas to develop the best recipe with that tea, then send it in with a picture. Every month new recipes are posted for community voting (look for the "Vote for this Recipe" links). The highest-ranked recipe will win a fabulous tea-related reward and the acclaim of the community!

MONTHLY - Carnival of Dining Out. Come celebrate your favorite place to eat in this new monthly event. Entries are due by the end of the month, and complete information can be found here.

MONTHLY - APPLES & THYME. Apples & Thyme is a celebration of time spent in the kitchen with our mothers and grandmothers (or anyone else you wish to blog about) and what they did or did not pass on to us that influenced how we cook and eat today. We would love you to enter and share with us a person and a dish that celebrates your relationship with them. Complete details can be found here.

MONTHLY - FOOD BLOGGY PETS OF THE MONTH. Peanut Butter Etouffe is doing a monthly round-up featuring all your pets. Come join in the fun - all the details are right here.

MONTHLY - GARDEN-COOK-EVENT. This is a monthly food blog event, although the theme will change each time. For November, the theme is Sunchoke (Jerusalem Artichoke). The English version can be found here, and the German version right here.

MONTHLY - GROW YOUR OWN celebrates the foods that we grow ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products. Make a dish that uses at least one item from your very own garden (indoor, outdoor, urban, whatever) and post about it. If you don't have a garden, you can use something that was gifted to you, but the giver must have personally grown the item. Posts due on November 28th and the round-up will be posted on December 1. Check out the full details here.

NEW!!! MONTHLY - Cooking in Microwave has always been a big challenge, atleast for most of us. Most I have done has been to bake a cake or just use it for for reheating. So this event is a learning experience for many to target on specific theme each month and cook up in microwave. So calling all food bloggers to send in their dish which will be part of "Microwave Easy Cooking". Details can be found here. Dish can be of any cuisine.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 1 - TGRWT #7. This month's challenge is to create a recipe that combines caramelized cauliflower and cocoa. The event is being hosted by Flavor Alchemy. They Go Really Well Together (TGRWT) is a food blogging event where you create a recipe that pairs two ingredients that are not usually seen together. Caramelized cauliflower and cocoa share several chemical compounds and theory predicts there should be great recipes with the pair. The challenge is finding one.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 10th - APPLES & THYME. The event is a celebration of time spent in the kitchen with our mothers and grandmothers (or anyone else you wish to blog about) and what they did or did not pass on to us that influenced how we cook and eat today. We would love you to enter and share with us a person and a dish that celebrates your relationship with them. The closing date is 10th November, with the roundup being posted on 15th November, the first annual Apples & Thyme Day. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 20th - CLICK. A new, theme-based event dedicated to food photography. The theme for November 2007 is 'Noodles.' For details, go here.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 25th - BLOG OR BUST #3. We all love fall food: pumpkin, apples, squash, with its comfy spices (nutmeg, cinnamon) and warm-up your heart feel. So, Blog or Bust this time asks for you to create a "Fall" dish - pumpkin pie, chili, gratin, soup, the possibilities are almost endless. Something comfortable, something cozy, something hearty. Something that screams "Come on, holidays, do your worst!" We need to prepare ourselves for winter, people, and the best way to do that is to fill our bellies with something delicious, nourishing, and homey. We don't, however, want to feel like stuffed turkeys, so keep things healthy. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 26 – HOMEGROWN GOURMET #3: PIES AND TARTS Hosted this month by Columbus Foodie, participants will make a dish that follows the theme and that somehow represents their home region (town, state or area). Representation can feature a local ingredient, be a traditional dish from your area, or be a creative twist. The theme this month is PIES and TARTS, both sweet and savory. The closing date of the event is November 26th, so get all of the details here.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 26th - SHF. This month's theme is beta carotene harvest. The deadline is November 26th, round-up will be posted on the 30th and the web addy for more information is right here.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 30th - LEFTOVER TUESDAYS #10. Got leftovers? Thanks to Thanksgiving, November may well be the biggest leftover month of the year. What do you do with those (or any other) leftovers? Project Foodie is hosting Leftover Tuesdays #10 where we challenge you to transform those leftovers into tasty temptations. The leftovers can be the remnants of a previous meal (either home cooked or bought) but they can also be the unused portions of the various components you've used to create recent (or not so recent) meals. Basically, leftovers are anything in your fridge, pantry or freezer for which you have no intended purpose and need/want to use up! Get all the details here.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 30th - VEGAN VENTURES. November is Vegan month. You have a tasty vegan recipe? Send it to Vegan Ventures hosted by Tasty Palettes. For more details visit here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 1st - A SPOONFUL OF CHRISTMAS, dedicated to Food Gift Ideas. A Spoonful of Christmas is an event designed for all the people who love to cook for their loved ones; those who are willing to spend some time in the kitchen in order to come up with great ideas for food as a gift. In order to participate, please post an entry with a recipe for food that can be wrapped and given away as a gift - such as Chutneys, pickles and other relishes; Jams and marmalades, Home-made wines or liquors; Flavored vinegars or oils; Herb and spice mixtures; Chili sauces and other condiments; Curry powders or masalas … and many more. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 3rd - MONTHLY MINGLE. This time, the theme is Traditional Feasts, and complete details can be found right here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 7th - ADOPT A FOOD BLOGGER. We all can remember what it was like starting out in the world of food blogging. This is your chance to share your expertise as a "veteran" food blogger and take a "newbie" under your wings. Sign up to adopt a blogger or to be adopted by Friday, December 7th. Complete details can be found at http://dineanddish.squarespace.com.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 9th - FESTIVAL FOOD FAIR. It’s that time of year again when we’re busy preparing feasts for Diwali, Thanksgiving, Hannukkah, Kwanzaa & Christmas, etc. Just like we did in 2006, the Festive Food Fair is an opportunity to share special food/drinks from around the globe. And who knows, maybe your dish will be enjoyed by a family on the other side of the world! Blog about your "feasting food" any time from now until Sun 9 Dec and share it with the global foodie community. We had 67 entries last year, let's see what 2007 brings. More info on how to participate can be found right here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 17th - A RECIPE FROM THE CREASE OF MY RIGHT EYE. This event is a celebration of Catherynne M. Valente's The Orphan's Tales. To participate, all you have to do is post a recipe inspired by the books. This includes any recipe involving things that are layered or things that are stuffed (which echo the structure of the stories), as well as things that are otherwise inspired by the books. This event comes with a prize. The author of the best recipe will receive a copy of both Orphan's Tales books. If the winner already has them, he or she will receive a copy of two of Cat's other books. For details, go here.

