Bleeding Espresso

Mom’s still here and we’re busy enjoying the fabulous weather and company, but I haven’t forgotten about you!

There won’t be a What’s Cooking Wednesday recipe from me today, but I am combining two regular Bleeding Espresso features, keeping your potential WCW cravings in mind. Remember you can always find all my recipes here and be sure to check out everyone else’s WCW recipes at Shan’s place.

So, July’s 1st of the Month Featured Blogger (a day late, sorry) is

Jenn DiPiazza, The Leftover Queen!

Look at that gorgeous, smiling face!

If you can’t tell from the photo, Jenn recently got married (check out her and Roberto’s wedding story here) and she is truly the foodie of all foodies–as well she should be as creator and keeper of The Foodie Blogroll.

Jenn is one of the very first blogging buddies I made, our bond based on Calabrian heritage, loving Italian men (only one each, of course!), bites from the travel bug and food of all kinds, from all cultures.

As a professional food and travel writer, Jenn describes all of the above topics lyrically and beautifully at both The Leftover Queen and Jenn’s Travel Close Up–and lucky her (and us!), hubby Roberto takes fabulous photos to boot!

Aside from keeping up The Foodie Blogroll and sharing fabulous recipes and travel reviews, Jenn also runs a monthly Royal Foodie Joust competition through her site’s forum. Participants are given just a few ingredients to work with, and wow, the things they come up with. I haven’t played along yet, but one of these months I’ll be there Jenn, I promise!

So please do go say hello to Jenn at The Leftover Queen
and Jenn’s Travel Close Up
and also?

Join the 1700+ blogs on The Foodie Blogroll if you’re a foodie yourself!

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Last week when I promised a Palermonday today, I forgot about the 1st of the Month Featured Blogger! We’ll return to Palermo next Monday though, so do come back!

This month’s featured blogger is Melissa from The Traveler’s Lunchbox. Melissa actually made her way to Calabria recently but we didn’t manage to hook up. Hopefully she’ll be back sometime soon, and I can report our meeting here. Blogger meetings are the best!

I’m not sure how I found Melissa, but I quickly fell in love with the way she combined her loves of food and travel. Yes, we have some things in common.

Melissa is an American living in Scotland with her German husband. In the course of writing her wonderful blog, she completed her doctorate in linguistics with the University of Edinburgh (woohoo!), and she kindly lets us tag along on her trips to exotic places like Croatia, Jamaica, Morocco, Spain, and Norway.

Other than writing fabulous posts and taking gorgeous photos, the girl definitely has a way with titles. Some of my favorite posts of Melissa’s include:

• Cinq Jours à Paris, or If You’ve Gotta Turn 30, You Might as Well Enjoy It
• What They Don’t Teach in Foodwriting 101 (and Finally, a Fruitcake to Love)
• Brownies, ala Nona
• Temptation Thy Name is Baklava
• 5 Things to Love about Calabria (yes, I’m kind of biased on this one)

So go visit Melissa (not on an empty stomach!), browse her archives,
& don’t forget to tell her I sent you!

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Two months ago, I got an email entitled “The good news is I’m not expected to die immediately” from my friend Sara of Moving Right Along.

Deep breath.

Sara hadn’t blogged in a while, and it turned out that a brain tumor was the reason why.

Before going in for surgery, Sara sat down and wrote an email to make sure that her online friends knew how to keep in touch with her should she never be able to read and/or write again.

Deeper breath.

I told my mom and P about her story, blubbering through it and finishing with a tirade about the lack of universal health care in America both times.

I thought about Sara at least once every minute I was awake on the day of her surgery and the day after until I received an email from her True Love that she was doing well.

This is just a small measure of how deeply Sara and her blog and her amazing spirit and wit and humor and L.O.V.E. have touched me. The photo to the right is Sara’s “healthy butterfly” from an MRI taken after her surgery, and yes, that’s Sara above on her tricycle.

She’s been through cancer and a leg amputation and insurance company ridiculousness and so much more, and so I knew deep down that Sara would come through this ordeal with an amazing strength as well.

What I didn’t expect was that she would come back writing better than ever, touching my heart on new levels, making me think about everything in a new way.

But I’m not going to blather on about Sara and why you should go read her blog any more; I’m pretty sure that would make her uncomfortable, and that’s the last thing I want to do.

