Advice for New Bloggers is a new regular feature here at Sarah’s Cucina Bella. Inspired by Dine and Dish’s Adopt-A-Blogger event, and written with my adoptee in mind (Hi, Rachel! Click here to check out Fairy Cake Heaven), it appears every Tuesday.

Someone made a great analogy that privacy on the internet is like ketchup in a bottle: once you let it out, you can’t stuff it back in.

Decide early how much privacy you want to maintain. Do you want to share what city you live in? Your name? Your family member’s names? These are important considerations. Many people choose to err on the side of caution and keep all this information private at first, revealing bits and pieces later as they deem necessary and okay.

There are a number of great articles on blogging and privacy to help you. Here are two:

• Mommy bloggers balance writing and privacy @ SheKnows (by me!)
• Chewing on a blogger’s privacy @ Food Blog S’cool (read the comments)

And FINALLY! Congrats to Viktoria, winner of the Advice for New Bloggers contest – Viktoria, use the contact tab to send me your addy so I can get the book out to you.

Alright, we’ve been watching for seven weeks. And for what? To see fluffed egos, hear foul mouthed cooks cuss like it’ll inflect magic on the food and discover that it’s hard to like these people. But, that’s just my take. I really hope that the producers take more care in choosing chefs next season.

My favorites at this point? And favorites is a term I use very, very loosely — just so you know.

• Dale. He’s grown on me, and I might go so far as to say I like him and his cooking style.
• Mark. Love the accent. And he’s been generally good natured. Read the rest of this entry…

It’s grilling season! It’s grilling season!

That’s exactly what I felt like shouting the first night that Shawn and I cooked dinner outside. We’ve repeated our outdoor cooking almost every night since. I love grilling outside. The scent of cooking food wafting through the air, the sounds of crackling inside the grill, the wave of heat that smacks you in the face when you open the lid . . . what’s not to love?

This is a new recipe for me. I have some OMG balsamic vinegar from a small chain of pasta stores called Villarina, and I wanted to try it in a marinade for chicken. The result was a slightly tangy, slightly sweet chicken breast with a rich color. Try it. It makes good leftovers too for salads or wraps. Read the rest of this entry…

Hey everyone.

Please bear with me. I will be back with great posts starting on Sunday on organic 360 Vodka, Grilled Balsamic Chicken, decluttering and more . . .

In the meantime, check out this nostalgic video. It’s totally worth the time to watch (only a few minutes). (Thanks Patti, you Late Bloomer!)

Quote of the night: “I made Ryan Scott tailgate food and I am proud of it.”

Come. On. Poached pears are not tailgate food. EVER. Seriously? What was he thinking? But, as this season has demonstrated, Bravo found a group of chefs who are more about themselves than the food.

I digress.  Shall we begin at the beginning?

Spike: “I’m a talented dude.” If BS is a talent, then yes, yes he is.

So, blah, blah, blah . . . I am skipping the quick fire this week. Let’s hop along to the (yay) elimination challenge. Finally! An individual challenge (which leaves no room for anyone to whine about not making the dish they desire) . . . And of course, that means that the aforementioned Ryan had no one to reign him in. Meanwhile, Andrew did his barbecuing with a helmet on . . . How perfect! He seriously needs a helmet.

I am really, really liking Dale. I loved how he was breathless to have the Chicago Bears legends eating his food. Finally, a competitor I like! He’ll be someone to watch. I like Mark too, although his messy station today was a little concerning for his longevity.

And on a side note: Men. Bubble bath. Together. Bizarre. Is this Top Chef or Real World circa 1999?

Oh. My. Lord.

I’ve discovered the perfect workout video for me. And I can do the whole thing without thinking about it . . . that’s a great sign.

Anyway, the video arrived and I couldn’t help but think the woman on the cover looked awfully like an Asian Jane Fonda circa 1985. But, who am I to judge? The 80s are back, after all. Leggings, Bermuda shorts, Sweet Valley High books, and all . . .Will grabbed it off the counter yesterday — I hadn’t gotten to it yet. He wanted to watch it – especially after I told him it was a dance video. I obliged. Can’t turndown a chance to combine work and play with the kids.

