It’s that sense of curiosity that keeps me going back week after week to check out Other People’s Pantry on The Perfect Pantry. I’ve gleaned great organizing ideas and tips from the weekly posts, which showcase pantries from all over the world. It’s also wildly interesting to see how a pantry in Brazil differs from one in Ohio.

Anyway, a little while back, I noticed that Lydia, who writes The Perfect Pantry, was looking for more pantries to feature. Since I had recently gotten control of my pantry with some new organizing tools, it seemed like the perfect time to share mine, so I sent her a note. Next thing you know, I was sending photos and descriptions over.

That was about a month ago … my pantry appeared this weekend. It was really exciting to see how my ideas resonated with others.

So, speaking of my pantry, I was thinking about the things that I just cannot live without in my pantry. There are some ingredients that are just musts for me. So, I figured I would share my top 10 must haves. Of course, I made a few self-imposed rules: I limited this list to items with a longer shelf life (so potatoes, onions, garlic and the like were out). And I let myself lump together a few like-items (flours, sugars, etc).

But, being the kitchen voyeur I am, I want to know what yours are too! Share your top 10 must have pantry items in the comments! I can’t wait to hear about the things you love.

1. Salts – Kosher and sea salt
2. Paprika – Hungarian sweet and Spanish smoked
3. Sugars – light brown sugar, granulated sugar and confectioner’s sugar
4. Flours – whole wheat flour and unbleached all purpose flour
5. Baking powder
6. Pasta in a few different shapes
7. Balsamic vinegar
8. Good red wine
9. Peanut Butter & Co Peanut Butter (my fav is The Bees Knees)
10. Extra virgin olive oil

So, what are your 10?

Hey everyone.

Something very exciting is happening today. Seriously. I am guest blogging over on Glamour’s website (yes, that Glamour!). Christine Coppa, who writes the Storked! blog and is author of the recently released memoir Rattled!: A Memoir, asked me to share some tips on recession-proof cooking. So, of course I did!

Head on over to Storked! and check out my post (along with an absolutely delish recipe for Balsamic Chicken and Veggies). And be sure to leave a comment too!

P.S. You can also check out my interview with Christine Coppa on SheKnows.

Let me preface this by saying that I absolutely love my job, which involves writing about all different subjects from food to parenting to technology to local politics. It’s a really fun job that let’s me do my very favorite thing everyday. And sometimes as a writer I get to do some amazing things. I have covered a Super Bowl (in the pouring rain) and stood feet from the Vince Lombardi trophy while it was being presented to the winners. I have shaken Cat Cora’s hand and watched her give a private demonstration to just a few bloggers. I have gone backstage at television shows. I have also covered national  news from the front lines. Obviously, not everything I write about is this cool or sexy, but I love it all. I absolutely, positively love my job.

So when I say that this was one of the very best events I have ever been to, I am not mincing words. The PR firm that put it together, MS & L, did a phenomenal job. The roundtable tasting event was the most perfectly intimate setting I have experienced at an event like this. Although there were many agency folks there, they blended into the background while headchef and cofounder Tim Gannon did the entertaining. He told us about each dish, the components and answered any questions we had. It was well timed, well thought out, and perfectly planned. It was obvious that the people who planned this really understood who they were planning to reach … and reach they did.

Kudos (and thank you!) to MS & L for such a great event. And kudos (and thank you!) to Outback for a fantastic revamp of their menu. They really did do a superb job, and other agencies and companies should take a cue from them. Whenever you are planning an event, you need to reach out to the people you are addressing and this event totally did that. I love that they fostered conversation in a comfortable environment. Absolutely perfect.

Now, head on over to Well Fed on the Town and read all about the food.

It’s been a busy week. With deadlines hanging over my head everyday, a fantastic day on Wednesday filled with networking, and two busy kids who want to get into the Christmas spirit as much as I do, I just haven’t had a chance to write.

My apologies to my readers.

I wanted to drop in and share some of this week’s highlights:

• The Public Relations Society of America’s New York group held Meet the Mommy Media and I was one of the speakers! My partner in crime, Cate, and I had a fantastic time meeting some of the best and brightest women in the online momsphere. We also made some great connections while we were there. What an honor it was to sit on a panel with Stacy DeBroff from MomCentral, Victoria Pericon from Savvy Mommy, Kimberly Coleman from Mom in the City and Nicole Feliciano from MomTrends. I was enamored listening to these amazing women – and mommy bloggers – discuss some important issues related to public relations and advertising.
• Watch Martha Stewart on Monday! Cate and I also took a few hours to attend a taping of the Martha Stewart Show. We watched as Martha whipped up three types of cookies, chat with Jennifer Esposito and show off some special packaging ideas for holiday cookies. I definitely picked up some great tips while I was there. But Martha, if you are reading, feed your audience! It is so unfair to whip up delicious cookies and not give us one teensy bite. Regardless, thanks to Role Mommy for inviting us!
• You can now find me writing about Families & Technology at the new Family Eden blog. Family Eden is a recently launched virtual community where parents can set up spheres to manage their homes, lives and more. It’s a very cool concept.

