A good steak, just needs a good rub

Recently I rediscovered The Wicked Noodle. A great food blog with many, many appetizing treats, dinners, and snacks. If you are hungry for a steak, then check out this particular post titled mmmmm...cow. With a recipe for a rub that I thought was worthy of sharing. NSFV (Not Safe for Vegans/Vegetarians. Enjoy!

Foodbuzz Publisher Community Launches:

The Food Monster's Publisher, Foodbuzz has made its official launch today. They have been super supportive over the past three months, and even sent me an apron and spatula. Which I recently used to create Vegan Pumpkin Ice Cream. I will have that post up as soon as I get my food photographer's photos uploaded. Until then, wanderer over to foodbuzz.com and enjoy all of the wonderful blogs, photos, and the foodie community! Press release below:

LAUNCH OF GLOBAL FOODBUZZ BLOGGER COMMUNITY

LEVERAGES REAL-PEOPLE, REAL-TIME POWER OF FOOD PUBLISHING

San Francisco – October 13, 2008: Foodbuzz, Inc., officially inaugurates its food blogger community with more than 1,000 blog partners, a global food blogging event and an online platform that captures the real-people, real-time power of food publishing in every corner of the world. At launch, the Foodbuzz community ranks as one of the top-10 Internet destinations for food and dining (Quantcast), with bloggers based in 45 countries and 863 cities serving up daily food content.

“Food bloggers are at the forefront of reality publishing and the dramatic growth of new media has redefined how food enthusiasts access tasty content,” said Doug Collister, Executive Vice President of Foodbuzz, Inc. “Food bloggers are the new breed of local food experts and at any minute of the day, Foodbuzz is there to help capture the immediacy of their hands-on experiences, be it a memorable restaurant meal, a trip to the farmers market, or a special home-cooked meal.”

Foodbuzz is the only online community with content created exclusively by food bloggers and rated by foodies. The site offers more than 20,000 pieces of new food and dining content weekly, including recipes, photos, blog posts, videos and restaurant reviews. Members decide the “tastiness” of each piece of content by voting and “buzz” the most popular posts to the top of the daily menu of submissions. Foodbuzz currently logs over 13 million monthly page views and over three million monthly unique visitors.

“Our goal is to be the number-one online source of quality food and dining content by promoting the talent, enthusiasm and knowledge of food bloggers around the globe,” said Ben Dehan, founder and CEO of Foodbuzz, Inc.

The Foodbuzz blogger community is growing at a rate of 40 percent per month driven by strong growth in existing partner blogs and the addition of over 100 new blogs per month. “The Foodbuzz.com Web site is like the stock of a great soup. The Web site provides the base or backbone for bloggers to interact as a community, contribute content, and have that content buzzed by their peers,” said Mr. Dehan.

Global Blogging Event

Demonstrating the talent and scope of the Foodbuzz community, 24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs offered online food enthusiasts an international, virtual street festival of food and diversity. The new feature showcased blog posts from 24 Foodbuzz partner bloggers chronicling events occurring around the globe during a 24 hour period and included:

· Mid-Autumn Festival Banquest (New York, NY)

· The "Found on Foodbuzz" 24-Item Tasting Menu (San Francisco, CA)

· Aussie BBQ Bonanza – Celebrating Diversity (Sydney, Australia)

· The Four Corners of Carolina BBQ Road Trip (Charleston, SC)

· Criminal Tastes – An Illegal Supper (Crested Butte, CO)

· From Matambre to Empanadas: An Argentine Dinner (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

· A Sweet Trompe l’oeil (Seattle, WA)

“24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs” captures the quality and unique local perspective of our food bloggers and shared it with the world,” said Ryan Stern, Director of the Foodbuzz Publisher Community. “It illustrates exactly what the future of food publishing is all about – real food, experienced by real people, shared real-time.”

About Foodbuzz, Inc.

Based in San Francisco, Foodbuzz, Inc., launched its beta Web site, foodbuzz.com, in 2007. In less than a year, Fooduzz.com and its community of over 1,000 exclusive partner food blogs have grown into an extended online property that reaches more than three million users.

