That's right!  IRON FOODIE!  This month, Foodie Blogroll and Marx Foods are teaming up to give 25  bloggers the shot at foodie fame!  It's so close I can taste it....

Many of you know that I was salivating to join the Foodie Blogroll from the moment I started blogging, and after my month of waitinggggg, I was accepted.  I very proudly display that badge on the right ----> side of my blog.  It wasn't just about helping me increase readership (although that doesn't hurt), but it was also a source of pride!  There are some amazing chefs and bakers on that site, and I love feeling like a real part of the food blogging community!

It's also being sponsored by Marx Foods.  If you've never checked out their website, you definitely should--their molded ice creams are AMAZING looking. 
They've posed tough and interesting questions to us...I am ready for the challenge.

• Why do you want to compete in this challenge?

This challenge is about making your mark on food and over the last year, I have challenged myself to do just that.  While I, and my blog, are still young, my semi-finalist and finalist places in national and regional cookoffs and recipe contests show I have the chops to make interesting and diverse ingredients into delicious dishes that other home cooks can emulate.  Taking on larger blogs, and more experienced bloggers, will really allow my creativity to flourish and my competitive senses to shine.  I want the opportunity to show that you don't need to have the best blog, the most readers, or the most years in the kitchen, to win it all!

• Limitations of time/space notwithstanding, whose kitchen would you like to spend the day in & why? Julia Child, Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria, James Beard, Marie-Antoine Careme, or The Swedish Chef?

Easy! Julia Child for many reasons.  What a legend!  As most of you know through my work with Girl Scouting and other organizations, I believe in strong women.  Julia Child emerged on top of a cooking world that was predominantly male.  Further, I remember growing up to her Master Chef cooking shows that my mother and father would watch endlessly!  I'd love her help on some breads and pastries (I am still trying to master the croissant).  I work in my tiny Boston kitchen; she, in her much larger, Cambridge kitchen.  If we could move time, I could get there quite easily!  She was a master in the kitchen and in life; she ended her last cookbook with, "... thinking back on it now reminds that the pleasures of the table, and of life, are infinite - toujours bon appétit!" and that is a motto that anyone can live by. 

• What morsel are you most likely to swipe from family & friends’ plates when they aren’t looking?

The pickle!  If I go out with my boyfriend, and he orders any type of sandwich that comes with a pickle, he eats it immediately or else it's in my belly!  With my family it's a little different; all three girls are huge pickle lovers (we even make our own!).  So, that means its gone as soon as the plate touches the table.

• Sum your childhood up in one meal.

My mom's baked macaroni and cheese.  It was warm; it was gooey; it was comforting and cozy.  When I look back on my childhood now, I realize I had all of those things.  As "cheesy" as it sounds, the warmth and comfort that I grew up in allowed me to become the strong and independent woman I am today.  My mom was a great baker, but she cooked with less gusto. For baking, I will still always go to her but for cooking, she has admitted that I hold the golden spatula!

• The one mainstream food you can’t stand? 

Cauliflower!  Ugh.  I read these questions aloud to a few people before I began writing.  This one was a unanimous decision.  My mom lamented that she tried cauliflower in every way imaginable including with cheese but I'd never eat it.  Even I'm not sure why, but still to this day, hate the taste (and I do continue to try it).  Luckily for me, I found a boyfriend who also hates cauliflower! 

**I hope that sometime next week I can confirm that I'll be competing!!  New and interesting ingredients have always whet my palette and they are the main reason I began experimenting in the kitchen!  I'll let you know either way sometime next week.  Thanks for reading--what would your answers be?  I'd love to know!