As always here is what the FFF is all about. Finest Foodies Friday! FFF is a weekly Friday post featuring favorites from The Foodie Blogroll! We do this so we can share in the rich diversity of what The Foodie Blogroll has to offer by featuring some of our favorites and yours!
What is the Foodie Blogroll? It is the first and fastest growing free membership blogroll for food bloggers and has become a wonderful community to share ideas about all things food related. With a membership of over 4,000 food blogs, I am sure you can find much inspiration and new friends!

The only requirement to be featured here on FFF is to be a member of The Foodie Blogroll and be displaying The Foodie Blogroll widget on your blog. If you are not yet a member, but you have a food blog and would like to join us, please click here!

If you have a favorite foodblog on The Foodie Blogroll, that you would like to be featured here on FFF, please join us over on The Leftover Queen/Foodie Blogroll Forum, and post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.

The Cookie Blog

If you love cookies, this blog is for you! The blog is written by Tiffany, who learned how to bake from her grandmother at a very young age. Today she bakes her family’s traditional cookie recipes (and more!) in the same kitchen her grandmother baked in when she was young. Her blog has a cookie for every taste and her photos really get your mouth watering!

Nosh and Tell

The slogan of this blog is: “Everything tastes better with a dash of sass”! I like it. This blog is written by Whitney and Ariel. Whitney grew up with gourmet chef mom. Now she has her own love for food and uses food to bring people together. Ariel has transformed her way of looking at food from sustenance to a way of life! She gets inspiration from cooking shows and The Food Network. Go ahead and check out their blog!

Yummy, Yummy, in my Tummy

This blog is for those who love to cook and bake (which is likely all of us!). It is written by a stay at home mom who loves watching the Food Network and Martha Stewart to get new ideas. She also has a definite penchant for cupcakes!

4^th Sense Samayal

This is a blog written by Nithya who is new to experimenting in the kitchen. Although it is hard to tell with all her delicious recipes and tantalizing food photography! If you enjoy Indian cooking, this is a great blog to check out for new ideas!

Cuisine de Jan

Jan is a self taught gourmet cook who loves to share her kitchen creations with others. Her blog is full of wonderful French recipes as well as international cuisine. She’s got it all! Her latest post is for Vichyssoise something I have always wanted to try!

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s FFF. Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them.

I NEED NOMINATIONS!!!!!! I know we all have our favorite blogs that we read everyday, and I would love to know about them. We have a very diverse food community, and I would love to see more of the blogs you love featured. We also have a lot of humanitarians out in the Foodie Blogosphere. If you think there is a food blogger out there that deserves a little recognition for their culinary skills, or what they are doing to help the world through the lens of food, please tell us about them!!! Please post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.

Also we all love to know how people came to find our blogs, so please visit all of our featured bloggers today and don’t forget to tell them that you found them via Finest Foodies Friday! They would love to have your feedback.

Everyone knows how much I love sushi. Well, my youngest step-daughter Gwen is absolutely obsessed with all things Japanese (including culture, language, manga and anime), and with that love for Japanese culture comes an enormous love for sushi. It is her all time favorite food. You wouldn’t believe how much of it she can stuff into her little body!

So a few months back when I got some sushi rice from Koda Farms through FromTheFarm.com I knew I had to save the sushi rice for this summer when Gwen and her sister Rachel would be here, so we could have a make your own sushi party!

We made an event of it by going first to the grocery store together to get some of the supplies. Then we headed to the local fish market to get some more goodies. We made the rice first, so that is would have time to cool off. Then while that was cooking, we prepared our fillings – tempura shrimp, fake crab (which is not fake food- as it is made from whitefish, so therefore, not crab…hence the name…), spicy fresh sea scallops, avocado, cucumber, carrots and scallions. We also made spicy mayo (Thanks Dharm for the Sambal Belacan!!!!)  and both toasted and black sesame seeds.

Back when I taught at the cooking school, during the summer we had a camp program for kids, and we made a lot of sushi and it was a lot of fun! So since I already knew how to make the maki rolls, it was pretty easy, just a few quick pointers and everyone was off rolling! There are a lot of detailed, and step by step instructions online for how to roll maki, so I will not cover that here.

Needless to say we made A LOT of sushi. There were 4 of us rolling, and I think it is safe to say we each made at least 4-5 rolls each….and we ate every last piece too…Gwen is proud that she ate at least half of the tray! What can I say, she loves her sushi!