NEW!!! NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 18th - GINGERBREAD HOUSE EVENT. One of my favorite things about the holidays is the gingerbread house. If you enjoy it too, then show us what you can do and make one! It can be from scratch or from a kit, just be sure to use your imagination! The deadline for entries is Tuesday, December 18. A full “neighborhood” roundup will be posted on Friday, December 21. Happy holidays and happy house decorating! To be included in the roundup post a photo of your gingerbread house (either on your blog or photostream) and send the following info to yumsugar@gmail.com

- Name you want me to use & city (so I can give credit)
- Your blog name
- Link to your post
- A photo of your gingerbread house - preferably 200px wide

Full details are available here: http://yumsugar.com/824036.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 22 - GRINDLESS GARVIES. There are days when you want a thick, refreshing gravy but not the bother of grinding much of the stuff that goes into it, not to mention having to wash the food processor later. Grindless Gravies aims to be a collection of recipes that can be made without a grinder/mixer/blender. The deadline is December 22, 2007. Details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 24 — EAT CHRISTMAS COOKIES. The sky is grey, it’s 68 degrees F, and it’s drizzling. It must be Christmas time in San Diego. This is about as Christmas-y as things are gonna get around here. So please help me get in the Christmas mood by baking and eating cookies. Post about a Christmas cookie between now and Monday, December 24, 2007 and send them to Food Blogga. Please try to send them by Monday, December 17th so others will have a chance to make your recipe before Christmas. Rather than having a final round-up, I will post submissions as I receive them. For complete details, click here.

NEW!!! NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 30th - CLICK. A theme-based event dedicated to food photography. The theme for December 2007 is 'Nuts.' For details, go here.

October 2007 Food Blog Events

EVERY WEEKEND - Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Kalyn's Kitchen.

WEEKLY - Presto Pasta Night. Channel your inner comfort food muse and join in the new, fun weekly event. Hosted by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast, complete details to participate can be found right here.

WEEKLY - ARF/5-A-Day. Hosted by Cate at Sweetnicks every Tuesday night. Have you recently made a recipe with fruit and/or vegetables? Then this is perfect for you. Come on and join in the fun - complete details are right here.

ONGOING - World Bread Day - After Hours Party. For those that missed out on the recent 113-entry roundup for World Bread Day, this is your chance to join in the fun. Complete details can be found here.

MONTHLY - Weekend Breakfast Blogging. Saffron Trail hosts this event. Complete rundown is here.

MONTHLY - Cooking with Tea Contest sponsored by Tea Chef. Experiment with different ideas to develop the best recipe with that tea, then send it in with a picture. Every month new recipes are posted for community voting (look for the "Vote for this Recipe" links). The highest-ranked recipe will win a fabulous tea-related reward and the acclaim of the community!

MONTHLY - Carnival of Dining Out. Come celebrate your favorite place to eat in this new monthly event. Entries are due by the end of the month, and complete information can be found here.

MONTHLY - POTATOES ... How do you find them? Great? OK? Routine? Boring?
In any which case, just cook up something with this universal tuber, take pictures, and publish them along with the recipe & a write-up on your blog on the 1st of March. That would be your entry to the March edition of Jihva for Ingredients hosted by Vaishali on my blog Happy Burp. Wanna go for it?

MONTHLY - FOOD BLOGGY PETS OF THE MONTH. Peanut Butter Etouffe is doing a monthly round-up featuring all your pets. Come join in the fun - all the details are right here.

MONTHLY - GARDEN-COOK-EVENT. This is a monthly food blog event, although the theme will change each time. This month, the theme is Cranberries. The English version can be found here, and the German version right here.

