Tag Archive for the gourmez

Food, Drink, & Travel Blogging Has Moved!

The-Gourmez-Square-headerWhat happened to the delicious posts on this site? They’ve gone back home to the Gourmez! In August 2013, when we moved to the Bay Area, I combined all my writing pursuits into the site you’re viewing now. At the time, housing them together made the most sense for my sanity–too many sites to manage was too much in the midst of such a huge life change. But nearly two years later, and a recent transition from Hayward to Oakland where my reviews are suddenly in higher demand, meant it was time to give the Gourmez its proper focus again. And thus, that new-old site has been reborn!

My fiction and entertainment publication news and life updates will continue to be housed right here. But if your stomach starts growling or your wanderlust kicks in, the Gourmez is there for you.  In fact, if you click on the menu items above for food, drink, & travel, you’ll find yourself transported to that website instead. Don’t panic! Tastiness is only a mouse click away.

Meanwhile, I’ll be doing more personal writing on this site–writing related to the writing life, that is. I’ve had a few requests to share my own struggles with searching for validation in a career where that rarely equals an income, so I’ll dig into that topic soon. But mainly, I’m planning to re-focus my writing time and get more fiction under my belt. I’m currently shopping around two longish short stories and one fantasy novel. My second novel, a post-apocalyptic romance, is about two-thirds of the way through its first draft, and I have at least four other short stories in various stages of editing and initial plotting. Here’s hoping they all find a home in time!

Site Update and Newsletter Sign-Up!

Treasured Readers,

The site has been quieter than normal as I’m in the midst of re-categorizing posts so the food/drink/travel section is easier to navigate. Thus, you can now access any of those categories under the Food/Drink/Travel heading above or through the master page here:

Click Me!

I am halfway through the process of re-categorizing posts, so everything from 2011 to the present is listed in those pages. I’ll be working on the 2007–2011 set over the next week. I believe I’m well over 2,000 posts at this point. That’s a lot of food writing!

Can I take a break yet?

Can I take a break yet?

In other news, I now have a mailing list set up so I can e-mail you, treasured readers, whenever I have exciting publication news to share. That’s roughly 3–4 times a year, so I can promise that I won’t spam your mailboxes. If you’re interested in getting news on that front delivered straight to you, then sign-up through the widget at the right or right below. They won’t bite.

Subscribe to Rebecca Gomez Farrell’s Mailing List!

Coming up: Pink’s of Hollywood! Barcelona’s beautiful architecture and tasty tapas! San Francisco’s Sutro Baths! More wine and absinthe! And the return of my camera from the shop! Yes, yes, that’s another reason things have been a little quiet here. My trusty Rebel T3i is getting thoroughly cleaned up in the shop. It’s as though I’ve lost a limb–well, a third limb that occasionally gives me neck pain from too much time spent together. Regardless, I miss you, pretty little camera!

Me and my bestie at Yosemite in 2012.

Me and my bestie at Yosemite in 2012.

Our reunion will come soon.

Blog Update: Look, it’s migrated!

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve (or rather, my husband has) moved my food, drink, and travel blog over to my main website. This is effectively me saying “Screw niche blogging!” and keeping all forms of my writing together. It’s probably silly, but I always felt bad when I posted about my fiction writing on the Gourmez, like I was interrupting my readers’ feast to say, “Hey! There’s this other thing I do too! See! Read my things on the bookshelves behind the dinner table!”

So now it’s all in one place, and I think I like the change. It feels more authentic to me somehow, like all of Becca the Writer is now on display. I’ve also begun taking my camera out to restaurants again, so I think that means I’m nearly settled in here in the Bay Area. I’m not going to maintain the three posts a week I was doing in North Carolina–that was just insane of me in the first place, especially because I contribute columns to All My Writers on a weekly basis as well. But I will aim for twice weekly posts about food and drink, mainly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And when I have other things to share with you, it’ll just pop up randomly on another day of the week like this blog today. Sound good?

My husband assures me that no RSS feeds need to be updated, but I don’t know if that’ll always be the case, so there’s no harm in clicking that little button on the top of the page to get the feed for this site instead. And I know most my blog readers are North Carolina based at present, but I hope you’ll still find my food adventures worth exploring from 3,000 miles away. For once, my Californian friends are enjoying seeing places they can go instead. I think that’s a fair turnaround after six years of blogging.

Me and my cousin Daniel doing the tourist thing in North Beach.

Me and my cousin Daniel doing the tourist thing in North Beach.

And now back to fiction for the rest of today. I’ve got a giant bird I need to wrangle into a short story. It flew out of the last half somehow, and now I must lure it back in. As always, thanks for reading!

State of the Blog

I’m moving to California.

Me in 2011 with Los Angeles at my back.

There is no set “when” yet, but if all goes well after listing our house next week, it will be sometime in August.  There is no set “where” yet, but if all goes well with Ben’s employment options, it will be in the Bay Area, with LA as a second choice.

This means a few things. One is that the restaurant and cocktail reviews on this blog have largely been focused on the Research Triangle area of North Carolina where I’ve lived for the past seven years. It’s where I’ve come of foodie age in terms of learning about cuisine, about how great chefs truly make it a craft, and about how sourcing local and sustainable products from farmers you trust is yes, a good idea for the welfare of animals and the treatment of soil but also an amazing treat for your taste buds.

