Texannie's interview

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Interview by Lydia

We interviewed Texannie!

"I don't follow one chef in particular in terms of cuisine, method, etc. (although I do love me some Anthony Bourdain food lit!), but rather I find my inspiration from the breadth and depth of food that represents a culture."

Hello Texannie, so tell us...

When did you begin your blog, and what inspired you to start it?

When my then-boyfriend and I decided to pack up and move to Madrid in search of an adventure in the spring of 2011, I began writing about our travels on different websites, but it was sporadic at best. Then, when said then-boyfriend and partner-in-crime Sergio proposed in summer of 2011, I realized how quickly time passes, and I resolved to do a better job of documenting our life.

This eventually led to the launch of GambasandGrits in August of last year. By this point, I was pregnant, and cravings drove me to the kitchen in attempts to recreate my favorite dishes from home, while playing with new, exciting Spanish ingredients. I had been tweaking recipes for a while, and I realized that I had enough content to put up a decent website. My husband, Sergio, is (conveniently) a website designer, and he built GambasandGrits for me.

Are you involved in the blogging community - how do you attract new readers?

Great question. I regularly tweet, and in the short time since I started a Twitter account (about 8 months ago), I have built up over 2,200 followers. I link my Twitter account to Facebook, so there is constantly new content on that platform as well, and occasionally do Facebook campaigns to promote particular posts, which has been pretty successful. I have nearly 1,000 likes on my Facebook page GambasandGrits due, in large part, to these efforts. Though I don't do nearly enough of it, I have found that Pinterest is a great way to spread the word about my site, as is Foodspotting.

I invite other bloggers to post on GambasandGrits, and I, in turn guest blog on different sites, too.

I am currently in the midst of a Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the Gourmand's Grater, and that has resulted in a huge increase in traffic to GambasandGrits (I use G&G as the platform for the Gourmand's Grater).

Finally, since my husband is a techie genius, he helps me with SEO and has taught me the importance of backlinks. So now when I check out someone else's blog, instead of just thinking "wow, that's a really great recipe", I post it to their comments section.

Who are your culinary influences?

I love this question. I don't follow one chef in particular in terms of cuisine, method, etc. (although I do love me some Anthony Bourdain food lit!), but rather I find my inspiration from the breadth and depth of food that represents a culture. I have traveled to a lot of different places, and for me, food is a great way to learn about a society and get a glimpse into its soul, even if you don't speak the language.

It's not about fancy, but what most everyone can, and chooses to, eat in a particular culture. I like to keep it cheap, honest and simple. I also like spice ( as in heat) a lot, probably because I am from Texas and instead of pacifiers, babies are given jalapeños to suck on. And I want to contribute something to gastronomy by combining seemingly disparate flavor profiles.

An example of a dish that summarizes my ambitions and philosophy is a sushi roll we came up with after we moved to Spain, the "Vive España" roll. We prepare sushi rice like you would paella, with shrimp stock and saffron. We then roll the sushi tempura-fried prawns or calamari, chorizo and red pepper (I usually include cream cheese, as I a big believer that it makes *everything* taste better!). Finally, they have the most amazing, teeny, weeny shrimp here, unlike anything I have ever seen in the States. We roll the sushi "inside out" (i.e. so the rice is on the outside) and then finish it off by coating it in those teeny shrimp. Serve with sirachi or wasabi, and you have a dish that isrepresentative of two fabulous food cultures!

How did you end up moving to Spain from Texas?

I was working as an attorney, and had been unhappy for a while. When my firm was into its third round of lay-offs, I realized that, for the first time, I would actually welcome that knock at my door and the severance package that goes with it. This epiphany spurred me to commit to making a change.

At about the same time, I happened to run into a guy at Starbuck's that I had met a few years before. I was in a relationship at the time, but he had nonetheless made an impression on me. We began dating shortly thereafter, and when I told him about my plan to move to southern France and run a B&B for a friend, he thought it sounded like a lot of fun. The B&B fell through, but we had both gotten so excited at the prospect of moving to Europe for a year, that we decided to go for it anyway. We both speak Spanish, and my husband was actually born in Madrid (though he left when he was 3, and is more Texan than me!), which allows us to live here legally.