MONTHLY - GROW YOUR OWN celebrates the foods that we grow ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products. Make a dish that uses at least one item from your very own garden (indoor, outdoor, urban, whatever) and post about it. If you don't have a garden, you can use something that was gifted to you, but the giver must have personally grown the item. Posts due on October 30th and the round-up will be posted on November 1. Check out the full details here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 1st - TRGWT #6. African Vanielje at Vanielje Kitchen is hosting this month's molecular gastronomy event TGRWT #6 (They Go Really Well Together). The event is not as difficult as it sounds and no molecular science degrees are required. It is based on the premise that certain foods which may share certain molecular similarities, should go really well together. This month the challenge is to pair apple & lavender. To participate people, check out all the details right here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 7th - BRITISH FOOD FORTNIGHT. Celebrate the best of British by cooking a traditional British dish with British ingredients, or a British dish with your local ingredients. This is the first food blogging event hosted by Hippolyra at Fuss Free Flavours, full details to be found here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 8th - YES, OF COURSE YOU CAN PAIR GARLIC WITH THAT! This new, one-time event is being hosted by the lovely Danielle at Habeas Brulee. I’ve never tried garlic with peaches, but I bet I could make a pretty good barbecue sauce with the two of them together, at least. The Greeks haven’t thought up every delicious food combination that can possibly exist. That’s the joy of food blogging - we can experiment and discover wild new creations, and sometimes they are great successes! To participate in Yes, Of Course You Can Pair Garlic With That!, all you have to do is cook a dish that pairs garlic with something it’s not usually paired with. I have a really strong preference for seeing garlic/hazelnut dishes, but any unusual garlic pairing is fair game. Have fun with this! Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 15th - Think Pink for Pinktober. Hosted by Minko of Couture Cupcakes. To coincide with Pink Ribbon Day in Australia on October 22, I am inviting people to make a pink dish and post it (or email me photo, recipe and story) by 15 October. To enter, you must make a dish that is either pink or uses a pink ingredient (I will accept red) e.g., guava, pink grapefruit, etc. Your post must include the recipe. Optional - a story of how breast cancer has affected you or why supporting breast cancer research is important to you. Post it on your blog by 15 October. Once you have posted your entry, email me at minhnieme@gmail.com with the following details: Your Name, Your Blog, Title of post/recipe, URL to post, photo. I will do a round up of all entries on 16 October. You will then be able to vote for your favourite entry (will be a poll). The 3 most popular entries will be announced on Pink Ribbon Day on 22 October. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 16TH: MEATLOAF APPRECIATION DAY Meatloaf: You can make it from a classic pork-veal-beef mixture or with lean ground turkey. You can flavor-boost it with a packaged soup mix or deck it out with fresh herbs, dried fruits, and exotic meats. Meatloaf lends itself to improvisation while being comforting, and unites tradition and innovation. Maybe your recipe is your grandmother's or maybe you make it up as you go along. It ain't always pretty, but it's just the thing for satisfying your soul, true sweater-weather food, and a home-cooked standard. Serious Eats has declared Thursday, October 18 "National Meatloaf Appreciation Day" and are creating a food event to capture the festivities. What does this mean for you? BETWEEN NOW AND OCTOBER 16TH, PREPARE A MEATLOAF. You can use an existing recipe as written or come up with your own, make it a fancy foie gras–studded affair or stick to the basics. TAKE A PICTURE OF YOUR DISH and write about how you made it, the details of its deliciousness and how you felt through your meatloaf-making process. IF YOU HAVE A BLOG, POST YOUR MEATLOAF EXPERIENCE as an entry by October 16, with "National Meatloaf Day" in the title. Please send an email to jenn@seriouseats.com with the following details: Your name, blog URL, URL of your National Meatloaf Day post, and a picture for your entry in the roundup. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BLOG, CAPTURE YOUR MEATLOAF EXPERIENCE IN AN EMAIL, including your name, location, recipe, and meatloaf photo and send to jenn@seriouseats.com. READ THE ROUNDUP ON SERIOUS EATS ON OCTOBER 18. Participants at Serious Eats will include Ed Levine and Adam Kuban. You have plenty of time, so join us on National Meatloaf Appreciation Day to celebrate the great variety and limitless potential of this humble main course!

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 17th - WORLD BREAD DAY. Last year's World Bread Day was such a great and successful event. Thanks to all the participants, we presented a huge basket of bread filled with breads from 6 continents! So let's bake and talk about bread on this day again! You are cordially invited to participate. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 20th - SHOW US YOUR SARNIE. This October food event is being hosted by Marie of A Year At Oak Cottage. This is a first time food blogging event hosted by myself in which I have challenged food bloggers to make their absolutely favourite and most creative sandwiches and then write a post about them, including the pictures and recipes. I have three prizes on offer. The date to have the entries in by is Midnight on October 20th, 2007, with the roundup being posted on October 21st (hopefully, fingers crossed) and then I will open it up to voting for the readers favourites until October 30th with the three top winners being announced on the 31st. Complete details can be found here.