So, how have you all been? Top Chef notes to come this week, along with a new cookie recipe, a deeeeeeeeee-licious shrimp recipe and more. Have a fantastic weekend!

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!)

After the jump is a link to a podcast about my blog. Yes! You can hear the Sarah behind Sarah’s Cucina Bella!

First, the story:

When I got an email last month asking if I would be willing to be interviewed for a podcast by a local journalism graduate student, I almost immediately said okay. When she said she wanted to tape me in my home while cooking, I agreed . . . with very little hesitation. I figure, if nothing else, this would be a good learning experience for me . . . after all, I have spent the past seven years on the asking end of the equation. It’s high-time that I tried being on the answering end.

Gina came to my house on a Tuesday night. It was a rare Tuesday where both Shawn and I were home so he tended to the kids while I cooked and talked. On the menu was bacon cheddar barbecue chicken rollatini, mashed potatoes and some green beans. Gina interviewed me while I cooked, taping the sounds and my answers.

She was incredibly easy to talk to and a fantastic dinner guest. Totally someone I could envision being friends with . . . How do adults make new friends anyway? That’s still an enigma to me. It’s not like high school or college when if you saw someone enough it was easy to cultivate a relationship.

Anyway, for me, the funniest part of the podcast is when Gina describes the chaos of my kitchen (complete with a clip of me yelling at one of my dogs) . . . That was a pretty tame night for us. LOL.

So, without further adieu, listen, enjoy and be sure to delurk!

Click here: Food Blog Podcast with Sarah’s Cucina Bella

Here’s the details:

The Culinate Death by Chocolate Contest sends one reader, and one food blogger, on a trip for two Napa Valley to attend the Copia Center’s annual Death by Chocolate Festival on Feburary 23, 2008, featuring a day of chocolate and wine tasting, demonstrations by pastry chefs, and other sessions with chocolate aficionados and experts.

So, go here to VOTE FOR ME!!!! (Oops, I should tell you what I entered, right? It was my delicious Deconstructed Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies  — SO tasty.)

Oh, and the blog entries are being judged by the several esteemed people: pastry chef/blogger David Lebovitz, baking expert/blogger Dorie Greenspan, blogger Deb of Smitten Kitchen (winner of Culinate’s GrillMe contest in 2007), Chuck Siegel of Charles Chocolates, and members of the Copia and Culinate staffs).

Welcome to the new site. It’s still a work in progress, so do pardon the dust. The recipe archive is partially up, but it still has a ways to go. You can still locate recipes with the categories menu though. That will remain up until the recipes archive is complete. You might also notice that some posts have feed information at the end – that’s a glitch from moving the posts from Blogger to Word Press. The good news though? The comments are all here. And, if you are an email subscriber, the switch from the Blogger address to www.sarahscucinabella.com has gone smoothly as well without you having to do a darn thing.

In any case, Sarah’s Cucina Bella is up and running. Take a look around and visit often. You’re going to like it here.

Two years later, I’ve learned a few things. First, you don’t need to be a top-of-the-line chef to write about cooking. Anyone can write an interesting food blog whether you are a take-out queen, new to the stove or a professionally trained extraordinare. Did I have great skill when I started? No, definitely not. But I have developed my technique over the years. I have also been more open to trying new things and experimenting.

Another thing I have learned is that sometimes the best recipes come from mistakes. I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten an ingredient or added more (or less) than I thought a recipe would need and found the results to be perfect.

As some longtime readers might remember, I named this blog for my kitchen. Cucina Bella (pronounced cou-chee-naa bell-la) is named for my kitchen and literally means “beautiful kitchen” in Italian. This kitchen, which is in the first house I’ve ever owned, is more beautiful to me today than it was two years ago when I started writing. We replaced all the appliances when we moved in and replaced the flooring with a creamy tile. My husband and I have slowly made other improvements to the room since then including granite countertops. I have to admit, as much as I wanted the granite, I was hesitant to get it (hello! HUGE cost!) but it was so, so worth it.

Thank you to all my readers, whether you’ve been here for a few days or a few years. I can’t tell you how cool it is to know that when I write here, other people are listening.

Here’s to two more years of Cucina Bella!

But I have a cauliflower, spaghetti squash and a few other veggies begging to be cooked this weekend. New recipes are coming. I swear.