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Last night the San Diego Press Club held its 40th Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards--commonly known as the JAwards. I received two awards. My food blog, San Diego Foodstuff, earned first place in the general category of Websites: Blog-Topic Based for my post, "French Sorrel and Mint Granita." My piece "Local Gone Wild: The Foraged Meal," which I wrote for Edible San Diego, earned a second-place prize.
I've been a member of the San Diego chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier International for two years. This month I was elected to the chapter's board of directors and will serve as second vice president--in charge of PR and media. Julie Darling of Just Call Us Catering/Kitchen Rental/Volunteers has been elected to the board as well and will serve as third vice president, handling our chapter's programs. Chef Tricia McCormick is our third newly elected board member and will be secretary. We join President Marie Kelley, First VP/President Elect Candy Wallace, Treasurer Carol Blomstrom, and Past President Linda Bills. Already we have two events for the summer planned for our newly expanded membership and are looking forward to a year packed with education, fundraising, and networking.
Les Dames d’Escoffier is the only organization of its kind: a worldwide philanthropic society of professional women leaders in the fields of food, fine beverage and hospitality. The LDEI-San Diego Chapter offers educational, networking, and just plain delicious programs for professional culinary women, as well as opportunities to mentor promising women who want careers in the food, beverage and hospitality industries.We work to advance the significance of foods and beverages in bridging cultural barriers. And, we create and support ways to give back to San Diego, including providing culinary scholarships to women and supporting the LDEI Green Tables initiative.
I'm happy to say that my first story for Saveur Magazine has just been published. "Green Gold" is the featured "Source" piece and highlights the magnificent avocado oil produced in San Diego County by Cid da Silva under the name Bella Vado Avocado Oil. This has been a very long time coming and it's so gratifying to finally see it in print.
Time for a little bragging! Last night was the San Diego Press Club's 37th Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards--or J-Awards. It was a great enough evening seeing a wonderful turnout, despite the rain, and having all the guests enjoy the bounty of 15 restaurants and four local purveyors that I recruited and organized. But, I also took home some awards: First and second place for stories I wrote for the now late SDNN ("The Delights of Air-Chilled Chicken" and "California Modern is Chez Trez"), first place for a magazine feature for Edible San Diego ("Catch of the Day: The Confounding Nature of Sustainable Seafood"), and first place for a post I wrote for San Diego Foodstuff ("Knight Salumi: The Best Cure for Meat").
It's truly a thrill to get a little recognition from my peers for work I love doing.
Last night's San Diego Press Club Journalism Awards has been on my mind for months now. I was on the organizing committee, tasked with rounding up restaurants for our dinner at the Hall of Champions. I hadn't thought much about actually winning any awards, although I had certainly sent in entries and learned that I'd won something. Getting 20 restaurants settled into their booths and serving our 370 attendees was higher on my list of priorities. So, I was thrilled to learn that I hadn't just won something. I'd won four awards for my food writing. I got two third-place awards: one for a story on the City Heights Farmers Market for Edible San Diego and the other for a piece on jam making for the San Diego Union-Tribune. I received a second place award for another Edible San Diego story--this one on the avocado industry in San Diego County. And, my plaque for first prize was awarded for a piece on The Sausage King for San Diego Uptown News.
It's been a long time since I'd entered a journalism contest so this was a real thrill. And, the evening went beautifully, with kudos to all the chefs who fed us so well!