You see Sara is one of those “leads by example” kind of people I admire so much. She goes about her daily business, deals with what life hands her, does it with grace and love, and is kind enough to tell us about it–and when we’re extra lucky she takes photos as well.

Go visit Sara.

I can’t think of a better way to spread some love this Love Thursday.

Happy Love Thursday everyone!

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Sorry, no April Fool’s joke this year even though last year’s was *so* much fun for me, because today we have the:

1st of the Month Featured Blogger

Yes, singular. Just one featured blogger this month, and you know why? Well other than being one of my very most favoritest bloggers and photographers in the whole world (her photos decorate this post), she is the proud owner of five blogs.

You read that correctly, and here is a list of blogs by Featured Blogger Frances:

• Blogjem: Main blog that covers pretty much everything including great photos
• Blogforth: Creative writing blog featuring Sunday Scribblings
• On the Go Blog: Pictures and thoughts posted from Frances’ cell phone
• Photostroll: A leisurely walk with stops to take pictures
• The Meme Section: A home for memes

Frances is also the founder and fearless leader of the group She Who Blogs, a lively group of women bloggers who offer friendship, laughs, shoulders to cry on, advice, and plenty of other great things.

I’m a member, and in fact, Bleeding Espresso is this week’s featured blog at the main site, so click here to check out my interview. And for more information on joining She Who Blogs, contact me or leave a comment.

I’m not sure how Frances and I first “met,” but I’m so happy that we did. I can always rely on Frances for a kind word, inspiration, a fabulous pick-me-up photo, or a thought-provoking post about friends, family (especially growing up with Italians), and life in general.

And New York City? If you don’t love it already, Frances will convince you that it is one of the most beautiful places on Earth–I would love to teleport myself there each morning (NY time!) and walk through Central Park, sharing a coffee with Frances as she snaps photos like this:

Enough of my rambling; you should be busy getting to know Frances.

Go Blogforth
(or Blogjem, On the Go Blog, Photostroll, or The Meme Section)
and multiply the blog love!

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Can you believe it’s already the 1st of the month again? You know what that means! Time for more

1st of the Month Featured Bloggers

It’s probably not surprising that fellow expats hold a special place in my heart. No matter where we’re from and where we’ve moved to, we’ve left behind all that we’re used to, the comfortable, daily routines that we didn’t even have to think about as we shuffled through them for the unknown–new, uncertain lives in new countries.

Expats end up having a lot in common almost by default, and I think many of us feel sometimes inexplicable connections with other expat bloggers. At least I do.

So here are two of my favorite expat bloggers, chosen for their many talents and also for simply making me happy on a regular basis.

Both of these women have an amazing ability to paint a scene with words and photographs and to draw me into their cities and lives. I always enjoy visits to their virtual homes, and I hope that you will too.

* Jessica of In Search of Dessert *

“At the table of life there are knives in the back, and forks in the road. I keep a spoon handy, in case life dishes up dessert.”

With a tagline like that, how can you *not* want to dive in and see what Jessica is serving up?

At In Search of Dessert you’ll find an American living in Switzerland after stops in Texas, Hawaii, Indiana, England, and Rome. A freelance writer and fabulous photographer now, Jessica has also been a donut froster, a librarian, a dishwasher, and a program manager at a Fortune 500 company.

With her words, photos, recipes, and keen observations on daily life, Jessica brings you right into Geneva and surrounding areas or wherever it is she is at the moment. Ah, and did I mention she’s also planning a wedding? Check out Jessica’s special expat weddings blog, Weddings Start to Finish, as well.

* Amanda of London Southern Belle *

Amanda is a freelance writer who found her way to London after a 10-year long-distance relationship with her British husband; she describes herself as “your average belle with steel Magnolia, sweet potato queen baggage.”

Since November 2004, Amanda has written about “balancing her teaching career as a college lecturer, driving on the ‘right’ side of the road and adding milk to hot tea.” Recently, Amanda’s blog has a whole new dimension as she shares the emotional process of her and her husband’s starting a family through IVF treatments.

Warm fuzzies abound when visiting Amanda’s place, so do brew up a nice mug of tea (I recommend Earl Grey!) before you go. You could be there awhile.

Happy blog-hopping!

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