OCTOBER 15th to OCTOBER 25th. The goal is to highlight issue of Sustainable Seafood Choices during the month of October, National Seafood Month. Here are the rules: Subject line: "Teach a Man to Fish." Entries should include blogger's Name, Country, blog URL, link to post and 100x100 pixel photo of dish. Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a cook to choose sustainable seafood choices... Well, you get the point. October is National Seafood Month. We're turning it into Sustainable Seafood Month. Submit your recipe using a sustainable seafood choice. Throughout the month, I'll be posting tips and news from my friends at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program. Chefs like Barton Seaver of Hook in D.C., a leader in sustainable seafood movement are joining in and sharing their recipes, so grab your parchment, your bouillabaisse pot, your grill. Tell us what you're learning about sustainable seafood choices, what it means to you and most important: share your dish. Submit recipes to http://leatherdistrictgourmet.blogspot.com/.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 20th - CLICK. A new, theme-based event dedicated to food photography. The theme for October 2007 is 'Eggs.' For details, go here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 25th - BLOG PARTY #27. This month, your hostess is scaring up a delivishly good time with a Halloween-themed fete. Want to join in the fun? Check out all the details right here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 26th - RETRO RECIPE CHALLENGE # 9: The Candyman. Cook up a sugar-soaked retro recipe (candy or desserts), circa 1980 or earlier. Full details at http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/2007/09/who-can-take-sunrise.html.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 31st - LEFTOVER TUESDAYS #9. Project Foodie is hosting Leftover Tuesdays where you are challenged to convert your leftovers into new and exciting dishes. The leftovers can be the remnants of a previous meal (either home cooked or bought) but they can also be the unused portions of the various components you've used to create recent (or not so recent) meals. Basically, leftovers are anything in your fridge, pantry or freezer for which you have no intended purpose and need/want to use up! Get all the details here.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 1 - TGRWT #7. This month's challenge is to create a recipe that combines caramelized cauliflower and cocoa. The event is being hosted by Flavor Alchemy. They Go Really Well Together (TGRWT) is a food blogging event where you create a recipe that pairs two ingredients that are not usually seen together. Caramelized cauliflower and cocoa share several chemical compounds and theory predicts there should be great recipes with the pair. The challenge is finding one.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 10th - APPLES & THYME. The event is a celebration of time spent in the kitchen with our mothers and grandmothers (or anyone else you wish to blog about) and what they did or did not pass on to us that influenced how we cook and eat today. We would love you to enter and share with us a person and a dish that celebrates your relationship with them. The closing date is 10th November, with the roundup being posted on 15th November, the first annual Apples & Thyme Day. Complete details can be found here.

NEW!!! NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 20th - CLICK. A new, theme-based event dedicated to food photography. The theme for November 2007 is 'Noodles.' For details, go here.

NOW UNTIL NOVEMBER 25th - BLOG OR BUST #3. We all love fall food: pumpkin, apples, squash, with its comfy spices (nutmeg, cinnamon) and warm-up your heart feel. So, Blog or Bust this time asks for you to create a "Fall" dish - pumpkin pie, chili, gratin, soup, the possibilities are almost endless. Something comfortable, something cozy, something hearty. Something that screams "Come on, holidays, do your worst!" We need to prepare ourselves for winter, people, and the best way to do that is to fill our bellies with something delicious, nourishing, and homey. We don't, however, want to feel like stuffed turkeys, so keep things healthy. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 1st - A SPOONFUL OF CHRISTMAS, dedicated to Food Gift Ideas. A Spoonful of Christmas is an event designed for all the people who love to cook for their loved ones; those who are willing to spend some time in the kitchen in order to come up with great ideas for food as a gift. In order to participate, please post an entry with a recipe for food that can be wrapped and given away as a gift - such as Chutneys, pickles and other relishes; Jams and marmalades, Home-made wines or liquors; Flavored vinegars or oils; Herb and spice mixtures; Chili sauces and other condiments; Curry powders or masalas … and many more. Complete details can be found here.

September 2007 Events

EVERY WEEKEND - Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Kalyn's Kitchen. And when food bloggers need a bit of escapism, there's Weekend Baby Blogging. Your bases are definitely covered.

WEEKLY - Presto Pasta Night. Channel your inner comfort food muse and join in the new, fun weekly event. Hosted by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast, complete details to participate can be found right here.

WEEKLY - ARF/5-A-Day. Hosted by Cate at Sweetnicks every Tuesday night. Have you recently made a recipe with fruit and/or vegetables? Then this is perfect for you. Come on and join in the fun - complete details are right here.

ONGOING - World Bread Day - After Hours Party. For those that missed out on the recent 113-entry roundup for World Bread Day, this is your chance to join in the fun. Complete details can be found here.

MONTHLY - Weekend Breakfast Blogging. Saffron Trail hosts this event. Complete rundown is here.

MONTHLY - Cooking with Tea Contest sponsored by Tea Chef. Experiment with different ideas to develop the best recipe with that tea, then send it in with a picture. Every month new recipes are posted for community voting (look for the "Vote for this Recipe" links). The highest-ranked recipe will win a fabulous tea-related reward and the acclaim of the community!

MONTHLY - Carnival of Dining Out. Come celebrate your favorite place to eat in this new monthly event. Entries are due by the end of the month, and complete information can be found here.

