Inspire me: Sarah Kieffer from The Vanilla Bean Blog

You know how awhile ago I wrote about my desire to someday meet all these amazing bloggers from all over the world, that I now call friends? Yep well, Sarah from The Vanilla Bean Blog would be right up there on the top of that list! I adore everything about this talented lady, from her gobsmackingly good photographs (understatement) to her inventive flavour combinations and I have a sneaky little feeling her two kids and mine would get on like a house on fire if we ever manage to meet in real life. Many of you are probably already familiar with her work, but me being me, I wanted to know a little more about what makes her tick. So I’ve invited her here to share a little bit more…

What is your blog about and when did you first push publish?
I started my blog in May, 2011, attempting to create some kind of food heritage, because I had none.


Tell us your cooking philosophy in 3 words.
A moveable feast (with a nod, of course, to Mr Hemingway.)


What’s your favourite season?
Autumn. It’s a bittersweet time, because I live through a long, dreary winter every year. But when the days are warm and breezy and the evenings perfectly crisp-cold; when the leaves start dripping from the trees and pave the sidewalks with a giant crunch, that’s when I feel like my life is golden. ‘Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall’ – F. Scott Fitzgerald.


Sweet or savoury?
Sweet. Always.

What’s your favourite cuisine?
Is ‘home-cooked’ a cuisine? I like eating in, making food for and with friends.


Who are your food heroes? And which food bloggers inspire you?
My real life food heroes are Larry and Colleen Wolner from The Blue Heron Coffeehouse. They not only taught me to cook and bake, but to care about the ingredients I am using, and the people I am feeding. 


As for food blogs, I love so many! Local Milk, Seven Spoons, Happyolks, Sprouted Kitchen, Dash and Bella, Not Without Salt, Naturally Ella, The Faux Martha, Apt. 2B Baking, The First Mess, Zoe Bakes, Oh, Ladycakes, A Couple Cooks, (And of course! My Darling Lemon Thyme!) are just a few of my favorite spaces.


Do you come from a family of good cooks?
I wouldn’t say good, and I wouldn’t say bad. My mom cooked well, but never enjoyed it.

What’s your favourite food indulgence?
I need a sweet, afternoon treat. When my littles have their afternoon quiet time, I steal away to a corner in my house and sip iced coffee and nibble on something (anything) sweet. I would prefer a scone, actually, but I try to save those for special occasions.


Tell us something about yourself that we wouldn’t necessarily know from reading your blog.
I don’t really like seeing movies in a theater. I always feel terribly trapped.


What is one of your favourite posts from Vanilla Bean Blog?
I have two. A forager’s pie, because it reflects so many of my daily adventures: chaos mixed with laughter. And Cardamom Pound Cake, which reminds me when I read it how bittersweet this life can be.