Interview with Food Blogger, Andrea Meyers
How many of you need to find inspiration (or a nudge) on a daily basis, when it comes to cooking? How many of you cook the same old recipes, day after day? Or let's be honest, how many of you just throw up your hands, and go out to a restaurant for dinner each and every night? For many of us, cooking and preparing meals are a challenge!
We are honored to introduce Food Blogger, Andrea Meyers
Andrea was gracious enough to open up her home, share pictures of her gorgeous kitchen and give us a taste of what it is like to be a mom, food blogger and homeowner!
We are honored to introduce Food Blogger, Andrea Meyers
Andrea was gracious enough to open up her home, share pictures of her gorgeous kitchen and give us a taste of what it is like to be a mom, food blogger and homeowner!
What is the style of your home?
Eclectic is probably a good answer. The house was originally used as a model home by the developer and they had the interior professionally designed and decorated with many custom touches. The exterior looks like an average two-story home, but the interior has beautifully textured walls, 13-inch custom moldings around the ceiling, more custom molding design along the walls on the main and second floors, custom drapes throughout, and a fully finished basement with plenty of room for entertaining.
Eclectic is probably a good answer. The house was originally used as a model home by the developer and they had the interior professionally designed and decorated with many custom touches. The exterior looks like an average two-story home, but the interior has beautifully textured walls, 13-inch custom moldings around the ceiling, more custom molding design along the walls on the main and second floors, custom drapes throughout, and a fully finished basement with plenty of room for entertaining.
The walls and colors felt very warm and Italian to me when we moved in, but we brought our own furniture which is a mix of traditional and Stickley mission. We really like how our small collection of mission furniture fit in with the design of the house and we plan to eventually furnish several rooms with the Stickley mission line.
What is your favorite room?
The kitchen is absolutely my favorite room in the house. I spend quite a bit of time in here cooking, writing, and photographing.
The kitchen is absolutely my favorite room in the house. I spend quite a bit of time in here cooking, writing, and photographing.
What do you like most about your kitchen?
The room has a natural flow and doesn't feel cramped, and I adore the color scheme. The cabinet space is very helpful for a food blogger because it gives me plenty of room to store the dishes and props I use for food styling and photographing. The island is great and we added a floating island with a butcher block top which I use as a baking center. It's perfect for shaping and rolling doughs and keeping my gear organized. It has a big pull out shelf on the bottom where I store flours and sugar, another shelf above which holds other baking goods, and a wide drawer that holds baking sheets, rolling pins, measuring cups and spoons. The attached sun room is where we eat our meals. It has plenty of natural light and I shoot most of my food photos there. The writing nook is also very handy with shelves for my favorite cookbooks.
The room has a natural flow and doesn't feel cramped, and I adore the color scheme. The cabinet space is very helpful for a food blogger because it gives me plenty of room to store the dishes and props I use for food styling and photographing. The island is great and we added a floating island with a butcher block top which I use as a baking center. It's perfect for shaping and rolling doughs and keeping my gear organized. It has a big pull out shelf on the bottom where I store flours and sugar, another shelf above which holds other baking goods, and a wide drawer that holds baking sheets, rolling pins, measuring cups and spoons. The attached sun room is where we eat our meals. It has plenty of natural light and I shoot most of my food photos there. The writing nook is also very handy with shelves for my favorite cookbooks.
What type of appliances do you use in your kitchen?
The house came with GE Profile stainless steel appliances and a four-burner gas cooktop in the island. There is a built-in convection oven and Advantium oven with both microwave and speedcook options. When the appliances wear out we'll make some changes and likely put in double-wall ovens and a five or six-burner gas cooktop. The cooktop doesn't have a safety feature where we can lock it out to protect the children, so we purchased a cover that completely conceals the cooktop and prevents anyone from accidentally lighting a burner. It also creates extra serving space on the island, which is perfect for entertaining.
The house came with GE Profile stainless steel appliances and a four-burner gas cooktop in the island. There is a built-in convection oven and Advantium oven with both microwave and speedcook options. When the appliances wear out we'll make some changes and likely put in double-wall ovens and a five or six-burner gas cooktop. The cooktop doesn't have a safety feature where we can lock it out to protect the children, so we purchased a cover that completely conceals the cooktop and prevents anyone from accidentally lighting a burner. It also creates extra serving space on the island, which is perfect for entertaining.
Does your kitchen inspire you to cook and entertain?
I love to cook and having a beautiful space for cooking and entertaining is icing on the cake. When we have friends and family over, we always congregate in the kitchen.
I love to cook and having a beautiful space for cooking and entertaining is icing on the cake. When we have friends and family over, we always congregate in the kitchen.
How do you entertain when you are the mother of small children?
It's a bit of a challenge at times so we try to keep things casual and child friendly. We plan menus with adults and children in mind, usually selecting things we can prepare ahead, and sometimes making something special just for the young ones. I want family and friends to feel like they can bring their children, wander about, sit anywhere, just make themselves at home. There are play spaces upstairs and downstairs for the kids and they are free to go to any of those. In the summer we like to be outdoors, which is perfect for the children.
It's a bit of a challenge at times so we try to keep things casual and child friendly. We plan menus with adults and children in mind, usually selecting things we can prepare ahead, and sometimes making something special just for the young ones. I want family and friends to feel like they can bring their children, wander about, sit anywhere, just make themselves at home. There are play spaces upstairs and downstairs for the kids and they are free to go to any of those. In the summer we like to be outdoors, which is perfect for the children.