MONTHLY - POTATOES ... How do you find them? Great? OK? Routine? Boring?
In any which case, just cook up something with this universal tuber, take pictures, and publish them along with the recipe & a write-up on your blog on the 1st of March. That would be your entry to the March edition of Jihva for Ingredients hosted by Vaishali on my blog Happy Burp. Wanna go for it?

MONTHLY - FOOD BLOGGY PETS OF THE MONTH. Peanut Butter Etouffe is doing a monthly round-up featuring all your pets. Come join in the fun - all the details are right here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 1st - TGRWT #5. Chocolate and Oranges, Chocolate and Bananas, Chocolate in Risotto... Chocolate in... MEAT? Some may be appalled by the very thought of adding meat to chocolate, or vice versa. However, science tells us that the two were just MADE for each other! Don't believe me? Well try it out for yourself and join TGRWT! This is how you can participate in TGRWT #5:
1. Prepare a dish that combines chocolate and meat. You can either use an existing recipe (if there is any) or come up with your own.
2. Take a picture of the dish and write an entry in your blog by September 1st with TGRWT #5 in the title. Readers will be particularly interested in how the flavour pairing worked out, so make an attempt at describing the taste and aroma and whether you
liked it or not.
3. A round-up will be posted here (with pictures). Please send an email to tunasushister@gmail.com with the following details:
Your name, URL of blog, URL of the TGRWT #5 post and a picture for your entry in the round-up. If you don't have a blog, email me your name, location, recipe and a brief description of how it worked out and I'll be glad to include it in the final round-up. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 3rd - La Festa al Fresco 2007: Tutti a Tavola. Hosted by Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice and Lis of La Mia Cucina. The first La Festa al Fresco was last year. The premise is very simple: prepare a dish using a fresh, seasonal ingredient. You can prepare any dish you like. It can be an appetizer; a soup; a salad; a meat, fish or vegetarian dish; a dessert or even a beverage. The only rule is that it must feature a fresh, seasonal ingredient, preferably something that grows in your neck of the woods. Post about it by midnight on September 3, 2007. Send an e-mail to Lis (lamiacucina67@gmail.com) or Ivonne (creampuffsinvenice@gmail.com) and include your name, blog name and blog address. Also include a link to your post and 100 x 100 pixel photo of your dish.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 10th - Monthly Mingle. The theme this time is Liquid Dreams. Cocktails, aperitifs, milkshakes, smoothies or lassi. Add a splash of alcohol or keep it pure. Shake it, stir it or blend it - just mix up a refreshing drink. Serve it hot or cold but I need it in a glass. Whatever you concoct make sure it satisfies all our Liquid Dreams! Complete details are here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 16th - WEEKEND COOKBOOK CHALLENGE. The theme this round is Show and Tell and it's being hosted by Sara of I Like To Cook. All the information you need can be found here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 20th - BLOG PARTY #26. This month, Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness kicks off her next blog party with a theme of "It's What's Inside." Interested in joining in the fun? Check out the deets right here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 21st - EDIZIONE SPECIALE - NOVEL FOOD. We may have a dish that is associated in our mind with a novel. In recent weeks Lisa of Champaign Taste and myself have been talking about food mentioned in the Montalbano novels and Lisa came up with the idea of launching a food in novels event. We are co-hosting it and look forward to hearing interesting literary and culinary stories. Complete details can be found right here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 24th - SUGAR HIGH FRIDAY (SHF) #35. Theme: The Beautiful Fig. This is the time of year to celebrate the glory that is the fig. Prepare a sweet using figs in any form (fresh, dried, etc.) and then post about it. The deadline for submissions is midnight on Monday September 24th. The round-up will be posted on Friday September 29th. Submissions should be mailed to Ivonne (creampuffsinvenice@gmail.com) of http://www.blogger.com/www.creampuffsinvenice.ca. All the deets can be found right here

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 29th - IN THE BAG. The idea behind this new event is to promote the best of seasonal food, and as such this time around people are encouraged to cook up a dish (or two) with whichever fruits are seasonal where they come from. More information can be found here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 29th - HAY HAY IT'S DONNA HAY #15. This go 'round, this fun and festive event is being hosted by TriniGourmet and the theme is Tarts (sweet, savory, have your pick). Entries submitted for HHDD must be made specifically for this event, although photos may be submitted to Does My Blog Look Good In This. The host will select, make and post the original Donna Hay recipe without any changes. Participants may make the same recipe as is, or put their own spin on the recipe by altering the ingredients whilst remaining with the theme. Entrants should include a link to the host in their post. Entries can be made at any time once the event has been announced but must be posted and emailed to the host by the closing date. The deadline for entries to be posted is September 29th, 2007. The roundup will be posted on with voting to follow for a week afterwards. The winner will be announced October 13th, 2007. Please post your entries and clearly mark them as an HHDD# post. After you post, please send an email to HHDD@TriniGourmet.com with the following information: your name, the name of your blog, your recipe’s name or title, your location, and the permalink to your HHDD post. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 30th - JIHVA FOR INGREDIENTS. This month the theme is Banana. To participate in this event:

1. Prepare a dish with banana (green or ripe), flower, stem, or any other part of banana plant, and post it on your blog in the month of September. The choice of recipe is not restricted to Indian cuisine.

