cookiesinheaven

 

is coming to Santa Barbara County!

We are extremely excited to announce the 2014 Wine Bloggers Conference will be in Santa Barbara, California on July 11-13th. The conference has not been back to California since its first two years, in 2008 and 2009, and we know California and the Santa Barbara area will give us a good reception.

The conference will take place at the Santa Ynez Valley Marriott in Buellton, in the heart of Santa Barbara’s wine country. The population of the town is about 5,000, which means everyone will know we are there. The city is located right in the heart of wine country, which (if you have not been) is beautiful, with large open expanses and rolling hills. - Wine Bloggers Conference

And, yes...you can register now!

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Labels: bloggers, Santa Barbara

Also known as the Jon Swift/Al Weisel Memorial Blogroll Amenesty Day is, well, more than just a day. It's a celebration of a life gone...of sharing voices that may not be heard...it's about driving traffic off the blogging superhighway and onto some really lovely side paths of knowledge.

Skippy gives the low down on what exactly this special "blogtopia" (y!sctp) event is really all about.

readers of this space know that b.a.d. is the holiday wherein we ask everyone in blogtopia (and yes, we coined that phrase) to link to 5 smaller blogs w/less traffic than theirs (no bad jokes about no blogs having less traffic than yours, please).

this way we all can introduce our readers to new voices in blogtopia (and yes, we coined that phrase)' as well as giving greater exposure to blogs which may otherwise go unnoticed.

of course, the impetus for this whole ordeal originated w/our dearly departed friend, the legendary jon swift, aka al weisel, who was quite upset by the original blogroll bloodbath and self-amnesty declaration by those big box blogs who shall not be named.

al, in his guise as conservative blogger jon swift, wondered why so-called liberal blogs would have the least liberal blogrolling policies. we here at skippy international joined al/jon in his mock self-righteousness, and thus, four years ago b.a.d. was born!

Some informational blogs I would like to share this year for Blogroll Amnesty...are, well, foodist (of course.)

Lafond Winery blog.

Municipal Wines blog. 

Blog Tablas Creek.

although his blog is definitely LARGER than mine, Bill Marler's blog (The Marler Blog) is the place to go for food recall news and is definitely worth checking in everyday.

and a newbie to blogtopia, but he's EVERYWHERE else....Fabio Viviani's very funny "you can hear his accent through the blog", blog.

Labels: bloggers, Blogroll Amnesty Day, blogs, food recalls, internets

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Most of you are probably aware that Syrah faces a challenging marketplace. Even articles complimentary about Syrahs (as nearly all of them are) feel compelled to begin with a story about how hard they are to sell. A recent article by Eric Asimov in the New York Times began "There’s a joke going around West Coast wine circles: What’s the difference between a case of syrah and a case of pneumonia? You can get rid of the pneumonia."

...When mainstream articles about Syrah (which is, after all, as widely planted in California as all other Rhone varietals combined) lead with anecdotes about how hard they are to sell, it's time for more deliberate action. And Asimov's article started a chain of events that we Rhone Rangers hope may help turn around Syrah's fortunes.

Asimov’s article spurred a blog on Huffington Post by Dr. Orin Levine, Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr Levine, who is one of the world's leading experts on pneumonia and also a wine lover, posted a challenge to Syrah producers and retailers to both promote their Syrah and help eradicate pneumonia by donating $10 of each case of Syrah sold to consumers in November 2010 to pneumonia vaccine dissemination. Why $10? That’s the cost to produce and administer one dose of vaccine. Why pneumonia? It’s the leading cause of death in children worldwide, and is totally preventable. Why November? November 12th is World Pneumonia Day. - Tablas Creek Blog

Labels: Blogger Challenge, bloggers, Pneumonia, Rhone, Rhone Rangers, Syrah, Tablas Creek, Wine

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Emily's Birthday Cookies - Cupcake
Originally uploaded by SusieHazCakes.

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An L.A. law firm has announced via this press release that they have filed a class action lawsuit against the chain and "on behalf of all purchasers of a certain so-called 'frozen yogurt' product made and/or marketed by Yogurtland International, LLC ("Yogurtland")" - OCWeekly

Yogurtland has been slapped with a class-action lawsuit which alleges that they are being a bit shady when it comes to how they name, make, and serve their "frozen yogurt." - LAist

Labels: bloggers, FauxYo, Lawsuit, unsanitary, yogurt

Labels: Birthdays, bloggers

Streep juggles pots, pans and pâté in what promises to be a deliciously rich portrait of Julia Child during the decade-long span when she evolved into America's queen of French cuisine in Julie & Julia. Joining her is Amy Adams, her nun sidekick from Doubt, as blogger Julie Powell, who spent a year toiling over all 524 recipes in Child's classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. - USA Today

Labels: bloggers, Chef, Julia Child, La Super-Rica, Meryl Streep, Movie, Restaurant

Foodbuzz announced today that is has surpassed 2,000 food bloggers in its online food community. These partner food blog websites, when combined with the foodbuzz.com "hub" website, reached 6.7 million people per month according to third-party traffic measurement service Quantcast. This ranks Foodbuzz as the third largest online food property after less than two years of operation.

"Our goal is to be the number one online food community by promoting the talent, enthusiasm and knowledge of food bloggers around the globe," said Ben Dehan, founder and CEO of Foodbuzz. Of the top three properties, Foodbuzz is the only true community that combines social networking for foodies with food content search for everyone. "Both our monthly users and page views grew over 1000% in 2008, and we are on pace to reach the number one spot within the next 12 months," said Mr. Dehan.

Foodbuzz digs deep into the "long tail" of food publishing to discover and promote thousands of small, yet high-quality, food bloggers. "We are providing a platform for food bloggers to pursue their passion in a community that nurtures and encourages the sharing of quality food and dining content daily," said Ryan Stern, Director of Publishing. Foodbuzz offers these bloggers a compelling solution for building their traffic, connecting with like-minded foodies, and making money. - PRNewswire

Labels: bloggers, Food, internets

We’ve named the new queen Califia, after the queen of the mythical Island of California! Thanks to Chryss Yost for her suggestion on our Facebook page. - Sunset Magazine's blog "One Block Diet"

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