This month, I’m thrilled to be hosting the peer-judged food photography contest Does My Blog Look Good in This? - May 2008 edition. You can find the results from April’s edition on Ms. Adventures in Italy.

The rules are explained in further detail below, but the gist of it is - submit a food photo that you posted to your blog in April 2008 for a chance of winning fame, fortune, acclaim from all, and one of those nifty colorful banners up above!

First, for anyone new to my blog, let me introduce myself. I’m an attorney with a solo practice in Brooklyn, New York. I live in a little hobbit hole of an apartment in Park Slope with my partner, Dave, and our cat, Katya. Dave and I run and cook at Jack: an occasional restaurant every two weeks or so. I love to cook, and I love my Canon 30D! Dave does at least half the cooking for the blog and the restaurant, but he backs off and leaves all the photography to me.

I’ll put up a post introducing the judges in more detail later on, but for now I am simply pleased to announce that aside from myself, your judges this round will be Baconbit from Greenmarket Report, Aran from Cannelle et Vanille, Bron Marshall, and Brilynn from Jumbo Empanadas.

Like Sara, I’ve been lucky enough to be recognized by DMBLGIT in past editions, and it’s one of my favorite food blog events out there. I love discovering new bloggers and amazing food stylists and photographers by skimming through the galleries every time, and I can’t wait to see who I find as I go through the entries while hosting this month.

Rules

Each food blogger can submit one photograph that was posted to their blog during the contest month (April). Photographs are reviewed by a panel of judges, who score them in three categories: edibility, aesthetics, and originality. The host then compiles the scores to determine the winners. The specific things the judges will be looking for are as follows:

* Aesthetics: composition, food styling, lighting, focus, etc.
* Edibility: “does the photo make us want to dive in and eat the food?”
* Originality: the photograph that catches our attention and makes us want to say “wow!”, displaying something we might not have seen before.
* Overall Winner: top overall scores in all three categories combined

There are three overall winners for photographs with the highest point totals in all three categories combined, and one winner in each of the three individual categories.

How to enter your photograph:

* Only one entry per person (a single photograph, no diptychs)
* The photograph must have been taken by you.
* The photograph must have appeared on your blog during the month of March.
* Entries must be received by May 23, 2008

Send your entry to habeasbrulee@gmail.com, with DMBLGIT as the subject. Please include the following:

* your name
* your blog’s name and URL
* your photograph’s title
* the URL of the post containing the photograph
* type of camera used
* Please send photos of no more than 500 pixels in width

All submissions will be posted to the May 2008 DMBLGIT gallery, which will be updated as I receive entries. (I will edit this post to add in a link to the gallery as soon I get it set up.) Please give me a few days to update the gallery with your submission!

Good luck!

Just a few announcements here, as I share the recipe for the pork shanks we served at Jack last weekend.

If you’re a blogger of any sort living in NYC, you should come join us at the Brooklyn Blogfest tonight. It will be held at (hold you breath, wait for it, wait for it…) the Brooklyn Lyceum in Park Slope - yes, the very same fabulous location where Dave and I hold our restaurant nights twice a month.

I’ll be there to help set up and participate. I was interviewed for a video of Brooklyn Bloggers that will be played at the event. And, most importantly from your perspective, I’m sure, we’ll be giving away samples of Dave’s brilliantly fantastic homemade marshmallows in a selection of flavors - kahlua, lemon/rose/almond, and Aztec 3.0. I think our plan is to have about 200 bags of marshmallows to give away, so with an expected turnout of closer to 300 people, you better get there early if you want marshmallows tonight!

And speaking of the our restaurant, the May 24, 2008 menu is finally up.

Okay, back to the recipe. These pork shanks were loosely based on some of the fruity tagines we’ve eaten. Since Morocco is an Islamic country, making what basically amounts to a pork shank tagine is probably unheard of in traditional Moroccan cuisine. Sure is tasty, though!

Archives
2007: Amaretto Brownies with Saffron Creme Anglaise and Bee Pollen Spice Mix
2006: Paprika Sticky Rolls

This was our amuse bouche for our opening night at Jack. I’m a bit obsessed with nicoise olives at the moment, because I absolutely hated all olives until I discovered these at the Park Avenue Bistro not too long ago. So now I’m using them to add depth to stews, intricacy to cookies, and inspiration all around.

I love alternating sips of chilled, tart rhubarb soup with bites of crumbly, salty olive cookies. I know it sounds odd, but they really were quite lovely together! Brave the olive cookies; you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Also, my apologies for the radio silence lately. It’s been spring on and off, and I just want to go out and wander the streets and parks whenever the sun comes out. I treasure every evening spent having dinner outdoors in a tank top, every smell of earth and green growing wonder, and even the comforting smell of rain first hitting the pavement. I spent last Sunday night in Prospect Park at a marching band scavenger hunt and capture the flag game. Not to mention the lawyering that takes up time, too. Life is grand, every moment of it.

Speaking of which, if any of you locals like playing board games (such as Scrabble or Go), stop by the Brooklyn Lyceum and say hi on Monday night. I’ll be there.

Archives
2007: Sour Cherry Braised Lamb Shanks
2006: Pear and Basil Tart