About
What You Should Know (About Me) When Reading This Website
After almost three four years with the same About blurb, I’ve decided to entitle this section What You Should Know (About Me) When Reading This Website. So here goes, the About section updated for 2008 2012.
What you already know
Yes, even after almost 7 years of Dessert Comes First (DCF), dessert is still my favorite part of the meal, still the course without compare. But I’m not just about dessert even if my website is called that. I live to write about ALL kinds of food. I’ve been a food writer contributing to various magazines since 2000, but Dessert Comes First is where I call all the (food) shots. DCF is the playground for my all-encompassing food passion and a chronicle of my food and dessert adventures. If it’s about food, it’s here. I tell it like it is, no BS, no kidding.
I champion the home baker, those who make and sell sweets and food products from the home; I’m convinced that they are the source of Manila’s best desserts, and to some extent, its best food. I’m a big fan of all Filipino foods, and I push local ingredients as much as I can. I love eating in restaurants but I also believe in letting them find their groove before I feature them. Above all, I write for people who are like me: zealous and passionate about food, almost to a fault.
I’m a passionate home baker (used to make cheesecakes for a living), and an enthusiastic chronicler of food. No distance is too great to traverse if it means good food at the end of it. I’m also enamored with cafes and places to have that one great cup of coffee with milk please. If you’re a food lover like me, I’d love to hear from you.
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What some people want to know
Taking care of a website is very much like taking care of one’s own kid. I created this website one rainy afternoon three seven years ago and have nurtured it to what it is now. In that time, the same questions are repeatedly asked of me regarding some things that I do here at Dessert Comes First. Realizing I was emailing myself around a loop, I present the answers here to all and sundry. This is my quasi- testament, what I believe in, and putting it here – I think – is akin to carving it in stone.
1. How do you go about featuring restaurants on your site?
I have a long list of restaurants culled from write-ups and places people have told me about. Depending on what I’m hankering for and which area I’ll be in, I consult this list and then go. I eat at restaurants in the same way that anybody else does: I walk in and ask for a table. I’m there because I want to eat there and experience what the establishment puts out for its guests, day in and evening out. I’m very discreet and want to receive the same treatment as every other diner.
2. How many times do you visit a restaurant before featuring it?
Anywhere from one to five times. Restaurants usually say what they have to say in the first two visits.
3. Are you paid to feature restaurants?
NO.
4. Do you pay for all your meals?
YES. I don’t want to be indebted to anybody for a favorable feature.
5. What makes you think you’re qualified to publish these restaurant reviews?
I’m an eater, an avid food lover who chronicles her eating experiences through words and pictures and shares them on her blog. I only write about restaurants that I like, and I hope you’ll enjoy the piece and the restaurant. I call my “food reviews” food features. And as I said in the first section of this piece, I write for people who are like me: zealous and passionate about food to a fault. What you think about that is up to you.
6. How does a home baker or a restaurant get featured on your site?
Then I can’t wait to hear from you! If you’re a home baker or food purveyor, email me your product list and I’ll take it from there. If you’re a restaurant, email me as well and let me know about your place, but I can’t set a date as to when I’ll be there … which leads me to the next question…
7. I emailed you to feature my restaurant/baked goods almost a year ago! Why haven’t you come around?
Just like my Restaurant List, I also have another list, this time my Waiting to be Featured list. When someone emails me asking to be featured, their name and details go on that list and again, depending on my schedule and inclinations, I work my way through that list although not chronologically. Admittedly, some restaurants and desserts appeal to me more than others. And no, I don’t meet restaurant owners who invite me to their restaurants. I’ll just show up on any given day and eat there just like any other guest. (See question #1).
8. What camera do you use?
The photos for the first year of Dessert Comes First were taken with a Powershot G2. It has since gone on to camera heaven. I now have two cameras in my arsenal: a Canon Powershot G7 G12 and a Canon EOS 400D SLR. I’m no pro though, just someone who loves taking photos of food. And no, I’ve never taken photography lessons, or for that matter, writing lessons in my life.
9. I can’t seem to post my comment. I get this white screen of gibberish!
Because of the increasingly insidious nature of internet security, I’ve had to install some supreme spamguards to protect the integrity of my website. Your comment is in there, just probably stuck in spam somewhere. Don’t worry, I’ll get to it and approve it. (Unless of course, it really is spam).
11. Why do you post so irregularly?
There’s a saying famous among writers: “I can’t live if I can’t write, but I can’t write if I can’t live.” DCF is a huge part of my life but it’s only one part. I have other commitments that need to be fulfilled and I can’t be chained to my computer all day. So, I post about twice a week and I’m told the wait is always worth it.
For a full answer to that, I direct you to A Note About the Irregularity of Posts (or, What Dessert Comes First Is All About).