Well, we did the whole video. No clock checking or water breaks. And Will was so cute – trying to master the dance moves too. As for being a workout, I could definitely feel different muscles being stretched and moved during the dances, which is a good thing. This is something I could easily do everyday – maybe even more than once a day.

My favorite dance (and Will’s too) was the Latin Groove.

We haven’t yet checked out the movement breakdown, but that’s a feature for another day. Seriously, this is a really fun workout.

It’s taken me WEEKS to get this post up. See, I made some garlic bread on the fly one night. It came out perfectly. I wrote down the recipe. The problem? I didn’t take a photo. So, I made it again. However, I got distracted and burned the heck out of it. We ate it all anyway . . . It’s that good. But burnt garlic bread doesn’t make for a cook-worthy photo, now does it?

I finally got around to making it again this weekend. It’s still just perfect.

I use roasted garlic in this, instead of raw garlic, because it imparts a milder flavor and needs less cooking. Tasty, quick and easy garlic bread? Yes, please!

K, you know a recipe is a good one – a keeper, if you will – when your husband turns to you mid-bite and says, “Honey, this is one for the blog.” Just to put this more in context: He’s never said that before. Ever. ‘Course, that meant I had to make it again to photograph it. Read the rest of this entry…

For the past year, I’ve been working on greenifying our lives. Safer cleansers, natural (non-antibacterial) soaps, and less waste. It’s been a tough undertaking — reusable dryer sheets just didn’t do it for us. And the ones we tried – Method – still had waste when all was said and done: the sheets themselves, the plastic container they came in, and the plastic bag I had to keep them in to keep them fresh. But don’t get me wrong, we love most of the Method stuff we use.

We also have yet to give up Fantastik. Although we use Method cleaners for almost everything, the natural cleaners just weren’t enough for getting the kitchen spotless. We tried Mrs. Meyers and others as well. But ultimately, we still keep some Fantastik handy for tough spills. We do love Mrs. Meyers for dish soap though.

Our garbage is still going into plastic bags because I haven’t found an acceptable alternative (that the garbage man will accept too) yet.

We have however tried to cut back on waste and succeeded. I purchase less and try to avoid unnecessary purchases. We don’t always succeed, but we sure try. Read the rest of this entry…

Enough with the butternut squash soup! Dude, Spike, you aren’t too nice. You didn’t get screwed. Seriously. And Zoi? She disappoints me week after week . . . And, ha! Ha! Was anyone else silently gloating that Richard forgot to scale the fish? Perfection averted . . . oh, the joys!

But let’s back up.

This week’s guest judge was Ming Tsai, who is known for his East meets West cuisine. There was another blink-and-you-missed-it quick fire. This time, it involved blindfolded taste tests . . . very interesting, but the show missed the opportunity to discuss what to look for in 15 ingredients to ensure that you are getting something of quality. Time count? About 8 minutes from start to announcing that Antonia won . . . and that includes the recaps too. If this keeps up, the quick fire will be over in two minutes by finale time.

This week’s Elimination challenge involved the chefs cooking in teams for a Meal on Wheels Celebrity Chef Ball. But I’ve already said all I can about that above.

So, we’re now five weeks in. I find the quick fires too quick and the eliminations boring. Why? There is simply too much focus on the drama and not enough on the food. Sorry folks, but as entertaining as Marcel was a few seasons ago, I really do just watch for the food. Seriously. Call me crazy . . .

Is this show going to pick up or what?

Just in case you missed it, I am extending the deadline on the contest a little bit. Hurry and get in your submissions! Here’s the details:

What’s your best tip for new bloggers?

Submit your best tip between now and April 5, 2008 April 12, 2008 to sarahDOTcaronATgmailDOTcom and it will appear here on Sarah’s Cucina Bella with a link back to your site.

The entrant with the best tip will receive a copy of Sweet Melissa Baking Book.

Looking for inspiration? Check out my roundup of past tips here.