Genie Gratto

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  1. Best Picture Dinners: Midnight in Paris

    2/11/12 11:00am by Genie Gratto
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    Midnight in Paris

    Over the past ten years, I've felt very mixed about Woody Allen's films. When he's on, these days, he's really on—his movies are funny and human and delightful. But when he's off, his films feel self-indulgent and flat. Luckily for moviegoers in this Oscar cycle, with Midnight in Paris, Allen was totally on, creating a lovely, frothy fantasy where love and struggling writers win in the end. It deserves a Parisian feast in celebration.  Read more >

  2. Best Picture Dinners: The Tree of Life

    2/7/12 11:00am by Genie Gratto
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    The Tree of Life

    I'm going to admit it right up front: Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life is not my favorite, by far, of the nine Oscar Best Picture nominees. It's a complicated, often allegorical film, at times beautiful and poetic, at times, to my eyes, utterly weird. The movie examines the inner life of a family in Waco, Texas, and the bonds between them, whether those bonds are spiritual, tenuous, tender, or all three at the same time.  Read more >

  3. Best Picture Dinners: The Help

    2/4/12 1:45pm by Genie Gratto
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    The Help (Image courtesy Dreamworks)

    We're moving to the Deep South in today's edition of our Best Picture Dinners series. Next on my list is The Help, an inspiring movie about the power of storytelling used against oppression.  Read more >

  4. Best Picture Dinners: Moneyball

    2/1/12 12:00pm by Genie Gratto
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    Moneyball

    Today, our Best Picture Dinners progressive party moves close to my home: Oakland, where much of Moneyball, which stars Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, was filmed. The movie focuses on the Oakland A's 2002 season, when manager Billy Beane took the team on an incredible run using a then-unorthodox management style.  Read more >

  5. Best Picture Dinners: The Descendants

    1/27/12 1:00pm by Genie Gratto
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    The Descendants

    The Oscar Best Picture nominees were announced Tuesday, and since I am as much a fan of films as I am of food, I'm planning to have seen all ten of the nominated movies before the envelopes are opened on Oscar Night. But this year, just watching them is not enough. Here on BlogHer Food, I'll be assembling ten menus for three-course dinners (plus a cocktail, of course) inspired by the honorees. Today is the first of the ten, and I hope you'll join me on this journey through Hollywood's shining stars, course by course.  Read more >

  6. Prominent Food Blogger Discovers Plagiarized Ebook

    1/13/12 4:13pm by Genie Gratto
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    Screengrab from Amazon.com

    The constant war against content scrapers and plagiarism on the web has become a standard annoyance for food bloggers, whether they have large or small readerships. But this week, Elise Bauer of the popular food blog Simply Recipes (which is a member of the BlogHer Publishing Network) discovered a new twist on the phenomenon: an ebook "author" had stolen pasta recipes and photos from her site and repackaged them for sale via Amazon.com's Kindle Store.  Read more >

  7. Beth Aldrich's Real Moms' Strategy: Love Food & Lose Weight!

    1/3/12 7:56am by Genie Gratto
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    Beth Aldrich and her son

    Is it possible to eat the food you like while still making healthy choices? Beth Aldrich of Real Moms Love To Eat believes it’s not only possible, but can become a way of life! Her new book on the subject, officially released today, presents her upbeat and sane approach to recalibrating your food intake, even if you’re juggling a busy, on-the-go life.  Read more >

  8. How to Conquer a Pomegranate

    1/2/12 3:00pm by Genie Gratto
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    Pomegranate Seeds

    One of the fruit stars of the winter season is the pomegranate, which yields dozens of jewel-toned seeds that provide a delicious and healthy burst of flavor to a wide range of dishes. It’s the perfect, healthy antidote to the cold days of winter. But pomegranates can be a bit tricky to deal with—their bright red juice stains what it touches, and they require a bit of care to open them and extract their edible seeds. Here are some tips on how to deal with this seasonal delight—don’t miss them while they’re available!  Read more >

  9. Will the Internet Make Cookbooks Obsolete?

    11/12/11 1:00pm by Genie Gratto
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    Cookbooks

    Though I have cut down on the number of cookbooks I own, I still have several shelves in my quite-small apartment dedicated to printed tomes on cooking. Whether it's staples like The Joy of Cooking or How To Cook Everything, or special books that were gifted to me, like Cooking New Istanbul Style or The Ex-Boyfriend Cookbook, I treasure being able to flip through the pages to recipes I've tried before or want to try later.  Read more >

  10. The Simpsons Take On Food Blogging

    11/11/11 3:24pm by Genie Gratto
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    The Simpsons as Food Bloggers

    This Sunday night, The Simpsons will air an episode titled The Food Wife. It's a send-up of food blogging as only the Simpsons can do it—Marge, Lisa and Bart start a food blog called The Three Mouthketeers.  Read more >

Genie Gratto

Full Name
Genie Gratto
Member Since
May 2006
About Me: 

My name is Genie. I was born in Washington D.C. While there are plenty of people in the D.C. area with a penchant for gardening, I was not one of those people. I either over-watered or under-watered, and next thing I knew, whatever green thing I tried to coax along into healthy existence had withered and died.

In September 2005, I moved to Iowa City. In April 2006, I decided to overcome my black thumb heritage and plant some herbs in a couple of pots. Next thing I knew, I had a garden.

In May 2008, I said goodbye to my Iowa City garden plot and headed even further West: to Oakland, California, where the farmer’s markets run year-round. Urban gardening is the next challenge in my list of garden experiences.

Let's just say this: apparently, I'll do anything for a good tomato.

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