No Fear Blogging

One of the bonuses of food blogging is you sometimes get to meet your fellow bloggers. An even rarer occurance is when you meet one from your same town/city and you greet each other as though we were old friends getting together to play "catch up" and spend the day together.

Such was the case this past Thursday when Judy of No Fear Entertaining and family (posse) came to downtown Toronto to meet me for drinks, lunch and some shopping.

We had lunch in one of the city's dining jewels, located in Cabbagetown and then we headed over to Kensington Market to do some grocery shopping from street-side food stands and some fish from the Greek fellows I know.

As someone who love's food, there can be nothing better than being in the company of others like you who recognize and enjoy good food, never tire of talking about good food or seek out good food. That's how our day went and I wouldn't change a thing about it!

My advice as a blogger is get to know the people who frequent and comment on your blog, use some common sense with who to approach and seek others who share similar life paths. Judy and I grew up in the same era and our jokes, life experiences and Toronto upbringing brought us together (along with the attraction to each other's food).

Without throwing caution to the wind, try and organize a gathering, seek out bloggers where you might go to vacation or extend an invite to anyone who might be visiting your town. In my instance, I got lucky by meeting new friends...thanks Judy and Mr. T!

On to some food, as it's as much about sharing as it is about taste, flavour and aroma. I'll be having some friends over at my place for a BBQ and in the ensuing days, I'll share with you some of my favourite dishes (that Souvlaki recipe is coming) and some new ones and even a "Kalofagas Mama" recipe for a Strawberry Shortcake!

Not being the type to blog without offering up a dish, I leave you with a surprisingly delicious pork chop recipe that's easy to prep, gives neutral pork a punch and it's easy enough to whip for the family for a weeknight barbecue.

What we have here is a Cumin-Crusted Pork Chop with a zesty peach salsa. It's latin inspired with the use of crushed cumin seeds and cilantro perfuming the salsa. I added my own stamp on the dish with some oregano to complement the cumin.

This dish is obviously for those who enjoy the aroma and flavour of cumin. This dish works best if you pound or crush cumin seeds...the ground up crap doesn't cut here and the final result is a mellow, flavourful recipe that puts some new life in the staid grilled pork chop.