Cyndi Allison, a lecturer in communication arts at Catawba College, can tell you a lot about grilling. Folks must like what she’s been sharing through her Barbecue Master Blog (http://barbequemaster.blogspot.com/). Visitors to Allison’s blog site just crossed the 2 million mark this month.
Allison launched her blog as a hobby on Jan. 16, 2006, and has been grilling and making posts to it since then.
“You hear about web sites going viral and people getting famous overnight, but that really hasn’t been my experience,” she said during an April 2012 interview about her site. “Onliners have found and shared my articles and given me a wonderful platform for sharing things I love to do in the evenings and on weekends to relax – grill and write.”
Allison’s blogging has helped her in the classroom. She teaches an online publications class at Catawba that requires students to build their own blogs.
Her blogging and grilling prowess also helped her land some freelance jobs. In 2012, Allison was invited by Sears to blog for them as a part of their corporate “Grilling is Happiness” project. This put Allison in the company of some of the top grilling and barbecue writers across the country. Before that, in 2006 and again in 2011, she was tapped by Consumers Digest to test grills for their “top picks” and to write a feature article about her testing experiences.
In addition to her Barbecue Master blog, Allison maintains two other websites related to grilling and cooking: www.yesyoucangrill.com and www.yesyoucancook.com.
Allison’s Barbecue Master blog was also chosen by Vocus, a marketing website as one of five food blogs to pitch for summer yums.
Hap’s makes the list
Garden and Gun magazine has named the best burger places in the South, including the Carolinas, and all the way over to Texas.
Salisbury’s Hap’s made the list for North Carolina, along with a lot of other places all around the state, but many are in Charlotte, Asheville and Raleigh. Go to http://gardenandgun.com/article/best-southern-burger-spots#northcarolina for the complete list.
Farmers Market Week
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has declared Aug. 3 through 9, 2014, “National Farmers Market Week”. Throughout the week, USDA will celebrate the nation’s thousands of farmers markets, farmers who make them possible and the communities that host them.
“National Farmers Market Week is a great opportunity for farmers markets across the country to host special events to showcase all the tremendous services they provide,” said Vilsack. “Farmers markets play a key role in developing local and regional food systems that support family farms, and help grow rural economies. They bring communities together, connecting cities with the farms that support them and provide Americans across the country with fresh, healthy food.”
The Salisbury Farmers Market is open 8-noon Wednesday and Friday. The second installment of the Market Chef Competition will be Saturday, Aug. 9 at 10 a.m.