2. Please link to this event announcement: http://ahaar.blogspot.com/2007/09/jfibanana.html

3. Send your recipe with the name of the recipe, name of your blog, permalink of the post and a picture (400x250) of your blog post to ahaarmail@gmail.com. Please include JFI in your subject line. Let's celebrate banana and the banana plant this month.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 1st - TRGWT #6. African Vanielje at Vanielje Kitchen is hosting this month's molecular gastronomy event TGRWT #6 (They Go Really Well Together). The event is not as difficult as it sounds and no molecular science degrees are required. It is based on the premise that certain foods which may share certain molecular similarities, should go really well together. This month the challenge is to pair apple & lavender. To participate people, check out all the details right here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 7th - BRITISH FOOD FORTNIGHT. Celebrate the best of British by cooking a traditional British dish with British ingredients, or a British dish with your local ingredients. This is the first food blogging event hosted by Hippolyra at Fuss Free Flavours, full details to be found here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 8th - YES, OF COURSE YOU CAN PAIR GARLIC WITH THAT! This new, one-time event is being hosted by the lovely Danielle at Habeas Brulee. I’ve never tried garlic with peaches, but I bet I could make a pretty good barbecue sauce with the two of them together, at least. The Greeks haven’t thought up every delicious food combination that can possibly exist. That’s the joy of food blogging - we can experiment and discover wild new creations, and sometimes they are great successes! To participate in Yes, Of Course You Can Pair Garlic With That!, all you have to do is cook a dish that pairs garlic with something it’s not usually paired with. I have a really strong preference for seeing garlic/hazelnut dishes, but any unusual garlic pairing is fair game. Have fun with this! Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 15th - Think Pink for Pinktober. Hosted by Minko of Couture Cupcakes. To coincide with Pink Ribbon Day in Australia on October 22, I am inviting people to make a pink dish and post it (or email me photo, recipe and story) by 15 October. To enter, you must make a dish that is either pink or uses a pink ingredient (I will accept red) e.g., guava, pink grapefruit, etc. Your post must include the recipe. Optional - a story of how breast cancer has affected you or why supporting breast cancer research is important to you. Post it on your blog by 15 October. Once you have posted your entry, email me at minhnieme@gmail.com with the following details: Your Name, Your Blog, Title of post/recipe, URL to post,
photo. I will do a round up of all entries on 16 October. You will then be able to vote for your favourite entry (will be a poll). The 3 most popular entries will be announced on Pink Ribbon Day on 22 October. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 16TH: MEATLOAF APPRECIATION DAY Meatloaf: You can make it from a classic pork-veal-beef mixture or with lean ground turkey. You can flavor-boost it with a packaged soup mix or deck it out with fresh herbs, dried fruits, and exotic meats. Meatloaf lends itself to improvisation while being comforting, and unites tradition and innovation. Maybe your recipe is your grandmother's or maybe you make it up as you go along. It ain't always pretty, but it's just the thing for satisfying your soul, true sweater-weather food, and a home-cooked standard. Serious Eats has declared Thursday, October 18 "National Meatloaf Appreciation Day" and are creating a food event to capture the festivities. What does this mean for you? BETWEEN NOW AND OCTOBER 16TH, PREPARE A MEATLOAF. You can use an existing recipe as written or come up with your own, make it a fancy foie gras–studded affair or stick to the basics. TAKE A PICTURE OF YOUR DISH and write about how you made it, the details of its deliciousness and how you felt through your meatloaf-making process. IF YOU HAVE A BLOG, POST YOUR MEATLOAF EXPERIENCE as an entry by October 16, with "National Meatloaf Day" in the title. Please send an email to jenn@seriouseats.com with the following details: Your name, blog URL, URL of your National Meatloaf Day post, and a picture for your entry in the roundup. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BLOG, CAPTURE YOUR MEATLOAF EXPERIENCE IN AN EMAIL, including your name, location, recipe, and meatloaf photo and send to jenn@seriouseats.com. READ THE ROUNDUP ON SERIOUS EATS ON OCTOBER 18. Participants at Serious Eats will include Ed Levine and Adam Kuban. You have plenty of time, so join us on National Meatloaf Appreciation Day to celebrate the great variety and limitless potential of this humble main course!

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 17th - WORLD BREAD DAY. Last year's World Bread Day was such a great and successful event. Thanks to all the participants, we presented a huge basket of bread filled with breads from 6 continents! So let's bake and talk about bread on this day again! You are cordially invited to participate. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 20th - SHOW US YOUR SARNIE. This October food event is being hosted by Marie of A Year At Oak Cottage. This is a first time food blogging event hosted by myself in which I have challenged food bloggers to make their absolutely favourite and most creative sandwiches and then write a post about them, including the pictures and recipes. I have three prizes on offer. The date to have the entries in by is Midnight on October 20th, 2007, with the roundup being posted on October 21st (hopefully, fingers crossed) and then I will open it up to voting for the readers favourites until October 30th with the three top winners being announced on the 31st. Complete details can be found here.

