Take the "Hunger Challenge" for St. Louis' Food Outreach

A message from FoodOutreach.org, the only St. Louis area organization whose mission is to provide nutritional support and enhance the quality of life of men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS or Cancer. Each September, Food Outreach invites individuals, bloggers, companies and restaurants to participate in the "Hunger Challenge".

THE CHALLENGE Try to live on $29/week for all your food, that’s the average amount a Food Outreach client would receive in SNAP benefits (food stamps).

Introducing a New St. Louis Food Blog:
Katie's Feast

Apple & Honey Dutch Baby from Katie's Feast 
Please welcome Katie Thatcher, author of the new St. Louis food blog, Katie's Feast.

Katie is one of those people who remembers which appetizer the person next to her ordered at that restaurant they went to five years ago. Ever since her early childhood, when she baked "bread" (her own recipe) which her parents were generous enough to eat and proclaim delicious, she has been experiencing life through food and cooking. After cooking every recipe in The Herbfarm Cookbook, she got her first job -- working in the kitchen and gardens at nationally renowned Herbfarm Restaurant. More recently she worked as a recipe writer for MarketSpice, a spice and tea company out of Seattle.

Introducing a New St. Louis Food Blog:
Kitchen Riffs

Sazerac Cocktail from Kitchen Riffs
Sazerac Cocktail from Kitchen Riffs
Please welcome John Griffin, author of the new St. Louis food blog, Kitchen Riffs.

Kitchen Riffs is both the name of a blog and the nom de plume of its author, John Griffin. Although John is not originally from St. Louis, he spent many of his formative years here (McCluer, class of 1969, to answer the perennial St. Louis question). He moved away after college and returned recently. He and his wife have lived all over the country, but spent considerable time in the New York City area and in Tampa, Florida. He worked for many years in publishing, primarily in college and professional books.

Sponsor Profile: Kitchen Conservatory

Love to cook? Would you like to learn how to cook from scratch? Or learn to cook something special, from croissants to charcuterie to cakes to cassoulet? Then you’ll love Kitchen Conservatory, St. Louis’ premier kitchen store and cooking school. Kitchen Conservatory makes cooking fun!

Meet Anne Cori, the Owner

Anne Cori is a self-professed cooking nut. In her 20s, she trained in restaurant kitchens in Italy, France and across the United States. Since purchasing the store, Anne has doubled the size of the store and added a second teaching kitchen. In 2010, the St. Louis Business Journal featured Anne in its column St. Louis Character.

Anne Cori and the staff at Kitchen Conservatory are all knowledgeable about cooking, kitchen tools; like many of us, they are curious, engaged cooks at home, not just at work. St. Louis food blogger Kelly Gardner of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp works and teaches at Kitchen Conservatory. Several other food bloggers also regularly teach cooking classes.

Best St. Louis Food Blog 2011

Congratulations to Stephanie Tolle of the food blog Iron Stef, named Best St. Louis Food Blog by the RFT. For Iron Stef highlights since its inception, see Steph's recent post, web award?!?! awww shucks!.

Steph shares her honor with the Best Neighborhood Blog, the Best Music Blog, the Best Sports Blog, the Best Personal Blog and the Best Arts Blog in the RFT's 2011 St. Louis Web Awards.

Congratulations, Stephanie!