Today, the Rad Recipe Spotlight is focused on The Simple Songbird.
Katie is a high-school choir teacher from Connecticut with many interests including food, cooking (and eating) and blogging. She also has an interest in music, gardening, crafts and fitness.
In addition to food, cooking and recipes, Katie blogs about her challenges with weight and fitness as well as her final successes.
The blog is well documented with very good photos especially the recipe illustrations. These recipes both look and sound like they may be really delicious.
Following is the interview by email we had with Katie.
RR: What is your first name?
Katie: Katie
RR: What is the name of your blog?
RR: What is the URL or web address?
RR: How long have you been blogging about food?
Katie: With my current blog, about 8 months.
RR: Why did you decide to become a food blogger?
Katie: For most of my life, I struggled with my weight. I was very overweight from elementary school through college. Growing up, my family ate out a lot and hardly ever cooked at home. I didn’t learn how to cook until 4 years ago, when I first moved out on my own. I fell in love with cooking. Learning how to prepare my own meals and falling in love with working out helped me lose 65 pounds and gain new insight into the importance of eating “real” food and taking care of yourself. Although my blog is not 100% focused on food, it makes me happy to share my love for cooking on the blog. I hope that it inspires some people to try cooking healthy meals at home more often.
RR: What difficulties have you faced and overcome in becoming a blogger?
Katie: I have tried to start many blogs in the past that were short-lived. I have so many different interests, that it is hard for me to focus on just one. I love cooking, fitness, crafts, reviewing restaurants, photography, and writing in general. I would start a new blog with lots of energy, only to see it die out within a month or so. I have a very busy work life, so having a blog that only focuses on food was out of the question–there was just not enough time to cook that much and try that many recipes! I started The Simple Songbird with the vision of it encompassing all of my different interests, instead of just one. So far, it has worked really well for me and I have enjoyed the process. Now blogging is fun instead of stressful, because I don’t feel the pressure to focus on something extremely specific.
RR: Which, if any, food personality (blogger, chef, tv) that you try to emulate?
Katie: My favorite celebrity chefs are Ina Garten, Tyler Florence, and Alton Brown. I love how Ina & Tyler serve up rustic, classic recipes that always have a twist to make it feel special. I think Alton Brown does a fantastic job of explaining the science of cooking–which is really important for aspiring chefs to understand.
RR: What is the mission of your blog?
Katie: With this blog, I seek to explore life as people really live it–not focused on one thing all the time, but exploring all of the different interests that we all have. I seek to keep things simple and focus on the positive.
RR: What is your blog’s specialty?
The Simple Songbird’s tagline is “life | food | fitness | hobbies | love.” These are the things I write about every week. My personal adventures in Connecticut, experiments in the kitchen, the ups &
downs of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and the joy of my many hobbies like sewing and crochet. I approach all these things with a whole lot of love!
RR: Would you like to feature a particular post or recipe?
RR: What camera do you use for your food photography?
Katie: I use a Canon Rebel XS with the kit lens, and sometimes my 50mm/f1.8 lens.
RR: What one main tip would you give new bloggers?
Katie: People will tell you that you have to stick with one very specific topic for your blog, or it will fail. This is simply not true. The most important thing is to find a format that fits who you are–otherwise it will always feel forced. Write well, take decent photos, and engage via social media as much as possible–I love twitter because it allows you to connect with people in a more immediate, conversational manner.