Questions and creations with Amanda Laird

By day Amanda Laird is a Communications Specialist with Canadian News Wire. But when she clocks out at the end of the day, Laird returns home to a very orange kitchen and cooks up a storm. On her blog, Mise En Place, she posted recipes and photos of her creations, which range from banana muffins to turkey sandwiches to tomato stew.

I had a chance to do a Q&A with Laird about her blog, twitter feed, and involvement in Toronto’s foodie scene. The response is as follows.

What brought you onto twitter?

As a PR professional, I not only have a natural interest in communications, it’s my job to understand and use various communications vehicles. Originally I signed on to Twitter for professional reasons – to connect with other PR and communications people. When I started my blog in early 2009 it quickly became social and that’s when I started to connect with other food bloggers.

When you tweet about restaurants and meals, do the restaurants ever tweet back?

From time to time, but that’s not why I’m tweeting. I think there are a lot of people who tweet because they want a reaction from a company or a restaurant, especially when they’re angry. But for me, Twitter is more like a miniature online diary.

Have you participated in any foodie meet ups organized on twitter? If so, what was the experience like?

I went to Cupcake Camp Toronto last winter and it was an awful experience. Just way too many people vying for too few cupcakes. We left after a short time but at least our money went to a good cause. But that’s not to say that all meet-ups organized on Twitter are bad or poorly organized. I’ve been to a couple of non-foodie meet-ups organized on Twitter that were awesome, like HoHoTO. Unfortunately I’ve been unavailable for each and every foodiemeet that’s ever been planned.

How do you think the growth of social media has affected the local foodie scene? the local restaurant industry?

Social media is very good at connecting people who are passionate about the same things. Before the Internet I may have loved cooking and eating but there were really few ways to connect with other people who loved the same things, especially since something like cooking can be pretty solitary. I think social media has only made “scenes”, foodie or otherwise, stronger. I’ve been able to connect with so many people through Twitter that I probably would never have met, online or in real life, otherwise.

What makes a good restaurant feed? A good foodie feed?

I don’t know if I can pinpoint certain things that make me like someone’s Twitter feed. I tend to follow people who share interesting links and people who are funny, that gets me every time. When following a brand or something like a restaurant, I want that extra little piece of value – like a deal or a discount.

In September you blogged about a panel discussion you participated in sponsored by the Chicken Farmers of Canada. Have you gotten many similar opportunities as a result of your blog?

There have been a few. I’ve been asked to a couple of press events, including an evening with Curtis Stone where he cooked us dinner using recipes from his latest cookbook and used cookware from his line that’s carried at the Bay.

From time to time I get samples from PR companies to try out and write about. I’ve done it a couple of times, but I’m generally pretty picky about what I’ll write about. My blog is described as a diary of my kitchen, and mostly the food is the backdrop to something else that I’m writing about like childhood memories or celebrating an anniversary with my boyfriend (who’s now my fiancé).

But I’m a PR person too, and I know what it’s like. So if your pitch is well-written and your product is something that I would normally buy I’ll probably write about it. But that’s not why I blog; I do it because I’m a writer and I love writing and I’m passionate about the food that comes out of my kitchen.

A sample of one of Laird's creations:
The Valentine's Day Skillet Cookie

The directions, pulled from Laird's blog:

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.
3. In another large bowl, cream butter and sugars (about two minutes if you’re using an electric mixer).
4. Add egg and vanilla, mix until fully incorporated.
5. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined.
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Transfer dough to a 10-inch ovenproof skillet, and press to flatten, covering the bottom of the pan. Bake until the edges are brown and top is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack about 15-20 minutes.