@JoelECarlson – Welcome everyone to the Food-Friday Twitterview of @agoodappetite. Lets get to cooking!

@agoodappetite – Hi there!

Q – #1    So @agoodappetite, please share: Where did you grow up? What kind of training/work has led you to what you do today?

A: I grew up in Port Huron, MI @JoelECarlson then my family moved to Duluth, MN while I was in college at University of Dayton, OH

I got a degree in communications @JoelECarlson then moved to Mpls to work for Title Wave then EMI Music Distribution doing marketing

From here I went to San Francisco @JoelECarlson & did sales for a small record label before moving back here to Mpls.

Really no background in food other than a lot of personal interest.

Q – #2    Wow. That some traveling! So what kind of food or food preparation do you tend to focus on?

A: We like to cook seasonably & locally as much as possible. Many of the recipes on the blog are written for just two.

Most of the food we do isn’t too fancy, a lot of comforting homestyle dishes.

Q – #3    @agoodappetite So there are 2 of you that then do the work together? How long have you been blogging?

A: Yes, I do most of my cooking with my husband @lewinski The blog started as something for us to do together

I’ve been blogging since 2005 on my craft blog http://kat-knits.blogspot.com

The food blog started in 2007 but became a more regular thing after moving here in 2008

Q – #4    @agoodappetite Sounds like a fun thing to be able to do together as a couple. I see you visited @PizzeriaLola, you do reviews too?

A: We started out mainly doing reviews but then I realized most of our readers don’t live in the same city as us

We do write about special food events we attend like @tourdefarm more often

Q – #5    I see. How has Social Media help you expand your blog awareness and connections with other food bloggers?

A: I resisted Twitter at first but other food bloggers convinced me to join.

Now I use to ask other foodie immediate cooking questions or bounce ideas off of. A way to hit a lot of cooks at once

Plus its a great way to let interested people know what’s cooking on our kitchen

Q – #6    Good for you. Now to your FAVORITES: Restaurant, food store or market, national known cook and comfort food.

A: Restaurant is hard. We love Corner Table, Craftsman, Broders & now Pizzeria Lola

Our farmers market is @kingfieldmarket & we shop at Lunds & Kowalski’s. Have to say I’m a sucker for Jamie Oliver

For favorite comfort food it has to be homemade mac & cheese with a side of peas.

Q – #7    Yummm! For people interested in starting to cook, maybe even food blogging, what advice would you give them?

A: I’d say pick up a copy of Joy of Cooking, use the best ingredients you can afford then don’t be afraid to experiment

For those starting to food blog, write about what you really cook & write often. Don’t be afraid to show mistakes.

@JoelECarlson – Having courage helps in a LOT of areas of life. Thank you very much for your comments today. Enjoy the snow!

@agoodappetite – I agree! Thanks for having me. I’m looking forward to staying in & roasting a chicken,

@JoelECarlson – Hello everyone! Welcome to Twitterview 2.0 of @JLBraaten. He was Twitterview #12 when I first started in March of 10′. Lets start!

@JLBraaten – Has it been that long already? It seems like just yesterday Twitterviews were getting off the ground

Q – #1    Yep. Time flies! So @JLBraaten, since the last Twitterview, you’ve changed jobs. What had you been doing, and what do you do now?

A: I was an IT/web project manager up until June, @JoelECarlson. Now I do SEO as an online marketing manager. Loving it!

Q – #2    I see. So can you explain how Social Media helped you with your new job? (Feel free to use up to 5 Tweets)

A: Crazy story about how social media helped me get a new job. I was found on LinkedIn!

As an SEO practitioner, I optimized my LinkedIn profile for “SEO” and “project management.”

One day I got an email out-of-the-blue from my new boss asking if I’d be interested in my current position.

He said he searched for “SEO project manager” in LinkedIn and found me on the first page. Talk about luck!

Lesson: if you want to be found on LinkedIn, make sure the job you want is somehow included in your profile title.

Q – #3    Good points from an SEO pro! :) Now you are also a blogger as well. Any new things have you’ve done with that lately?

A: A lot of things are happening on my humble blog, BigPictureWeb.com, recently. A new logo, design, eBook AND tutorials.

I started off blogging generally about online marketing but have started to focus on what people seem to like.

Mostly I blog about SEO, web analytics, or the awesome, yet lesser-known blogging platform, Squarespace.com.

Q – #4    Can you explain a little more about www.squarespaces.com? How it works? What makes it different?

A: Sure, I could talk all day long about @Squarespace, the easiest way to create a high-quality blog or website.

Squarespace is different because there are no servers or widgets or plug-ins to install. No upgrades either.

You get a fully hosted, fully functional website with all the features built into the powerful WYSIWYG editing software

Q – #5    Another topic to bring up is the use of the Paper.li updates. What’s your thought on them?

A: I just can’t get behind Paper.li. I know others (like @timbursch, @jakrose) feel the same: http://ow.ly/3ngCy

To me, if you’re going to curate content, do it one link at a time or put it on your blog. In between is a waste.

There’s enough to click on and read on the web today as it is. I don’t need another layer. Paper.li creates noise.

Last Paper.li thought: It’s oft lamented the “echo chamber” feel Twitter is taking on. Thanks, Paper.li.

Q – #6    Interesting. To close, what kind of personal/professional goals do you have for yourself for the near future?

A: Near-term professional goals: Support @rasmussen’s mission of education with the power of SEO and web analytics.

Near-term personal goals: Keep plugging away at my blog. Perhaps dabble in some public speaking.

And of course, finding balance is critical. Being a good friend, family member and boy friend are always goals of mine.

@JoelECarlson – Great! Thanks so much @JLBraaten for your comments and views today. All the best to you, and enjoy the MN Storm that’s coming!

@JLBraaten – Thank you, @JoelECarlson for having me and congratulations on nearly 200 Twitterviews in 2010!