Q. Who are you?
I am Carrie Brown, and I live in Seattle, Washington, USA. Want to know more? I wrote a separate page on that.
Q. Why is your blog called ”Marmalade & Mileposts?
Well. It’s about food (Marmalade) and travel (Mileposts) and life (Marmalade = sweet + bitter; Mileposts = the markers along the way). So there you have it. Marmalade & Mileposts: the story of my life.
Q. Who built your website?
I did, along with the technical brilliance of Mini-Me’s Hubs, for whom I will be forever grateful. Plus, the odd bit of geeky assistance from the fabulous Techs at NetRivet who secretly sent me short strings of code for the really complicated bits that I just couldn’t work out how to do on my own. I did not abuse them. I really only begged for help (and sent chocolate) when I’d spent a truly long time trying to figure it out to no avail. They are the best techs in the history of the Universe.
Q. You eat all the time. How come you aren’t as wide as a house?
Calories are not all that matter & all calories are not the same. Get the nitty-gritty on how I eat what I want, and stay slim.
Q. Did you take all the photos on here? What camera do you use?
I shot every last one. I use a Nikon D300 & a Nikon D700 that I lovingly refer to as my husband. We go on dates almost every single day & often for fabulous long road trips too. Full gear list.
Q. Do you use Photoshop to alter your images?
I do not use Photoshop. I don’t possess a copy. I use Lightroom to catalog & process the RAW files into something I can print & publish.
Q. What’s with all the feet? Do you have a foot fetish?
I didn’t think I had a foot fetish, but maybe I do & am in denial. My feet are my favorite part of my body. It all started because I make photo books of all my road trips & when I made the first one I realized that I wasn’t anywhere in the book. Since it’s a bit of a pain (and a bit weird if you ask me) to get a tripod out just to do self portraits, I started photographing my feet wherever I went so it would make the books a lot more personal to me. From that point on, the title page of every book became my signature: a shot of my feet on that trip. Plus friends & clients wanted trip photos of me from the road so I started sending foot shots along the way. Now I get in trouble if I don’t post foot pictures on Facebook when I’m out & about.
Q. What’s the deal with getting free meals & free stuff? Can I trust your reviews to be honest? Do you “like” stuff just because it was free or as a favor to a friend?
Go here. {Coming soon!} I wrote a whole separate page on that. Sad reflection on our culture, but true.
Q. How “real” are your restaurant review photos? Do you have the chefs style the plates in advance to look their best or do a ton of other prep? What about lighting?
My restaurant review photos are entirely real. No one knows I am going to take shots until the plate is placed before me & I whip my camera out. There is no prep, no styling, no advance warning. What you see is what I got served up to me. That is also why the shots are not perfect. I have 2 minutes to work with what I have – the food, the available light, the space – and I do try to be as unobtrusive to fellow diners as possible…one reason why I don’t use flash unless it’s a desperate situation. Some of my shots make me wince, but what can you do other than go back and eat it again? Except then it’s not exactly the same experience as I wrote about the first time, so I don’t do that. Oh, yes, once I had to do a re-run because I came away with zero shots. I ‘fessed up right there on the post.
by carrie
Catherine Bae - Do regular grocery stores sell xanthan gum? If not, where can I buy it? I’d like to try your sane lasagna recipe.
carrie - Hi Catherine, I can get xanthan gum in IGA, Safeway and PCC to name a few regular grocery stores. Bob’s Red Mill is the brand I buy, so you should be able to find it with all the other Red Mill stuff. Hope that helps!
Nancy M. - I love your blog and recipes. I did Atkins for 13 years- so eating SANE is the only way for me. I was wondering why you don’t post nutrition counts- as I’d love to see the protein, fiber and carb counts in your recipes.
Thanks for everything.
Nancy
carrie - THANK YOU, Nancy! Couple of reasons – 1. Time – there is only so much I can get done around my 60-hour-a-week day job, and if I have to choose between getting more recipes up to help people, or doing other things, I will always choose more recipes. 2. Jonathan and I don’t get into the micro-detail because it’s not necessary. We just focus on the macro – eating SANE foods/recipes – and the rest takes care of itself. Counting carbs is not helpful – more is helpful is counting the # of non-starchy vegetables you consume in a day. It’s the type of carbs that is important and meaningful. If you’re eating 10 servings of non-starchy veggies a day you don’t need to worry about how much fiber you have consumed – you will have consumed enough. The amount of protein would be helpful (so I will plan on adding this to my never-ending list of things to do) as it’s not always obvious how much protein you are consuming, but as long as you focus on eating those 7 best sources of protein, you will be fine. Likely not the answer you were hoping for, but I hope it helps! Please email me if you want to discuss further! THANK YOU for you support and for helping us share this with the world. We hugely appreciate it.