10 Questions: Food Blogger Erin Nichols

Don’t visit ErinCooks.com unless you’ve eaten first, otherwise you’re going to end up really, really hungry and standing in front of your empty, open fridge at 2:00am eating spray cheese directly from the can. Then again, that might just be me. A robust food blog with a devoted following, ErinCooks features anecdotes and trivia along with droolworthy photos and recipes for traditional foods and things that you’ve likely never tried before… like Chocolate-Oatmeal Cupcakes With Maple-Bacon Butter Cream.

Erin is obviously not afraid to try new things in the kitchen. Don’t let bacon where bacon doesn’t belong scare you away if you’re not the brave type, though. If you do, you won’t get to the glorious, heart-stopping beauty of her heart-shaped peppermint patties:

Suddenly, I feel the need to hire a personal chef.

In her own words:

Want to know a “secret?” I’ve been blogging online in various forms since 1998. I did the whole journal based domain thing, the Live Journal thing, the Vox thing, and I had become very very jaded with it all. “http://erincooks.com” actually began out of sheer boredom stemming from a short stretch of unemployment in the summer of 2006. After relocating from Boston to “The Burbs” I suddenly found myself with absolutely nothing to do but scour job sites and go to the gym. Soon the highlight of my day became cooking dinner for my boyfriend.

Surprisingly, I quickly morphed into a regular “Donna Reed.” This was accomplished mostly via an immense amount of Food Network viewing so a hearty thank you to TiVo would be appropriate for making all of this possible.

My friends were highly amused by this new turn of events. In order to prove that I actually was cooking I began to share my meal images with them via flickr. Now, almost a year later, and safely back in civilization (aka Cambridge) I’m still cooking, baking, and entertaining constantly. Simply put, I love to cook. It relaxes me. Well… except for the time when the Pyrex dish exploded in my oven — I think I still have Post Traumatic Stress from that incident.

Take us through a day in the life of Erin.
Can I abstain from this one? Pretty please?

Sure, no worries. So, what music is on your playlist?
I’m the queen of depressing music and pop princesses. The #1 most played song on my iTunes is Beathe Me by Sia. #2 is Peel Me a Grape by Diana Krall. I like to cook to Diana Krall. I’m also a Mandy Moore super fan. Don’t judge.

What is your favorite city, and your favorite thing to do in that city?

My favorite city is Seattle, Washington. I visited for the first time last year and it easily took over for Burlington, Vermont as my favorite American destination. Seattle has great coffee, great food, and great people. I’m not sure if you could ask for anything more.

Where do you live now? What makes your city special?
I currently live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I enjoy that Cambridge has the ability to still feel like a small town even though it most definitely isn’t. Obviously one of the best things about living in the Boston area is the walkability factor. You’re always only a short jaunt or T-stop away from dozens of great restaurants, bars, and shops. There’s really no reason or excuse to be bored here.

Name three of your favorite things.
My MacBook, My pink KitchenAid mixer, and my complete set of Gilmore Girl’s DVDs.

How long have you been creating magic in the kitchen?

Not for as long as you might think. It’s probably only been over the last two years that I really started to feel a certain level of confidence in the kitchen (i.e. I stopped having a panic attack at the thought of having a dinner party). When I first started dating my boyfriend Chris I rather famously made him an awful batch of muffins. They were supposed to be apple but I apparently hadn’t washed the cutting board well enough and the onion that I had sliced on it last permeated the apples. Needless to say those Apple-Onion muffins didn’t really endear me to him. Thankfully I got a second chance. On that second chance though I made him a burnt cheesecake. We started getting a lot of take-out after that.

What made you decide to start a food blog, and what is the best thing that has happened to you because of your blog?

I decided to start a food blog back in the Fall of 2006 after I posted a series of step-by-step images of a Chicken Cacciatore recipe I made for dinner on my Vox blog. It became the featured post of the day, one thing lead to another, and ErinCooks.com was born.

One of the best parts about having a food blog is of course the amazing community of people that you meet and have the pleasure of interacting with. There is just such a huge degree of talent, skill, and humor to be found in the food blog community. I find something or someone that inspires me evey single time I open google reader to check my feeds.

What inspires you? Who are your influences?

Not to sound completely vapid but my ultimate goal in life is to live in a home that could grace the covers of Coastal Living magazine. My idol for this lofty endeavor is the incomparable Ina Garten. She leads my dream life complete with a gorgeous house in the Hamptons, an unbelievable garden, and the opportunity and means to play hostess to friends and family at the drop of a hat.

What is your favorite recipe that has been featured on ErinCooks? If you can’t keep it to one, give us three.
My favorite recipe is the homemade doughnuts that I made with my mother last Christmas:
Homemade Raised Doughnuts

http://erincooks.com/2008/12/29/raised-doughnuts

What are some of your favorite food blogs?

Food in Jars – foodinjars.com
Eggs on Sunday – eggsonsunday.wordpress.com
Eating Out Loud – eatingoutloud.com
Pinch My Salt – pinchmysalt.com
Panini Happy – paninihappy.com
Simmer Till Done – simmertilldone.com

Thanks, Erin!

Pick up a new trick and a recipe or two at ErinCooks.

(All photos belong to Erin – please don’t take her stuff!)