Food Blog South in Birmingham

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I made a last minute decision to go to Food Blog South.  And I am glad I went.  There were great sessions and great speakers during the entire day.  And the food samples and freebies were great as well.  I am trying to open up my blog to a couple new things and I gained some great tips and insight while at Food Blog South.  And I have all the time in the world right now since I am still unemployed.  By the way I am e-mailing this article to all the people I got business cards from so if you know of someone who is hiring.  Just contact me.  The event was held at Old Car Heaven which is an old warehouse with old cars.  Here are some photos of the venue.

Never seen a portable Books-A-Million before.

Now before the sessions started there were some great breakfast goodies and coffee for everyone to enjoy.  This was sponsored by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau.  The morning speaker was Jennifer Cole.

Pastries from Edgar's Bakery.

Coffee from FinerGrind Coffee Roasters.

The first session I attended was The Art of Mapping Food Trends by Kara Nielsen.  There are some surprising food trends for 2012.  Meatless dining; better burgers & coffee; wholesome beverages; keesh bakeries; yogurt; sprouted grains; wild foods; forging in fine dining; and returning to animal fats are things to watch for in food for 2012.  And I have to agree in this; gluten free is the current fad & trend in the food world.  Also the current economic situation and people wanting comfort food is going hand to hand.

This was pomegranate vinegar.  I am not a big fan of vinegar and after one sip; I tasted that extreme sour and had enough.  One good thing to remember from this session is it takes time for trends to express themselves.

The second session was Vlogging by Jay Ducote.  The best quote from this session is if an picture is worth a thousand words.  Than a video is worth 24,000 to 30,000 words a second.  Audiences have a very short attention span and videos can lose up to 50% of an audience after one minute.  Videos on food blogs are only going to get bigger and that might include Young’s Blog in the near future.  Also watching videos on a smartphone is going to grow as well.  In fact in an 24 hour period in March 2011; 9% of videos are watched on smartphones.  And that is growing by leaps and bounds.

The next session I attended was Photography and Food Styling by Jennifer Davick & Marian Cooper Cairns.  While waiting for the session to begin.  I noticed many people on their smartphones.  And for me; well I have an plain old phone.  But I did text message tweets throughout the day.  This session was sponsored by the National Watermelon Promotion Board.  Yes there is such a thing.

There were a lot of great techniques to use while shooting food.  Using panels and tools such as hairspray bottles; water; q-tips; straws; and oil can be used to enhance the photo scene.  And using natural light is great in shooting food as well.  It is okay to let things happen naturally.  So enjoy my shooting of food below.

Before lunch I caught the Blog Design session by Tammy Hart and got a few more pointers after attending Word Camp Birmingham.  You need to have lots of space and interaction on a blog.  And always thank people for commenting and subscribing.  And then it was lunch time!  Brought to us from Shindigs.

The beef was very good.  And the look alike meatballs are actually beets. This great lunch was sponsored by Whole Foods Market in Mountain Brook of U.S. 280.  Then I got some ice cream.

High Road Craft Ice Cream and Sorbet from the Atlanta metro was very good.  We also got to hear what the Desert Island Supply Co. does to inspire writing in kids in the Birmingham metro.

The next session was Tips and Tools for Beginning Bloggers by Genevieve Turkett.  There were some great pointers like using social media; setting up a new blog; choosing the best platform; widgets; and the best ideas and sins for new bloggers.  It was a great session.

The next session Make Money Blogging by Jen Barnett and James Schend was the best session of the day in a very packed room.  Some facts are there are up to 40,000 english food blogs.  And none of them are in the top 100 blogs.  You need to research topics and engage in social media.  Try to keep blog posts to 300-500 words and have clean and quality content.  And always focus on your passion!  I took a ton of notes during this session and the speakers were great.  This session was sponsered by FinerGrind Coffee Roasters.

The next session The Three Ethical Issues for Food Bloggers by Dianne Jacob was a great question and answer session.  We talked about people adapting a recipe to make it their own.  And the FCC rule of saying I got a product for free and liked it on my blog.  Which has to be disclosed.

