{a day in the life} Eats Well With Others

Today’s “a day in the life” is the sweet Joanne of Eats Well With Others. Joanne’s content on her blog is always creative, always gorgeous, and always delicious. You definitely don’t want to miss out on any of the great recipes that Joanne creates. 

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Tell me about yourself and how you started food blogging.

To summarize myself and my approach to food: vegetables and cupcakes are my life. I first started blogging in 2009 during my senior year of college. I was trying to teach myself to cook so that I didn’t have to eat dorm food and might actually stand a chance of losing that freshman 15. Little did I know there was such a thing as the food blogger 15…

 Take me through your day.

• • • 6:00 AM: Wake up and beeline to my coffee maker (aka lifeline). Make coffee and breakfast (almost always an English muffin with peanut butter and/or cookie butter) and then sit down at my computer to write blog posts and/or catch up on blog reading, depending on the day.
    • 8:00 AM: Blog post goes live! Then I usually spend some time on twitter/social media and cook something to have for lunch or dinner if I have no leftovers in the fridge. Gotta take advantage of those daylight hours for photos!
    • 9:00AM: Realize I’m running late and hop in the shower.
    • 9:15 AM: Get dressed  and pack my lunch for the day! Because I may be late for work, but no one wants me to be there if I’m hungry. No one.
    • 9:30 AM: Arrive at lab and try to plan what experiments I’m going to do that day and/or finish experiments I started the day before (I study insulin signaling in fat cells. Very exciting.)
    • 11:00 AM: Snack break! Usually trail mix. Hopefully involving chocolate. Then back to the experiments.
    • 1:00 PM: Time for lunch! (Yes, my day does revolve around food.) As I said before, I almost always bring lunch and also often bestow upon my coworkers whatever snacks or treats we have hanging around the apartment. Better than me eating them all myself (see aforementioned food blogger 15).
    • 2:00 PM: More experiments or, if it’s a slow day, lots of wasting time on the internet pretending to look busy. Sometimes if I’m feeling really daring I even try to work on things for the blog while at work. Okay, who am I kidding. This happens every day.
    • 5:30 PM: Head home for the day.
    • 5:35 PM: Arrive home. Prep foods for dinner, if necessary, and then put on my workout clothes and head for the gym! Those calories aren’t going to jump off my thighs all on their own, after all. Generally I take classes at the gym (abs, total body/weights, pilates) or go for a run.
    • 8:30 PM: My boyfriend gets home and we have dinner while watching whatever show we’re obsessed with on Netflix or Hulu. So far we’ve gone through Mad Men, Suits, Downton Abbey, and are currently on Burn Notice.
    • 9:15 PM: I curl up on the couch with my laptop and catch up on more blog reading (it’s endless) and photo editing, and I figure out what, if anything, I need to prep to cook for the next day.
    • 10:30/11:00 PM: Time for bed!

What is your one must-have kitchen tool or gadget?

I could not live without my KitchenAid stand mixer, as cliché as that is! I use it at least once a day. I actually have two. One that I use on the reg and a back-up, just in case the former one breaks.

What is your favorite part of your day? Why?

I am very much a morning person so my favorite part of the day is just chilling with my coffee and my breakfast, writing posts or reading blogs. It feels very zen.

What is your LEAST favorite part of the day? Why?

Probably the late afternoon at lab, especially when there’s not much going on. I just want to be home in my pjs already!!

If you could choose one room in your house to spend the WHOLE day in, which room would it be? Why?

My whole apartment is one room (it’s a studio), so…yeah. It has a ton of natural light though, as an entire long side of the apartment has huge windows. So I pretty much love spending the day there.

What is your favorite day of the week? Why?

I love Saturdays. Usually I get up fairly early to get a long run in, but then I have the whole day ahead of me to hang out with my boyfriend, cook, or just do whatever. It’s glorious.

If you had to choose one place to travel to every year, where would it be? Why? Have you been there before?

I would choose San Francisco. My best friend lives there and I’ve been about 5 or 6 times…and I just love it. The food, the atmosphere, everything! Plus, Bi-Rite Creamery ice cream. Enough said.

If you could travel anywhere in the world for free, where would you go and how long would you stay?

I would go to Italy. And possibly stay forever.

What is your favorite cookbook?

I think I have around 150 cookbook so choosing a favorite is no easy task! My current loves are: Plenty by Ottolenghi, Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen, and Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson.

What recipe on your blog are you most proud of?

I really loved that this strawberry rhubarb dream cake actually turned out looking like the photo in the book! Normally my layer cakes come out super lopsided and funky-looking.

What recipe on your blog do your readers seem to love most?

My most trafficked post is definitely these pumpkin swirl brownies. Pumpkin has sort of a cult following come fall and combined with chocolate…you’ve got a pretty sought-after recipe!

What is your guilty food pleasure that you’re embarrassed to fess up to? Kraft Mac & Cheese? Spagetti-o’s? Canned cheese? We promise not to judge! 

Double stuf oreos. I won’t let them into our apartment. (Or at the least, I won’t ever admit to my boyfriend that they’re there!)

What have you learned since you began blogging?

I think mostly I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff. There’s always going to be someone who takes better photos than you or is funnier or comes up with better recipes, but there’s also probably someone who feels that you’re THAT person for them. So you could be jealous and worry about how many pageviews you get constantly…or you can just do what you do and have fun with it. I choose the latter.

What have you found to be the most challenging part of blogging?

The technical side of things is impossible for me to understand, which makes me quite anxious about it. Trying to figure it all out while not getting myself into a state of panic has proven to be quite a challenge at times.

Do you have any advice for someone who is interested in cooking or food blogging?

If you want to write a food blog because you’re really passionate about it, then do it! If you’re just interested in becoming famous or making money…then don’t. Readers can tell if you’re not being authentic, so you really just want to be true to your voice and yourself.

Who would you like to see featured here in the future?

Lauren – Keep it Sweet

Tracey – Tracey’s Culinary Adventures 

Katrina – Warm Vanilla Sugar

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 Thanks Joanne! Loved your advice for someone who is interested in food blogging. So true, and a great reminder of those of us who started with a passion and have gotten into a little bit of a rut. 

You can find more of Joanne on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

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