From Random Cuisine to Montreal Food Pictures
I'm a self-taught cook, baker, recipe developer, cooking party organizer and food photographer. Unlike many restaurant bloggers, I started my food journey with a recipe blog dubbed Random Cuisine. It all started when three of my closest friends (2 Mexicans and 1 Peruvian) decided to organize weekly cooking meetings as a mean to learn from each other's culture through food. Throughout the years, we invited and made many wonderful friends from every walk of life, thus the name Random Cuisine. These cooking parties are still ongoing. I have documented and written over 250 recipes that were used since 2008. You can read all about it here - History of Random Cuisine.
Blogging about recipes can take up a lot of my time, especially with a full-time science job. Anyone who has been in the recipe world followed more or less the same routine - buy the ingredients at farmer's market, prepare the mise en place, photoshoot our food in broad daylight, beautify our pictures with Photoshop, write an appealing content, think about what to cook next. That's basically a whole day of work.
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| At Bia Mara in Brussels, Belgium with Ananda (A Pinch of Love), Finla (My Kitchen Treasures), Apolina (Bombay Bruxelles) |
Blogging has not only taught me how to cook and bake, but also blogging is being part of a community with people who shares similar passion. Throughout my travels, I met many great bloggers in which, at first, we met online, then crossed paths when I was traveling to their city. They were all amazing foodie tour guides.
I made many long-term friends through guest blogging. Check out my 2011 post on Rebecca's blog - Chow and Chatter. Also, check the video below made by Evelyn of Cheap Ethnic Eatz on making ice cream with liquid nitrogen.
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| At Tiong Bahru Market in Singapore with Ann from Anncoo Journal |
Food photography is something that I learned by imitation as I visited religiously foodporn sites such as Foodgawker and Tastespotting. I was laser-focused on every little detail when I looked at a picture - composition, positioning of the light sources and reflectors, shooting angle, etc... Whenever I have an opportunity to take pictures of food, I simply pull out my camera and start shooting. You all know this saying: practice makes perfect.
I launched Montreal Food Pictures purely because many friends and colleagues asked me for the best and affordable eats in Montreal (and Ottawa). Also, there were no blogs, at that time, that let the pictures do all the talking and the viewers salivate. This blog is not only about reviewing restaurants, but also appreciates the chefs' creativity and hard work putting together their menu. Throughout my reviews, I write about how these dishes were prepared, and I tend to pick up some of their cooking techniques and interesting flavor combinations for my own cooking. Cooking is after all a science. And science is a passion of mine!
Montreal has the most restaurants per capita in North America. So it's pretty much impossible for one blogger to cover all the restaurants in the city. Each local blogger plays an important role of making your life easier on where to get great food. We all have our own taste and we all blog in a unique way. Here is a list of local bloggers that makes Montreal a wonderful city to dine. I met all of them in person mostly through media events. These are all nice people that you can relate to:
- Un Voyage Gastronomique
- Zuuchini
- Cheap Ethnic Eatz
- Braised and Confused
- Mr. Lew Great Burger Search
- Montreal Food Divas
- À La Saveur d'Andréa
- Will Travel for Food
- Food Guy Montreal
- Montreal Brunch and Breakfast
- Montreal Maven
- Eat with Eva
- Seizonal
All of the pictures on this blog are mine unless they are credited. Restaurants do not pay me to eat for free. Like all restaurant bloggers, we pay our meal with our hard-earned money.
If you DO use my pictures for your website, please link it to my original blog post.
Also, consider donating a few dollars to my charity - Dream Corps, an organization that builds libraries in the rural part of China so children can get a proper education. More info here.
To find all the restaurants that I have blogged so far, click on the tab List of Restos.
Also, consider donating a few dollars to my charity - Dream Corps, an organization that builds libraries in the rural part of China so children can get a proper education. More info here.
To find all the restaurants that I have blogged so far, click on the tab List of Restos.
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