NEW!!! OCTOBER 15th to OCTOBER 25th. The goal is to highlight issue of Sustainable Seafood Choices during the month of October, National Seafood Month. Here are the rules: Subject line: "Teach a Man to Fish." Entries should include blogger's Name, Country, blog URL, link to post and 100x100 pixel photo of dish. Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a cook to choose sustainable seafood choices... Well, you get the point. October is National Seafood Month. We're turning it into Sustainable Seafood Month. Submit your recipe using a sustainable seafood choice. Throughout the month, I'll be posting tips and news from my friends at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program. Chefs like Barton Seaver of Hook in D.C., a leader in sustainable seafood movement are joining in and sharing their recipes, so grab your parchment, your bouillabaisse pot, your grill. Tell us what you're learning about sustainable seafood choices, what it means to you and most important: share your dish. Submit recipes to http://leatherdistrictgourmet.blogspot.com.

NOW UNTIL OCTOBER 26th - RETRO RECIPE CHALLENGE # 9: The Candyman. Cook up a sugar-soaked retro recipe (candy or desserts), circa 1980 or earlier. Full details at http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/2007/09/who-can-take-sunrise.html .

August 2007 Events

EVERY WEEKEND - Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Kalyn's Kitchen. And when food bloggers need a bit of escapism, there's Weekend Baby Blogging. Your bases are definitely covered.

WEEKLY - Presto Pasta Night. Channel your inner comfort food muse and join in the new, fun weekly event. Hosted by Ruth at Once Upon A Feast, complete details to participate can be found right here.

WEEKLY - ARF/5-A-Day. Hosted by Cate at Sweetnicks every Tuesday night. Have you recently made a recipe with fruit and/or vegetables? Then this is perfect for you. Come on and join in the fun - complete details are right here.

ONGOING - World Bread Day - After Hours Party. For those that missed out on the recent 113-entry roundup for World Bread Day, this is your chance to join in the fun. Complete details can be found here.

MONTHLY - Weekend Breakfast Blogging. Saffron Trail hosts this event. Complete rundown is here.

MONTHLY - Cooking with Tea Contest sponsored by Tea Chef. Experiment with different ideas to develop the best recipe with that tea, then send it in with a picture. Every month new recipes are posted for community voting (look for the "Vote for this Recipe" links). The highest-ranked recipe will win a fabulous tea-related reward and the acclaim of the community!

MONTHLY - Carnival of Dining Out. Come celebrate your favorite place to eat in this new monthly event. Entries are due by the end of the month, and complete information can be found here.

MONTHLY - POTATOES ... How do you find them? Great? OK? Routine? Boring?
In any which case, just cook up something with this universal tuber, take pictures, and publish them along with the recipe & a write-up on your blog on the 1st of March. That would be your entry to the March edition of Jihva for Ingredients hosted by Vaishali on my blog Happy Burp. Wanna go for it?

NOW UNTIL AUGUST 1st - They Really Go Well Together (TRGWT) #4. The idea of the event is to pair ingredients that have similar volatile aroma compounds. This month's ingredients are mint and mustard. Prepare a dish that combines mint and mustard (any type mint or mustard). You can either use an existing recipe (if there is any) or come up with your own. Take a picture of the dish and write an entry in your blog by August 1st with TGRWT #4 in the title. Readers will be particularily interested in how the flavour pairing worked out, so make an attempt at describing the succession of taste and aroma and whether you liked it or
not. A round-up will be posted with pictures. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL AUGUST 1st - Bread Baking Day #2: Bread with Fruit. For the second installment of the event started by Zorra of 1x umrühren bitte, the theme ingredient is fruit. Fresh fruit, dried fruit, frozen fruit, preserved fruit – you are limited only by your imagination. The guidelines are simple – any fruit, any type of bread. All of the details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL AUGUST 6th - Monthly Mingle. The fun gathering for foodies is back, this time with an Earth Food theme. Wanna join in the fun and frivolity? All you need to know can be found right here.

NOW UNTIL AUGUST 17th - Browniebabe. Browniebabes is back - melting butter, whisking eggs and sugar and handling a serious amount of chocolate in our kitchen. Make sure you take a picture before you eat them all up, then post about it on your blog. Once you’ve baked and posted about it, send an email with "browniebabe of the month" in the subject line to: onceuponatart AT yahoo DOT de by friday 17th of august with the following information: your name, your location, the name of your blog and its URL, a link to your post, a picture. The round-up will be posted by August 19th and a winner will be crowned and awarded a personal "browniebabe of the month" apron. browniebabes of this world - come and join! Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL AUGUST 19th - Weekend Cookbook Challenge #19. This time the event is being hosted by Paige of Chef Girl, and the new theme is Dinner and a DVD. So dig out a cookbook, dust off your favorite movie (or TV show on DVD) and come join the fun. All the info you need is right here.