We then had a meet and greet with sugared pecans and pecan butter.  And they were both very good. The Pecan Project from Greensboro, AL is an job training service for at-risk people and they award scholarships.  I took some home to my mom and she loved them as well.   http://pecansproject.com/

The keynote speaker was Kat Kinsman from the CNN blog Eatocracy.  Her Twitter name is @kittenwithawhip and she was a great speaker.  Some things to look for in a blog is community; an voice; and being creditable and original.  And anyone can be a journalist and have a voice on any platform.

Overall this entire event was wonderful.  I met some great people and talked to a lot of sponsors.  I will be back for Food Blog South 2013.  Thanks everybody!

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Food Blog South After Party

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After the sessions at Food Blog South ended for the day.  I went around the Birmingham metro to take pictures of Birmingham road scenes.  I thought these photos turned out great.

In many of the photos you notice a lot of broken freeway lights.  For the people visiting Birmingham it is a huge eyesore.  The citizens of the Birmingham metro have been complaining about the broken lights but so far nothing has been done yet.  After the road photos; I went to the Food Blog South after party at Good People Brewing Company.  Many attendees turned out for the cheese and beer tasting.  And the cheeses were very good.  Enjoy the photos below.

The cheeses at the after party were very good.  Most were very creamy and smooth.  I am going to highlight each cheese that was at the event.  I barely drank any beer because I had the hour drive back home to Anniston.

Georgia Gouda from Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville, GA was one of my two favorites.  It was very soft and smooth after eaten.  The cheese is made with milk from jersey cows.  This cheese pairs with the IPA beer.

Pepper Cheese from Yellow Branch Cheese in Robinsville, NC was certainly a little spicy. It has organically grown jalapeno peppers and had a strong flavor to the cheese.  This cheese pairs with the Brown Ale beer.

Cabot Clothbound Cheddar from Jasper Hill Farm and Cabot Creamery Cooperative in Vermont was an tangy and sweet cheese.  This cheese is bandaged with muslin and aged a minimum of 10 months.  This cheese pairs with the Snake Handler beer.

Kentucky Rose from Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese in Austin, KY was a light bleu cheese.  This cheese had a hint of pecan and citrus and was soft and creamy.  This cheese pairs with the Coffee Oatmeal Stout beer.

My other favorite Kashkaval from Bittersweet Plantation Dairy in Gonzales, LA was very creamy and went down very smooth.  This cheese is aged a minimum of 60 days and maybe aged up to 2 years.  This cheese pairs with the Pale Ale beer.

So the cheese and beer tasting was great.  The experts at each table were very good at talking about their cheeses.  And the beer I did taste was good as well.  I will have the photos from the main event later on Young’s Blog.

http://www.goodpeoplebrewing.com/

 

 

 

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Shape Up! Week 2

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This is week two in my series of Shape Up!  The weekly post on what I did over the last week in my quest to getting healthier.

Well it has been a tough week.  Alabama had a tornado outbreak on Monday morning and yes I did stay up all night long to keep an eye on the weather and to warn people on my social media accounts.  Alabama had around a dozen tornadoes tear though the landscape and it did a lot of damage.  And three people were killed in the outbreak.  With this state still fragile after the April 27th super outbreak.  Many people stayed up through the night to stay on top of the weather.  After taking naps throughout the day Monday and getting full sleep Monday night I got back to a normal routine.

This week was also a lot of walking.  With the announcement of even more job cuts in Calhoun County this week this area is in a lot of trouble.  So my prospects of finding any work in this area are close to 0%.  But hey; I got my unemployment extended this week.  Which is better than nothing.  I have looking hard for work over the last week with nothing again.  And it is tough to keep your hopes up when you get rejected time and time again.  But I have all of you who read Young’s Blog to keep me company.  And that is great!

So here is the rundown on what I ate this week.