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Brillante Weblog Award

Howdy folks. Today is a special day. I was nominated for a 2008 Brillante Weblog award for excellence in Food Blogging, and my ability to eat Ice Cream and stay svelte. Many thanks to my friend Liz, over at Yo Soy Blog! for the nomination. In accordance with the award, I must follow a few rules. Which I believe includes not nominating the person who nominated you. If I could, I would, as Liz has done a tremendous thing for the Vegan community in WOV. Her term for West of Vermont, a street that divides, our little Silver Lake/ Los Feliz community with the rest of Los Angeles.

The rules for receiving the award are as follows:
1.)Post the logo on your blog. Check
2.)add a link to the person who nominated you. Check
3.)Nominate 7 other people for this award and add links to their blogs. Will do
4.)Leave a message for the people you've nominated. Will do

Alright, I get to highlight 7 blogs now.

First off, I have to nominate Kirby Von Scrumptious. She helped inspire me to add photos, and really blog rather than journal once every 6 months. Also, she constantly entertains me with her witty titles, and banter in her blog. Also, one hell of a cook.

Before I get to my second nomination, I would like to give a shout out to Leslie, author of Brunch and Such. I would nominate her for this award, but I am not sure if it is just a foodie award. While she doesn't do recipes, she will tell you about the brunch and dive bars in Los Angeles.

Second. I am going to nominate Adam Roberts, of Amateur Gourmet. Now he has a fantastic food blog, filled with great anecdotes, however, it probably isn't fair as The Food Network, is his sponsor. Regardless, a great read. I hope to meet him someday.

Third, I nominate For The Love of Cooking. Always with great photography, For the Love of cooking inspires you to make or eat something sooner than later. The photos and are too appetizing to resist.

Fourthly, Sarah, for The Delicious Life. While I wish she would update her blog more, she is also a big reason Tastespotting is a reality. So, for that she gets this award.

Fifth. I want to give an award to a blog of my hometown. The best blog for the area in Western North Carolina, would have to be Hendersonville Epicurean. I like how the two anonymous Chefs are sneaky, and don't reveal themselves. They also stay away from poor reviews. Read their blog to find out why.

Sixth. 101 Cookbooks. Heidi, always has something tasty for me to cook from her recipe journal. It doesn't hurt the eyes either, as she is a professional photographer. Always a good read.

Last, but not least. Fotocuisine. They always have stellar photos. As you can tell, presentation counts for a lot in my book. Great photographs help a blog stand out.

I have been working a lot this week and haven't been able to blog as much as I would like. Hopefully, I can return to that soon. Thanks again Yo Soy for the award.

- The Food Monster

The Foodie Blog Roll!!!

There is a new feature on this blog. Thanks to
Jenn DiPiazza, Travel Writer, Creative Cook, Food Critic, and Professional Foodie (www.leftoverqueen.com, travel blog @ www.travelcloseup.com), we are now able to share other wonderful blogs with you via the Foodie Blog Roll.

This comes just in time for a change in the address of the blog. ALL NEW CONTENT CAN BE FOUND AT The Food Monster Blog. http://thefoodmonsterblog.com so please adjust your bookmarks and RSS feeds accordingly.

Have a great day!

-The Food Monster

Kirby Von Scrumptious

I know it's been awhile, but I moved to Los Angeles, and am getting settled in. I also now have a fierce competitor, Kirby Von Scrumptious. Her Food blog can be found at http://kirbyvonscrumptious.blogspot.com/

Go read her blog, hate it, tell her you hate it, because we are enemies. Enemies, competing for the hearts of foodies everywhere, the battle has begun. She will be my motivation to bring you more recipes, reviews and the like of things you want to see/eat. Together we can show her how much better my food blog is than hers. Sure, she has fancy pictures, and a Jack LaLanne Juicer, but I have a bigger stomach.

In actuality, we will probably end up working together more than competing, maybe even reviewing a few places together, eating the same foods and enjoying lots of Ice Cream, but if doesn't change the fact that we are enemies. However, while technically we are enemies in the food world, we are friends in the real world. So, Kirby Von Scrumptious, with all due respect, consider this a challenge, and may the best food blog win!

If you would like to see a review for a particular restaurant, or want me to whip up a specific recipe, email me at reviewsandrecipes@gmail.com

-The Food Monster