There is no way to ever express my gratitude for these lessons North Carolina has taught me about appreciating what I eat. The people in the food industry here are passionate, committed, and really easy to spend an evening with. Many of my fellow food bloggers have become cherished friends, and that is not to mention all the other cherished friends we have here:  friends from Ben’s alma mater of RPI, friends from working at UNC Cardiology, friends from helping organize Traction the last couple of years, and dear god, the friends I’ve made in the writing community here, both in food and in speculative fiction. I will miss you all with an ache I already know too well from having left those I love behind before. It’s the price I pay to satiate my wanderlust and indulge my writerly curiosity about the everyday lives of people in different regions. In choosing not to put down roots, I’ve acquired several regrets, but I know my regrets would be greater if I’d stayed in one place. That North Carolina kept me for seven years is one of the best compliments I can pay it.

So why California? I’ve lived on the East Coast for a decade now, and it’s time to return home for a while. I’ve been aching for those first friends I left in 2003. My soul needs a refresher. It needs the smell of redwoods, the sound of sea lions barking, and the sight of fog in the valley.

Morro Rock shrouded in fog.

Morro Rock shrouded in fog.

But it won’t be a complete return to what I know, because I’ve never lived in the Bay area, and if it’s Los Angeles, I haven’t lived there since I was 8. I’m excited to see what it’s like in California as a true adult. I’m excited to see what changes have come to the food culture of the region, to learn what else I never realized about it before becoming food aware—I was honestly clueless I lived in a winemaking region on the Central Coast, folks. There were grapevines, but I never quite realized what they were for.

One of many wines from the Central Coast that I’ve reviewed since leaving that same Central Coast.

So what does that mean for the blog? Well, it’s not going away anytime soon because that house does need to sell, and I do have a lot of restaurants to cross off my must-dine list before we leave (Want to join me? Comment!). There are a couple local businesses I’ve wanted to profile but haven’t had the chance to, and I’d like to fix that. But I do expect my posting to lessen once the great move approaches, and when we make it to California, I will plan my next blog strategy after settling in and scoping out the food blogging and writing community there. I may aim for joining larger websites that already have an established following or perhaps keeping on as I have been with a focus on my new hometown.

In the meantime, more personal blogs like this one will crop up because I have a lot to work out, you see. It’ll be hard to say goodbye to an area and people who’ve treated us so well, and I will have a few things to say about that as the move progresses.

North Carolina, treating us well.

North Carolina, treating us well.

I have plenty of fears that my friends in California and the state itself have changed enough that fitting back in may be a struggle—you see, I have this tendency to create fantasies for more than just my fiction and that includes a keen nostalgia for times and places past. I am intensely curious as to how Ben will react to life in California and how he’ll think it compares with those fantasies I’ve constructed. Have I imagined the glory of dry heat and mosquitos only when you’re camping? Will Ben understand the perfection that is San Francisco sourdough? Moving three cats across the country will also be an adventure worth documenting.

cats200

They may not agree.

So you may get more Becca than the Gourmez in the coming months, but you should still get plenty of good eats and drinks, too. Regardless, thank you, dear readers, for joining me on this “quest toward becoming the elusive ‘gourmet’ without bothering about things like tannins and foie gras” as I wrote in my original About the Gourmez page in 2007. There has been some tannins and foie gras talk since then, but I hope learning about them together has been fun, and I have no doubt I have plenty more to learn. California’s restaurants will be my next classroom.

 And what a view it has.

Blog Break

Just a quick note to let you all know that the Gourmez will be on a bit of a hiatus. I’m going on a trip soon, and it’ll take me some time to catch up again once I return, though you can expect several posts on the TerraVita food festival then! Hopefully, it’ll only be a few weeks without new posts, but it could be up to a month. I’m sure you can find plenty of other local food bloggers to help you pass the time until then! ‘Til we meet again, salut!

Root Beer Flip

The Root Beer Flip at Foundation in Raleigh.

I’m in Durham Magazine!

More specifically, one of the websites I blog for is in Durham Magazine, a local publication that talks all things Durham-related. Here’s the announcement I posted on Carpe Durham about the article, since I’m just not going to think of something new and exciting to say in its place here:

Our website has been profiled in the new issue of Durham Magazine, the Foodie issue!

Pick up a copy, and you will learn the history of how RPP and YAR started Carpe Durham (including their and some of our real names–ooh, ahh!), the basic premise behind how a restaurant gets written up (it’s not complicated, folks), and how you—the active, opinionated, and fantastic readers and commentators here—have made this site a success.

In addition to some of our regular bloggers’ thoughts, comments by Lysistrata, 9/9, and burgeoningfoodie on past posts have also been printed to showcase those lively debates we have.

Besides the article on Carpe Durham, you really should pick up this issue of Durham Magazine. There are wonderful pictures of many favorite dishes at local restaurants that an amateur photographer like myself could only dream of taking, an article on the supper clubs cropping up around Durham, and profiles on beloved restaurant staff.

Durham Magazine is $4 and available at Parker & Otis, The Regulator Bookshop, Barnes & Noble at Southpoint and New Hope Commons, Sweets and News at Northgate Mall, Gurley Pharmacy, Whole Foods, and Sam’s Quik Shop.

So if you live locally, pick it up!

Saint Mazu and the Fountain — A Photo Essay

Mazu, our five-month-old kitten, has four goals in life: 1) Convert house plants into litter boxes, 2) Rush out the front door, 3) Pretend I’m a tree, and 4) Defeat the monster in the water bowl.

It’s a Petmate water fountain and the motor makes sucking noises whenever the water gets low. To Mazu, these noises can only mean one thing — there’s a monster in there somewhere and she’s going to get it. She spends at least half her day batting water out of the thing so the noise comes back and she can attack it. Please enjoy these images of one such battle.

The first swing

The first swing

Try the other side

Try the other side

Mid-Strike

Mid-strike.