NOW UNTIL AUGUST 22nd - Food in Film. This new food event is being hosted by The Well-Seasoned Cook. So think about the films that you’ve enjoyed, perhaps even watched countless times. The movies don’t have to be about food or drink per se such as Babette’s Feast or Like Water for Chocolate (although they can be), but also think about flicks that lick at those food moments revealed with startling clarity, vague adumbration, or the light or dark reflections of the mood at hand. Entries can be dead lifts of dishes (mashed potatoes/Close Encounters of the Third Kind; rock cakes/Brief Encounter; even fast-food knock-offs from Super Size Me); or interpretations of food scenes that left an indelible mark (canned pineapple/Chunking Express; magic bread/Lord of the Rings; or chicken salad/Five Easy Pieces). Point is to make sure there is a connection between the recipe you are offering and the food or drink scene. Complete details are right here.

NOW UNTIL AUGUST 24th - Show Us Your Cookbooks. To celebrate summer reading, we’d like everyone to post a picture of themselves with their favorite cookbook. To be included in the roundup, all you have to do is post a pic of you holding your favorite book. Then notify me via email (yumsugar@gmail.com) by August 24 with the following information: Name you want me to use, Where you're from, What book you chose, One short sentence on why you chose that book, Permalink to your blog post (where the picture lives) OR if you don’t have a blog, then send the actual photo. Full details are available here.

NOW UNTIL AUGUST 27th - Sugar High Friday (SHF) #34. This popular monthly event is back again, hosted by The Passionate Cook. This go-round, the theme is local and regional specialties. Complete details are right here.

NOW UNTIL AUGUST 28th - Leftover Tuesdays. We're having a PANTRY RAID for this month's Leftover Tuesdays on Project Foodie. The challenge is to dig deep into your pantry - be it cold, dry or even the live garden pantry - find as many existing leftover items as you can and use them to create an exciting dish. Post your blog entry by midnight (PST) on Tuesday August 28, and send an email to foodiepam @ projectfoodie.com (take out the space), with the subject "Leftover Tuesdays". Be sure to include the following, very important information: Your name and location, Your blog name and URL, URL for your Leftover Tuesdays entry, a 100 x 100 jpeg photo if you would like it included in the roundup. Complete details can be found here.

NEW!! NOW UNTIL AUGUST 29th - Grow Your Own. To me, summer wouldn't be the same without the taste of fresh tomatoes straight off the vine. Last summer we had an abundance of grape tomatoes in August, literally bringing in 100 or more every evening. Our garden is much smaller this summer, but we still have fresh tomatoes and peppers ripe for the picking, as well as some herbs. All across the globe, people grow their own foods, whether they have a small urban garden on a balcony, a cheerful kitchen herb garden, one or two raised beds in the backyard, or a multi-acre farm. In my view, growing your own is the ultimate in "going local." So I've decided to host an event that celebrates the bounty of the garden. The rules are very simple: just make a dish that uses at least one item from your very own garden and post about it. I'm leaving the choices wide open because different latitudes will have different produce available. (Just so you know, I am insanely jealous of anyone who has avocado trees in the yard !) If you don't have a garden, you can use something that was gifted to you, but the giver must have grown the item herself/himself. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 1st - TGRWT #5. Chocolate and Oranges, Chocolate and Bananas, Chocolate in Risotto... Chocolate in... MEAT? Some may be appalled by the very thought of adding meat to chocolate, or vice versa. However, science tells us that the two were just MADE for each other! Don't believe me? Well try it out for yourself and join TGRWT! This is how you can participate in TGRWT #5:
1. Prepare a dish that combines chocolate and meat. You can either use an existing recipe (if there is any) or come up with your own.
2. Take a picture of the dish and write an entry in your blog by September 1st with TGRWT #5 in the title. Readers will be particularily interested in how the flavour pairing worked out, so make an attempt at describing the taste and aroma and whether you
liked it or not.
3. A round-up will be posted here (with pictures). Please send an email to tunasushister@gmail.com with the following details:
Your name, URL of blog, URL of the TGRWT #5 post and a picture for your entry in the round-up. If you don't have a blog, email me your name, location, recipe and a brief description of how it worked out and I'll be glad to include it in the final round-up. Complete details can be found here.

NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBR 3rd - La Festa al Fresco 2007: Tutti a Tavola. Hosted by Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice and Lis of La Mia Cucina. The first La Festa al Fresco was last year. The premise is very simple: prepare a dish using a fresh, seasonal ingredient. You can prepare any dish you like. It can be an appetizer; a soup; a salad; a meat, fish or vegetarian dish; a dessert or even a beverage. The only rule is that it must feature a fresh, seasonal ingredient, preferably something that grows in your neck of the woods. Post about it by midnight on September 3, 2007. Send an e-mail to Lis (lamiacucina67@gmail.com) or Ivonne (creampuffsinvenice@gmail.com) and include your name, blog name and blog address. Also include a link to your post and 100 x 100 pixel photo of your dish.

NEW!! NOW UNTIL SEPTEMBER 10th - Monthly Mingle. The theme this time is Liquid Dreams. Cocktails, aperitifs, milkshakes, smoothies or lassi. Add a splash of alcohol or keep it pure. Shake it, stir it or blend it - just mix up a refreshing drink. Serve it hot or cold but I need it in a glass. Whatever you concoct make sure it satisfies all our Liquid Dreams! Complete details are here.