Saturday:
Cup of Yogurt and Banana
Jell-O pack
Hotpocket and box of microwaveable fries
Milo’s no calorie tea

Sunday:
Banana and Oatmeal
Jell-O pack
Pizza Milo’s no calorie tea
Pint of ice cream

Monday:
Quizno’s Sub with cookie
Milo’s no calorie tea

Tuesday:
Cup of Yogurt and oatmeal and Milk
Small bag of popcorn
Chicken breast and brown rice
Milo’s no calorie tea
Fudgesicle

Wednesday:
Cup of Yogurt and milk
Pringle’s small chip pack
Chicken breast and brown rice
Milo’s no calorie tea
Fudgesicle

Thursday:
Oatmeal and cup of yogurt and milk
Pringle’s small chip pack
Pork Chop and brown rice
Milo’s no calorie tea
Jell-O pack

Friday:
Jell-O pack
French bread pizza
Milo’s no calorie tea
Fudgesicle

I still have more energy and feel very good even with the all-nighters.  So we will head on to week 3 of the Shape Up! campaign.  On Saturday I am attending the Food Blog South conference in Birmingham.  So I wonder how much temptation there will be while at the event.  But since I do recipes on Young’s Blog this is something worth doing.  Maybe that might come with a job as well.  So let’s continue my ways to get to better health!

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Video Roundup

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It’s time for Video Roundup.  The best web videos I have seen on the web within the last week.  Let’s get to it!

Screaming Marine

A Marine that screamed like a little girl!

Songify The News

This is one weird video song.

Helicopter Blows Away Tent

An helicopter got too close and blows a huge tent away.

Roof Collapse

This youth hockey team is very lucky.

Another Sports Hissy Fit

A kid that is sad that the 49ers are not going to the Super Bowl.

Incredible Catch

This ball boy made a great catch.

Microwave Blowup

Things you should not put in a microwave.

Back Flip A Day

One back flip a day in 2011.

Lego Man in Space

Cool video of an high school in Canada sending a Lego Man to space.

Very Young Golfer

Could we be seeing the next great golfer?

Super Bowl Teaser

Ferris Bueller is back!

Campaign Ship Ad

Weird campaign commercial involving a ship.

Snow Crashes

People still can not drive in the snow.

Basketball Art

Artist using a basketball to paint Yao Ming.

Bat Infestation

Extreme case of bats!

Avalanche!

This snowmobile driver is lucky to be alive.

Symphony of Science

An science video auto-tuned!

Young Rocker

An 8 year old girl that rocks!

More Weird Dancing

Another weird dancing video.

Facebook Police

You better do what the Facebook Police tells you to do.

 

Attending Food Blog South

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http://foodblogsouth.com/

Well after some thinking I am attending Food Blog South in Birmingham Alabama on Saturday.  Food Blog South is featuring many bloggers and foodies who write about food.  Like this blog which does recipes.  And in the future I will be doing more recipes and even some restaurant reviews here in NE Alabama and NW Georgia.  Some speakers will include writers from magazines like Southern Living and the CNN blog Eatocracy.  And there will be some speakers who have shows on the radio and on TV.  I guess I could be on that list since I have appeared on TV.

So lots of people are going to have some fun on Saturday at Old Car Heaven in Birmingham.  Look for updates and pictures here on Young’s Blog throughout the weekend.  And follow me on Twitter @nvyoung and at facebook.com/nvyoung.  And to my mom; sorry it cost close to $150 to attend this conference.

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Bridge Collapse in Kentucky

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http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Collapse-of-bridge-sections-leaves-gap-between-counties-138192644.html

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/16612822/ship-strikes-eggner-ferry-bridge-causes-partial-collapse

I have been following the breaking news this morning of the U.S. 68/KY 80 bridge over the Tennessee River.  The Eggner’s Ferry Bridge goes over Kentucky Lake between Trigg and Marshall counties and it was hit by a barge at 8:10 PM Thursday night.  This is one very old bridge.  It was opened to traffic in 1932 and was raised in 1943 because of the new Kentucky Lake.  The bridge was slated for replacement with a new modern 4-lane bridge as the road around the bridge was already 4-laned.

The reports have come out saying that the navigational lights on the bridge were not working and were scheduled to be fixed on Friday.  Luckily it looks like no one was hurt or killed in this accident.  There were a couple of cars on the bridge at the time but they all stopped before plunging off the bridge.  The ship called the Delta Mariner was transporting rocket parts from the Huntsville area up the river when it crashed into the bridge.  

The photo above shows the ship going under the bridge during normal times.  You can see the old age of the bridge and how tall the ship is.  Almost not even making it during good conditions.  Most likely what happened is the lake and river level was too high for the ship to cross under the bridge and it hit the bridge and took a span with it.  Hopefully this will spur construction of a better and higher bridge to replace the aging bridge.  Here is an quote on how close it really got for an driver on the bridge.