What else can you tell us about your kitchen/dining room?
Until we had this house I was never a fan of formal dining rooms and living rooms because they didn't fit our lifestyle. That changed when I walked into this house and saw the dining room, and I quickly decided it was too beautiful to sit unused. In a few years when the boys are a little older and hopefully less messy, we plan to eat dinner in there every night.
Though the kitchen is beautiful, the design didn't have adequate pantry space. The kitchen pantry is tiny and could barely hold my baking supplies, let alone anything else. Even our small bathroom linen closet is larger than the pantry. Rather than go through an expensive remodel, we installed heavy duty shelving in a coat closet around the corner from the kitchen, and that is now the pantry.
Until we had this house I was never a fan of formal dining rooms and living rooms because they didn't fit our lifestyle. That changed when I walked into this house and saw the dining room, and I quickly decided it was too beautiful to sit unused. In a few years when the boys are a little older and hopefully less messy, we plan to eat dinner in there every night.
Though the kitchen is beautiful, the design didn't have adequate pantry space. The kitchen pantry is tiny and could barely hold my baking supplies, let alone anything else. Even our small bathroom linen closet is larger than the pantry. Rather than go through an expensive remodel, we installed heavy duty shelving in a coat closet around the corner from the kitchen, and that is now the pantry.
Can you share any tips or secrets from the kitchen?
My goal is to keep meals relaxed and simple, especially with young children and a husband who travels. Some of the most delicious foods in the world have only a few ingredients and relatively uncomplicated preparation, and I try to keep that in mind when planning. Our weekday meals are usually light and easy to prepare. We save big cooking projects for the weekends, and we always make enough to have leftovers because you never know when a meal plan might go astray.
My goal is to keep meals relaxed and simple, especially with young children and a husband who travels. Some of the most delicious foods in the world have only a few ingredients and relatively uncomplicated preparation, and I try to keep that in mind when planning. Our weekday meals are usually light and easy to prepare. We save big cooking projects for the weekends, and we always make enough to have leftovers because you never know when a meal plan might go astray.
What are your favorite meals to cook?
We enjoy a wide variety of foods, and I plan our weekly menus with dishes from around the world. For fast and easy meals, we make panini, Pad Thai, or grilled meats and vegetables. Pizza from scratch is one of our favorites, both baked and grilled.
We enjoy a wide variety of foods, and I plan our weekly menus with dishes from around the world. For fast and easy meals, we make panini, Pad Thai, or grilled meats and vegetables. Pizza from scratch is one of our favorites, both baked and grilled.
the winter we could probably start a soup kitchen because soup is one of my favorite foods to experiment with.
We also have an edible garden and find inspiration in seasonal vegetables and herbs.
What kinds of foods do you grow in your garden?
We have simple raised beds with herbs, lettuces, chard, leeks, scallions, shallots, beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers. This year we added to our strawberry patch, planted rhubarb, and also planted two apple and two cherry trees as well as six blueberry bushes.
We have simple raised beds with herbs, lettuces, chard, leeks, scallions, shallots, beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers. This year we added to our strawberry patch, planted rhubarb, and also planted two apple and two cherry trees as well as six blueberry bushes.
Gradually we are adding decorative touches to the garden, such as granite pavers for a border and brick paths between the beds. We like having edibles in our yard and it's fun to teach the boys about where food comes from.
What inspired you to create a cooking blog?
Starting the blog was completely unintentional. Several years ago we began dividing time between two states for my husband's job, and it was quite a chore to haul cookbooks between homes or even try to plan meals.
Starting the blog was completely unintentional. Several years ago we began dividing time between two states for my husband's job, and it was quite a chore to haul cookbooks between homes or even try to plan meals.
So I started a little private online archive, a place to keep our favorite recipes so I could easily access them wherever we were. When my collection outgrew that static archive, I began researching options for turning it into a database and happened to stumble across WordPress.com, which was perfect because the database was already in place and I didn't have to build anything from scratch. I began dumping our recipes into WordPress and after about a month realized visitors were coming to the site. It was a bare bones setup with no descriptions or photos in the posts, and I decided I needed to spiff it up a bit if people were going to visit. Now here I am three-and-a-half years later, doing something I never planned to do and love.
Andrea Meyers of ANDREA'S RECIPES primarily writes about cooking and edible gardening with some home and garden product reviews and a bit of food travel thrown in.
Read more about Andrea and her recipes at http://www.andreasrecipes.com
You can also find Andrea on Twitter: http://twitter.com/andreasrecipes
Read more about Andrea and her recipes at http://www.andreasrecipes.com
You can also find Andrea on Twitter: http://twitter.com/andreasrecipes
Thanks you Andrea for a great interview and for contributing 3 Weight Watcher's Momentum Cookbooks as a giveaway for houzz readers. (200 Easy Recipes to Get - and keep - You Going). Simply leave a comment below to enter this giveaway by September 15, 2009. 3 winners will be selected at random.
We purchased our home about 2-1/2 years ago when my husband's job brought us to the DC Metro area, but it was built a little over four years ago. We had looked at many homes, and this one just bowled us over.
I remember walking in the front door the first time and thinking how beautiful yet warm and inviting the house felt. It only took us a few minutes to decide on putting in an offer.