The Shrinking Universe

Happy Monday! The Tour de Slice: Schenectady was a fantastic success. The Jewish Food Festival was filled with all kinds of deliciousness. And Yelp Restaurant Week has officially started, and I’ve already enjoyed one meal at 30% off just by checking-in with the Yelp mobile app.

This week is going to fly by, and I suspect there will be a ton of things I’m going to miss. For example, tonight is the second bracket of the Albany Distilling Company’s cocktail contest. This one is held at Brown’s Brewing Co. in Troy, and beings at 7p. Tuesday is the next 26er release at Nine Pin Cider. I’m going to have to take a rain check, because it’s also Queens Day. But more on that later.

We’ll be posting the official results of the Tour de Slice as soon as we can, but you can look online for some early reads on the results. Steve N. and Jon in Albany were both on the tour.

Actually most of the people on the tour were people I knew from previous tours or from Yelp events. Except this time, we were able to draw out a relatively new reader, and for me that was one of the most exciting parts. Today I want to tell you why.

If you read blogs, and if you are reading this I assume that you do, you probably have noticed that the blogosphere is shrinking.

Earlier this month, I finally crossed off an item that has been on my to-do list for far too long. That was going through my blogroll and moving inactive blogs into the X-Files: Blogs on Hiatus. Over time, that list has grown substantially, and the number of people active blogging about food in the Capital Region has declined significantly.

And that’s just the way it goes.

Other forms of communication have become more popular. There was a rise in podcasts and the Instagram food scene is pretty hot. I dabbled in both, but neither was really for me. And I suppose that’s not really fair because I never gave the podcast a real shot. I’ve still got the gear, so maybe there’s hope of moving forward with that sometime in the future.

Hey, I was late to the blogging thing and that worked out okay. Maybe being late to the podcast scene would yield similar results.

I can already hear Burnt My Fingers saying that today’s post is too much “inside baseball” so let me get back to the point.

There have to be other local food blogs out there being written in or about the Capital Region that I’m missing. So today I’m asking for help. Please tell me what they are. Dora from fin – your fishmonger reminded me that Rob Handel has a blog, except that one too has been inactive for some time.

Maybe together we can crowdsource the project and help the FLB build the regional food section of the blogroll. Not for me, but for the people out there who continue to read this blog. Because I know you are out there. Beyond meeting Alex C. on the Tour de Slice, another person came up to me out of the blue last week to say how much she enjoyed the blog. And it was someone else who I have never met.

Those kinds of interactions are wonderful. I say that just in case anyone might be reluctant to come up and say hi out of a fear of being creepy. It’s not. So please don’t be shy. And these days, I’m easier to find than ever, especially with that bright red Yelp track jacket.

My next big to-do list item is to back through the X-Files: Blogs on Hiatus and see if anyone has gone back to blogging since taking an extended break. I am happy to report The Sassy Dietitian is back! Actually, she’s been back for some time. It’s my bad for not noticing that sooner.

Thanks in advance for your help in trying to expand the blog universe, even in the face of its decline. But if I didn’t think it was time well spent, I wouldn’t be here. And presumably, neither would you. Cheers!