Robert Parker, 51, of Cadiz, Ky., said he and his wife were traveling northbound on the highway after leaving his stepson’s house in Murray, Ky. They were driving in the rain along the darkened bridge around 8 p.m. when they suddenly noticed a missing 20-foot piece of the bridge, which at that section stands at least 20 feet above the water.
“All of a sudden I see the road’s gone and I hit the brakes,” he said. “It got close.”
Parker said he stopped his pickup within five feet of the missing section. Two cars behind him stopped on his bumper and he saw another car on the other side of the missing section stopped.

If the bridge is deemed to still be structurally sound.  The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will probably put in an temporary span to replace the missing span.  And they will get going on the construction to replace the bridge for good.  This bridge is way too narrow for the traffic and it needs to be taken down for an modern bridge.  Take a look at this video of the narrow bridge in fog recorded in 2007 before this crash happened.

Photos from WPSD-TV; News Channel 5; WKDZ Radio

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Going to the Store

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When I go to the grocery store.  It does get to be overwhelming with thousands of products to choose from.  Many of these food products have lots of calories or fat.  And sometimes an product might have a lot of sugar in it.  I know what to read in a nutrition label and to find the highest serving size that will have the least calories, fat, and sugar.  Before I started to watch what I eat.  I really did not care what I grabbed; it just had to taste very good.  It could be a big carton of ice cream.  Or a box of cake mix and frosting which I would have devoured after making at home.  Or I would get something frozen to make at home.  Like a big bag of french fries and chicken fingers.  Or a frozen pizza that could be made in no time.  I guess you can say I disrespected food.  And the food in turn disrespected me and my body.  So what did I like to grab while in a store.

Before I started to get in better health.  I would often buy a carton of ice cream; my favorites were cookies and cream and cookie dough Blue Bell style.  Or I would get an frozen cake like one of those Pepperidge Farm cakes.  Or even a frozen pie; yummy!  Then when I got home I would sit on the couch; put on a sports game or an favorite cartoon and dig in.  And in no time the entire carton of ice cream was all eaten up.  Or the entire frozen cake or baked pie would be just an empty tin.

Or I would get a big bag of potato chips; or a box of microwave popcorn with tons of butter.  My favorites were Jolly Time Blast-O-Butter or a big bag of Doritos Nacho Cheese.  In no time I would have a bag of popcorn popped or an bag of chips ripped open and then I would be sitting in a chair eating away.

Or during breakfast I would cook an entire roll of sausage; preferably spicy.  Or I would grab a pack of bacon and cook it all.  I would also cook an entire roll of canned biscuits and some eggs and have a very big breakfast.   Then here I come to my favorite place to sit and I would eat away.  You could say I was like one of those dogs in the Beggin Strips ads. I gotta get that bacon; it’s bacon!

So I have spent some time in our local Winn-Dixie.  And I have had plenty of time to be in the store since I am without a job.  I have been getting some healthier options but I am limited in what I can get due to limited income.  Remember I still do not have a job.  And it really does suck being on state and federal unemployment.  So here is some things I have been getting lately.

I have gotten hold of some yogurt.  Yes there are many varieties of yogurt to choose from.  And you have to really read the label.  Some brands pump in a lot of sugar and you think it has to be healthy.  You would be surprised in the 100 calorie packs in the amount of sugar in them.  The best kind to get is Greek yogurt.

Another good way to satisfy your sweet tooth is to grab some Jell-O.  Both the gelatin and pudding packs have very low calories and low sugar. For even better options; grab the packs with the Weight Watchers logo.   They mostly have less than 100 calories in each pack and are very good as well.

Down in the south we all love our sweet tea.  But it also has a lot of calories as well.  So instead of grabbing the regular Milo’s tea.  I would grab the Milo’s no calorie tea with Splenda.  That way you can still enjoy the southern treat but have it with no calories as well.  A win for everybody.

One other great thing is to get some milk.  It is low in calories and is good for you as well.  I get the fat-free milk and drink it during breakfast with some yogurt and fruit.  And sometimes with some oatmeal as well.  Eating a very good and healthy breakfast gets you started for a great day!  And everyone would agree with that.

