CMH in SYD and MEL; Support your local Food Blogs in the meantime

I am going on a long overdue holiday to my happy place - Australia. I look forward to a couple weeks of wine (Hunter and Yarra Valleys), beer (Carlton and Cascade), dining, pumpkin soup slurping, great cheeses, train riding and most importantly friends. I should be back online by the end of April.

In the meantime - if you do not already do so - check out the Columbus Food Blogs I have listed on this site (to the left) and listen to Columbus Foodcast (episode 7 goes live on April 4th) to tide you over. The Columbus Beer Wench is the special guest star for our 7th installment. We should have some award winning bloopers as a trailer for episode 7.

There will be two entries in a day or two about my run to Circleville as my parting Bon Voyage posts.

Thanks to everyone for supporting CMH Gourmand. I have had great feedback on the blog over the last six months. I look forward to crafting more of the same when I get back.

If you missed it - Columbus Food Bloggers in the Dispatch

Columbus Dispatch article from December 26th, 2007

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This article is about five local food bloggers including me. If you missed it, here you go.

CMH Community Blogging - When we blog it - will they come?

And now for something completely different.

Last Thursday, I met up at the Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails with Lisa from Restaurant Widow, Heather from Sopressata and Becke from Columbus Foodie so that we could finally met each other in person. We started a discussion about food blogging with Kevin Joy from the Columbus Dispatch. Keep your eyes peeled for an article about Columbus food blogs. I think Heather, Lisa, and Becke do a great job so I was honored to be included with their group.

Afterwards, Lisa, Heather and I went to the new Media Cafe at COSI for a meeting on Social Networking (blogging and similar technologies) and ways to build community in Central Ohio using blogging as a tool to encourage community communication. The event was hosted and faciliated by WOSU and COSI. We had a varied mix of bloggers as well as people from OSU, OCLC, Walker Evans from Columbus Underground and many others. We shared some great ideas. The group looks forward to growing this concept of helping people in all Columbus communities connect with each other while sharing information and taking action on community projects.

Here are some sources for more information

Social Media Cafe

Elephants on Bicycles

So on a personal level - what would you like to see on this blog and the other food blogs in Central Ohio?

How about using a blog for your community - such as Clintonville, Worthington or Grandview - to create a connection within your community - if you blog it…will they come? Or what about a community of like minded people that want to take action… recycling, local issues, etc.

We can easily disconnect from people with all of the electronic buzz in our lives from cell phones, computers, blackberries, etc. - but we can also figure out ways to reconnect too…

Definitely take a moment to check out the other food blogs I mentioned - we are not competitors - we are collaborators with a passion for sharing our love of food.

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An update based on our second Social Media Cafe meeting on December 10th - Urban In Fill