* I will add that per lo’s comment, making sushi is WAAAAY cheaper than going out for sushi. You need very little fish – we used 1/2 package of fake crab, 6 jumbo shrimp and 1/4 pound of sea scallops to feed the 4 of us (really OVER feed the 4 of us!). Not much by way of veggies either, because everything is sliced so thin!  Good question lo!

My blogging buddy, Siri from Transplanted Baker hosted an exchange program a few months back. The purpose was to share your regional farmers market finds with someone from a different part of the country, or the world!

As any reader of my blog knows, I am a HUGE fan and customer of my local farmer’s market on Anastasia Island, here in Saint Augustine, Florida. But I also love reading about other bloggers’ farmers markets on blogs throughout the world! I think that farmers markets offer such a unique variety of products that you can’t even find in your local grocery store – made by local people, using local ingredients. You can learn a lot about a place from what is grown and produced there, and farmers markets are a great way to find out more about any area!

My exchange buddy was none other that Siri herself! This excited me greatly because I used to live in Norway and I always love getting goodies from Norway that remind me of my time there.

Sometime last week a lovely package with international stamps arrived at my doorstep (I now have a doorstep since moving from the condo!!). Inside was a cute purple box with green tissue paper – and inside were lots of lovely treats!

I got 2 different chocolate bars from Freia – the biggest chocolate company in Norway. Their slogan is “Et lite stykke Norge“, which translates to “A little bit of Norway”. The first variety, and most famous, in the cheery yellow wrapper, is Melkesjokolade, or milk chocolate, and the one in the blue wrapper is Firkløver, a milk chocolate bar with chopped hazelnuts! I can’t wait to eat these!

The next two things in the box that I recognized were two packages – Bergensk Fiskesuppe, Bergen Fish Soup and Raspeballer, or Potetball which are Norwegian potato balls. The soup I have never had before, because Bergen is on the west coast of Norway and I lived in the central part of Norway. However, anyone who knows anything about Norwegian food, knows about fish stews and soups. Generally creamy concoctions with a variety of seafood. YUM. Siri suggests that I cook it with some shrimp or mussels. Local Florida shrimp, here I come!

The Raspeballer are sometimes served with a piece of smoked meat in the inside. But they are often served just as balls of potatoes, sometimes fried, sometimes simmered in broth – all ways delicious! Norwegian comfort food at its best!

Then there were a few products that I did not know about. These were made by local producers close to Siri’s hometown of Førde. The first is Borgny’s Rose Gele, which is rose jam. I am very much looking forward to trying this, as I have never had a chance to try it in the past…anyone have good suggestions for what to eat it on?

Next was another product from the same herb farm that made the rose jam, and it is a mix of beautiful dried herbs – Applemint, Bee Balm and a few others I wasn’t able to translate – Siri, can you help me out with “Temyn” and Ryllik?

Anyway, the mixture smelled so good when I opened the bag that I actually just ate some straight from the bag! But I am pretty sure it is meant to be brewed into tea!

Siri also sent me a few post cards – one of the town of Førde where you can actually see her house! and also of a painting of birch trees (how did she know those were my favorite!) by a very well known painter from Sunnfjord named Nikolai Astrup (1880- 1928). The trees are from his small farm that overlooks a lake. He kept this farm as a way to create traditional and picturesque fodder for his paintings. The farm is now run by a historical society that uses it as a museum to display his work.

Anyway, I really want to thank Siri for all of these thoughtful gifts and would love to exchange again with you in the future! Thanks for putting this together!

As always here is what the FFF is all about. Finest Foodies Friday! FFF is a weekly Friday post featuring favorites from The Foodie Blogroll! We do this so we can share in the rich diversity of what The Foodie Blogroll has to offer by featuring some of our favorites and yours!
What is the Foodie Blogroll? It is the first and fastest growing free membership blogroll for food bloggers and has become a wonderful community to share ideas about all things food related. With a membership of over 4,000 food blogs, I am sure you can find much inspiration and new friends!

The only requirement to be featured here on FFF is to be a member of The Foodie Blogroll and be displaying The Foodie Blogroll widget on your blog. If you are not yet a member, but you have a food blog and would like to join us, please click here!

If you have a favorite foodblog on The Foodie Blogroll, that you would like to be featured here on FFF, please join us over on The Leftover Queen/Foodie Blogroll Forum, and post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.

Savour Fare

This is a beautiful blog with recipes for delicious, yet simple food. The author believes that anyone can cook, and that you don’t have to be a cooking expert of have a culinary degree to cook wonderful meals. Kate says: “Cooking shouldn’t be the sole domain of a few people with shiny kitchens and lots of time or a culinary degree. With a few good recipes and some basic equipment and techniques, anyone should be able to prepare a simple meal, and prepare it well”. Her blog tries to dispel the mis-truth that you have to be an expert to cook.