I know there is the Food Blog South conference going on this weekend in Birmingham.  I wish I could go but I can not pay the $150 fee to attend.  I have no job right now so I can not afford it.  Thanks to the people on Twitter who contacted me.

So I think I am off to an good start.  Maybe someone out there will want to hire me so I can get some more good foods and gadgets to get in better shape.  I would love to get a couple of gadgets to monitor what I eat and put out in exercise.  I would like to also get a couple of kitchen gadgets like a blender to make breakfast smoothies.  But with any prospects of finding a job in the Anniston/Oxford area looking very bad.  Many layoffs (up to 1000) are coming in the next few months.  I am going to be stuck getting some cheap foods that are high in calories and fat.  Those Banquet TV dinners that cost $1 dollar each will not help me get in shape.  But it is all I just about can afford right now.

 

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America Under Obama

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America has changed quite a bit since Obama took office.  I know it is too early to start talking about the election season.  But with the Republican nomination race already getting nasty.  You know whomever is the Republican nominee will have a tough battle against Obama.  Obama has a lot of money and has a lot of support.  I found this graph that shows off what has happened in America between Obama’s inauguration and the end of 2011.  Unemployment is way up; the national debt is way up; gas prices have almost doubled; the number of people on food stamps have risen dramatically; and the cost of healthcare has gone up; even with Obamacare.  And the number of people who are in poverty has gone up in huge numbers and the misery index is higher than ever before.  So you would think we would put someone new in the White House.  But it might take that and  many new members of Congress to change things for the better.  Let’s just hope the people in America are smart enough to elect new people to send to Washington.  Because I would love to be working again.

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Roadscapes Wednesday

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It’s time for Roadscapes Wednesday and this week I am showing off some pictures of a quick trip to Fort Payne, Alabama.  This city has a ton of old fashioned traffic signals all around town.

Yes!  Three sets of signs telling the drivers of the bad curve ahead.  And now some pictures of some traffic light intersections in town.

And going back home I went down I-59 and you know I had to take some photos.

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The State of the Union

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So I watched the State of the Union speech last night.  I felt that the speech was one big campaign speech for Obama.  And the partisanship between both parties was shown in full force last night.  I just love to laugh when one side of the aisle stands up and cheers while the other side just sits there and smiles.  So other than tweeting last night I played State of the Union bingo.

Yeah!  Most of the spaces were left blank.  But you have to admit that the card was funny. Over the course of the speech last night I tweeted what was being said last night.  So here are some of my best tweets from last night.

+3 million jobs being created. And many jobs being created in 2011 and since the 90′s Really?

An new trade enforcing unit for unfair business and goods. Great more big government.

Our community career center here in Anniston is a joke! You can start by reforming that.

This is good! Kids must stay in high school until graduation or age 18. How about also lowering the costs of going to college?

Make higher education a higher priority with lower costs and more state involvement. Good luck with that in Alabama.

Open up over 75% of oil and gas resources. Highest oil production in 8 years. Then stop blocking the Keystone pipeline.

Clean energy. Talking about electric cars and batteries. And wind turbines. You can not just stop oil and gas. You need them too.

Take the money not being spent in war. Use half to pay down debt and other half for infrastructure.

Wants Buffett rule. I.E. higher taxes to the rich. Wants rich to feel proud and responsible to pay higher taxes. Republicans cringe.

More talk wanting congress to work together. Sure Congress is clapping tonight but the next day back to the fighting.

Wants military to be more supported. That is something everyone can agree on!

Time for the Republican response. 1 in 5 men and half of people under 30 did not go to work today.

Government is borrowing 1 out of 3 dollars. Must be a nation of haves and soon to haves.

Wanting people to be up to self government. And to be responsible. 2012 is year to prove doubters wrong.

All speeches are over for tonight. State of the union is grave on one side. to getting stronger on the other side.


Both speeches were just glorified campaign speeches in an already nasty election year that is about to get nastier.  Oh well; I will just continue sitting at home jobless while watching both parties yell at each other.   Maybe we all can hope for the end of the world at the end of 2012.  Let’s do not leave all the politicians swinging until November.  Let’s plan on getting rid of them now!
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