SCANDAL!!!! I have “Friends” with Benefits!!!!!!!
“So this is where I spend my days and years” William Thacker in Notting Hill…………..
It is no secret that I am envious of my son, Ryan who is living in London for the semester. He went there, ostensibly because his major, International Business, required him to “study” abroad for one semester. Ha! I know why he went —– because he knew he could get to numerous venues of interest to him, in a very short period of time and relatively economically. Who knows when or if he will ever have this opportunity again? And so, there he is. Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy that he can do this. I just wish I could tag along (LOL like he’d ever want me to!) Today is numero 6, following Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, and Dublin. Today he is in Istanbul. Coming up, Paris, again, Berlin, Prague and numerous venues in Italy, Morocco and maybe even Dubai. That’s what I call one lucky life! And, so, I continue my quest to catch up with Ryan……..(is there something wrong with this picture?)
One way I try to keep up is, surprisingly, with the unintended benefits of, yes, Facebook. And, yes, no – blowback – I DO know what the phrase, “friends with benefits” means. But, notice the difference – I am writing about, “Friends” with Benefits! Big difference!!!! This is what I now consider my consolation prize – if you will. (I’m not complaining really – no one who knows me, however, will be feeling sorry for me – this year so far – I have had 3 great trips already!)
It’s no secret I have a Facebook account. My kids are constantly harassing me about this. Gone are the days when I cared about all the pictures of them partying it up. They use it for a completely different purpose than I do. On the outflow side, I try to “advertise” my blog and some things I am working on. By far, the biggest benefit to me is, for sure, on the inflow side. In this way, I use it primarily for research and “travel”. (Not to infer in any way a minimization of the recipe collection and inspiration benefits.)
That is, I get to “visit”, and keep up to date, on a daily basis, with people and places I can’t really go to or meet in person. This has been a huge opening up of the world to me. I can see what is happening in floral shops, bakeries and restaurants all over the world, as well as, a multitude of gorgeous foreign travel venues (all of which I covet visiting). I can follow my favorite chefs around the world and see what they are making. I can learn about my favorite authors, designers and generally people of interest to me. Wow! This is huge fun for me. And, I have learned so much from “liking” these people and places.
Here are a couple of examples:
A couple of weeks ago, I “liked” Slow Italy. They post the most amazing photos of a myriad of places in Italy. Not only has this helped me to learn about places there I had never heard of, but it has added a whole new list of places to go, to my bucket list. Then, there are all the wonderful Relais & Chateaux venues, Conde Nast Traveller, and on and on ………
Image courtesy: Slow Italy – Sardinia
Today, I was reading the latest edition of UK House and Garden (April). (I won’t tell you how I feel about the fact that there is no US edition any longer – but you can guess). On the editor’s page, Susan Crewe mentioned a floral shop in London that I did not get to when I was there in January. It’s called Scarlet and Violet. They have a gorgeous feature on them in this month’s magazine that I thoroughly devoured. I “friended” them, and now, I can see what they do every day.
A few of my culinary favorites include: Dorie Greenspan, David Lebovitz, Gale Gand, Thomas Keller and Bouchon Bakery, and Blackberry Farm. And, I get lots of great ideas from Huff Post Taste, Epicurious, etc., etc………
Image Courtesy: Scarlet and Violet – London 5/12
I can watch Guy Wolff throw his pots: 
I can keep up to date on the Chelsea Flower Show:
Courtesy Chelsea Flower Show 2012
“Visiting” with Carolyne Roehm is always an abundance of beauty and wonder for me! Zoom in on her flower arrangements! I have been a huge fan of CR for years and years and am happy to “follow” her around! I have learned a lot about flowers from her, she has the most amazing color sense and I just love her depth of knowledge and eye for beauty! Among other things, she has the most gorgeous collection of dishes I have ever seen and, boy, wouldn’t I love to go shopping with her!
Like Karen Blixen said in Out of Africa, “I have been a mental traveler” when Denis Finch-Hatton is teasing her about whether she has, in fact, been to all the places she’s musing about………. Well, and so, I get to be a “mental traveler”, too.
On the recipe front, here is a tiny sampling of recipes from today so far:
http://food52.com/blog/6159-7-ways-to-start-your-day-with-french-toast
and, then, there’s this:
Feature on Easter Hams: Image courtesy Con Poulos and HuffPost Taste
and lastly, from The Boutique Baking Company:
Snowflake Cupcakes
See what I mean????
Who knows today where I shall go next? Perhaps to:
for:
Images courtesy: Slow Italy
So, for all of the skeptics out there – those who scoff at Facebook as being some silly pastime for people who want to waste all their time stalking around, I ask you to consider my little occupation, or pre-occupation. I have indeed learned a tremendous amount of valuable information and been ‘culinar-ily’ and artistically inspired on numerous occasions, thanks to them. I have found this to be such a wonderfully resourceful venue for me. It’s like a constant mail delivery of “news” about all the things I love! It’s all there, plopped right into my lap, to educate me and get me going! Perhaps, this wasn’t the original intention of “Social Media”, but it has surely worked to my benefit, in my little vocation. So, my own personal kudos to Facebook – for opening the door to parts of the world I haven’t yet seen, to vendors I have and haven’t yet visited and to food ideas to pique my interest every day – and, to the feeds of info and pictures I would never have time to search out on my own. Thanks, for waking me up each day to new adventures!
As Nick Parker says to Meredith Blake in The Parent Trap, “Get the picture?” (Sorry, have a movie thing going on today!)