Dining Dish is 10 years old - time flies when you are having fun.

Ten years ago blogging was at its infancy. There were no conventions for bloggers, who knew the term social media – no Instagram, Reddit, 4-Square, Twitter, and Facebook was in its infancy.  It was a whole new world and the start for a handful of Baltimore bloggers.  The Baltimore food bloggers were a small group – in fact, we would get together for blogger parties at each other’s homes. The snapshot above is probably a good eight years old, a panel of the Baltimore Food Bloggers I assemble for a food and wine show here in Baltimore.  

Today, less than a handful of us remain. We’ve all grown and expanded what we were doing into extended careers.  Two of my favorites, good acquaintances have celebrated the 10 year anniversary recently.

Mango and Ginger by Kit Pollard  celebrates her 10^th anniversary today, September 8^th.  Kit has written nearly 1900 posts.  Kit is writing for the Baltimore Sun, featured articles and restaurant reviews and other Maryland publications. The question now, will she take over the permanent position as the Baltimore Sun’s food columnist and reviewer. 

Minxeats by Kathy Patterson celebrated her 10^th anniversary August 14^th. Food reviews, her honest take whether positive or negative have been the heart of Minxeats. Kathy has shared recipes as well as her dining experiences.  Minxeats and her other blogs on perfume, Top Chef have led to opportunities for her and her husband, Neal, to write two books on regional food and restaurants Baltimore Chef’s Table and Food Lovers’ Guide to Baltimore. Come June 1, 2016 their 3^rd book, Maryland’s Chesapeake: How the Bay and its Bounty Shaped a Cuisine will be hitting the shelves. 

Dining Dish turned 10 years old September 1^st – a mishmash of stories on food: reviews, raves, rants, recipes and reminiscences of the days of yore. Personally, I have written over 1500 posts.  The past 10 years saw me leave the comfort of a corporate marketing job, create my own public relations and marketing company, Dara Does It – Creative Solutions for the Food Industry, a business that would be my cushion in my retirement years.  

My extracurricular activities over the past 10 years have been amazing; mentoring high school culinary students for competition, organizing the kitchen stage at the Food and Wine Festival at National Harbor with talent like Elizabeth Falkner, Sara Moulton, Nathalie Dupree and other notables, Steven Raichlen’s personal assistant during the filming of the first Primal Grill series for PBS, co-authoring with Jeffrey Spear, Yum-Tasty Recipes from Culinary Greats that benefited the Kidney Foundation, and much more. 

Eventually, I took the path of writing regularly for Examiner.com both a food and a dining column, and currently I’m the Baltimore restaurant reviewer for www.Gayot.com. I am well entrenched with the national organization of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs as well as managing their Facebook and Twitter pages.  I’ve rubbed shoulders and dined with my culinary heroes that 10 years ago I wouldn’t have believed possible. Let me know forget my Dining Dish podcasts on Baltimore Internet Radio.

Prior to blogging, I organized cooking classes in the restaurant kitchens, before there was the Food Network and members of  my Epicurean Club of Maryland vied for the limited slots to see the behind the scenes of Baltimore’s top restaurant kitchens.  I had a newsletter, it was old format – typing it, copying it, folding it, labeling it and putting on postage. It evolved to e-newsletter which evolved to the Dining Dish blog.     

It has been an amazing 10 years for all three of us and I only see better things yet to come.  Well at my age, where will I be in 10 years at 78 – hopefully, above ground and still able to enjoy a great meal with friends and family?

Thank you to all who have followed, commented and spread our good food words.