What is your earliest food memory?

I wish I could give you some great answer about it being in my Nana's kitchen making something authentic from the Old Country, but in all honesty, it is making this butter, cinnamon and sugar spread, which I would slowly savor, eating it with my fingers, while reading a book at the kitchen table. The truth is that we didn't have any extended family and while my mother is an excellent cook, she worked, and I didn't really experience the gastronomic landscape until I was on my own.

If you could be a contestant or guest on any cooking show what show would you choose?

I want Anthony Bourdain's job. There. I've said it. I've put it out into the ether. If I could eat my way across the world, one food cart at a time, and get paid for it? That, to me, would be heaven. I can't settle for guest- I want his job!

Where you familiar with Spanish cooking before moving to Madrid?

Not really. I had had, of course, tapas, before coming to Spain, but it was not on my short list of cuisine that I would seek out, and I certainly didn't cook anything Spanish in my own kitchen.

I have learned so much about Spanish cuisine since moving here, and the thing that I find, still, most surprising, is how incredibly simple it is. Spanish cooking is much easier than I would have thought to prepare.

Another aspect to Spanish cuisine that I was completely ignorant of was how regional it is. Just like you would never order shrimp and grits in Oregon, paella is really the purview of Valencia, and it's tantamount to treason to suggest that a better paella can be had elsewhere in Spain. The ingredients and topography truly define cooking in Spain today, and I find that localized aspect to cooking and eating here refreshing.

You have invented the Gourmand's Grater. How did you come up with the idea? Is it available for purchase?

Since leaving the practice of law, I have been on a quest to figure out what I enjoy doing. This led me to the kitchen, where I began to try and recreate flavors from home, and also to try my hand at Spanish cooking. My already natural trajectory towards the kitchen went into overdrive when I got pregnant, and I was consumed by cravings for southern staples, like chili, pulled pork tacos, chicken fried steak and shrimp and grits.

At the same time, I was reading Tim Ferriss' book "Four-Hour Work Week", and was on the look-out for a "muse" project (basically, something I could do from start to finish that would create a steady income stream). I had begun writing fiction, and was constantly on the look-out in my kitchen for something that I create or improve on. I brought a few kitchen utensils with me from the States, including something called a "mouli", which my mother remembered from her childhood, and gifted me when she happened upon one on eBay. It was originally produced in the 1940's but had been discontinued sometime after the 1960's, as far as I could tell. Functionally, it is a great device for grating cheese, garlic, chocolate, nuts, etc., but design-wise it could be improved on.

I love the look-and-feel of my Kitchen Aid stand mixer (which unfortunately got left in storage in the States), and I began playing with its lines as a grater. As time went on, I realized that if the device could also grind coffee and puree baby food, it would be that much more useful.

It IS available for purchase, so to speak. I am currently trying to crowdfund the costs of manufacturing a first run of the Gourmand's Grater. If I reach my goal of raising $40,000, then contributors who have chosen the Gourmand's Grater as their thank-you gift can expect to receive a first edition Gourmand's Grater second quarter 2014. You can see the campaign at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gourmand-s-grater-retro-3-in-1-food-tool-that-grates-grinds-even-muehls.

What are your goals for your blog and Gourmand's Grater? Where would you like to see it in the next year? Five years?

If I get crowdfunded, then I would like to focus on creating an affiliate marketing plan for other food bloggers to sell the Gourmand's Grater on their blogs. As a food blogger, one of the issues we face is monetizing our great content. My hope is that, by offering a generous percentage of sales to bloggers, I can avoid the expense of trying to get in the more conventional brick-and-mortar establishments, and can pay bloggers to get out the word on the Gourmand's Grater. If I am successful, I think that there are plenty of other businesses that could benefit from this distribution model.

And as for 5 years from now? Bourdain has to retire sometime, right?

Anything else you would like to share?

Thank you for the thoughtful questions and the space to answer them. I enjoyed very much this experience, and I appreciate that you too are following your bliss and wish you the best of luck!

Thank you Texannie for answering our questions and see you soon!
Published by Lydia - 08/13/2013

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