Family Spice

This blog is all about spicing up your family’s menu! There are recipe categories, cooking 101, Nutrition, Fitness and Frugal Living. There are also gluten free brownies, and caramelized onion dip – both which sound very delicious! There is something here for everyone, whether you cook for one, or for 5!

A Girl, A Market, A Meal

This blog is written by Alison, who loves farmers markets and fresh, seasonal foods. Her blog is a collection of her many farmers market inspired meals. She lives in CA and summers in Cape Cod, MA. It is a really fun, colorful and family friendly blog with lost of great ideas to inspire you to venture out and look for your local market!

Kait’s Place

This blog is written by Kait who is a university student near Toronto, Canada. She loves cooking and uses it as a way to find joy in a new city where it can get kind of lonely. There is a super delicious recipe for homemade potato gnocchi with a pecorino cream sauce!

Every Last Cookie

This blog is written by a sophomore college who is baking all 175 cookies from Martha Stewart’s Cookie Cookbook before she graduates. If you love cookies of all kinds, this is the place for you! Her latest post about bourbon currant cookies sounds so good!

That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed this week’s FFF. Remember, if you would like to see a blog featured here, who is part of the FBR please visit the forum and nominate them.

I NEED NOMINATIONS!!!!!! I know we all have our favorite blogs that we read everyday, and I would love to know about them. We have a very diverse food community, and I would love to see more of the blogs you love featured. We also have a lot of humanitarians out in the Foodie Blogosphere. If you think there is a food blogger out there that deserves a little recognition for their culinary skills, or what they are doing to help the world through the lens of food, please tell us about them!!! Please post your favorite Foodie Blogroll foodblogs here.

Also we all love to know how people came to find our blogs, so please visit all of our featured bloggers today and don’t forget to tell them that you found them via Finest Foodies Friday! They would love to have your feedback.

This month I am really excited to announce another awesome giveaway we are doing through The Foodie Blogroll

Saint Cupcake is a Portland, Oregon based bakery that have just started an online store – where they deliver cute customized “Cupcake Kits” around the USA. Jen Endicott, director of cupcake affairs (don’t you just love that title), emailed to see if we would be interested in doing a Cupcake Kit giveaway through The Foodie Blogroll. Cupcakes? How could anyone say no?

These Cupcake Kits include 3 pre-baked cupcakes (you can chose from a variety of flavors – both vegan and regular) as well as 3 different icings of your choice (again both vegan and non-vegan), and 3 different decorations. They get sent to you in a cute decorative box with instructions and are pretty much ready to go as soon as they are delivered. You can check out all the flavor choices here, on their website.

All USA based Foodie Blogroll verified active members will be automatically entered for a chance to win one of these cupcake kits. You will be notified of your win via email, and I will put you in touch with Jen from Saint Cupcake! If you are not yet a member, please be sure to sign up here

Well Roberto and I had some very special guests arrive last week that I was sure were going to really enjoy helping with these cupcakes, my step-daughters Rachel and Gwen! Saint Cupcake sent us a really good variety. I wanted to make sure to sample a good range. So for cupcake flavors they sent us Vanilla Toffee, Vegan Chocolate and Vanilla. For icing flavors we got Cream Cheese, Vegan Chocolate and Pistachio Butter cream. For decorations we got Toasted Coconut, Pink Jimmies and Orange Sprinkles.

We had a great time decorating them and then eating them. I made a vanilla cupcake with pistachio butter cream and orange sprinkles. Rachel made the vegan chocolate cupcakes with pink jimmies and Gwen couldn’t wait to make the vanilla toffee cupcake with cream cheese icing and toasted coconut!

I cut each cupcake into 4th’s so we could all try each one. I think my favorite was the vanilla with pistachio butter cream. It is hard for me not to love anything with pistachio. Gwen’s favorite was the Vanilla Toffee with cream cheese icing and toasted coconut. Rachel loved both of the vanilla flavors. Roberto’s favorite was the Vegan Chocolate. He is a huge fan of all things chocolate, and that just proves how yummy and chocolatey these cupcakes were. I don’t generally like chocolate desserts, and I loved the vegan chocolate cupcakes as well!

We even used the leftover cupcake decorations on some Homemade Marshmallows we made that day!

We got the marshmallow recipe from my friend Emily at Sugar Plum

We had a fantastic time in the kitchen making all these delicious treats! Later in the evening we made some fantastic s’mores using our fire pit! Talk about fun!