You know, when you read a magazine or a newspaper, you flip the pages, scanning. I do that in my reader. There is a time for that, and there is a time for careful consideration of a package as a whole, letting what someone has to say sink in and mingle a little bit. Clicking through. Recently there have been a lot of interesting layouts coming out, details and context that only come through when you visit the page. It's time to pour a cup of tea and take the time let yourself get in touch.

à la mode*

Great lifestyle and food photo montages from this blogger based in San Francisco.

This blog is written in French and is full of interesting tidbits from this amazing chef. One day you might learn something about one of her favorite wines, another day a note on a certain cooking technique.

Duaine Keiser paints beautifully, and truthfully. For years there he was doing one painting a day, and it has been fun to watch his skill and style develop. He doesn't always post everyday these days, but I love to see his work, so I check back regularly to see what he's been up to.

Over the past few years, Chris and her expanding family have been moving. From a town in the French Alps to Mexico, to Paris, and now on to Shanghai! Very inspiring.

Judith Klinger is a home cook, private chef, cooking instructor, writer, food blogger, photographer and creator of Aroma Cucina.

Alanna Kellog has a vegetable obsession. She has a great list of recipes for everyday vegetable recipe.

Margaret Roach's garden blog is a nice place to visit. You might also find the blog she made for her book called And I Shall Find Some Peace There to be quite interesting. It's a great idea. It will be interesting to see how it develops.

What would we be without Kate Hopkins' dry humor and introspective take on that which nourishes and pollutes us? She gets political at times but I like the way she writes and continue to read her with interest.

What can I say? I like him. He's a concierge in Paris, and likes to try out new restaurants and keep up with the who's who and what's what.

Through his sketchblog and project called Stuff no one ever told me, I have developed an attachment to this 'dude from barcelona that likes to draw stuff'.

I adore the intuitive design talent that this French blogger brings to her photographs and photo montages. Careful and creative, she's always got something good going on.

A design compilation blog with lots of personality. Also check out Bloesem Kids.

Brendan Bokane is in Beijing and offers with insightful humor on being an expat in China, a topic I reminisce about from time to time.

I have always liked this blogger's take on things. He has some good ideas and a nice presence. His blog is a pleasure to read.

Wrecked cakes from around the world, on display, for lighthearted ridicule and laughter. In many ways we laugh at ourselves when we laugh at these cakes.

She's a designer from Barbados here in Lyon and has a grand passion for scapbooking. We met a few years ago and meet regularly for coffee in Lyon. Alright, I'll admit it. She's my best friend.

Camont, a culinary

retreat in Gascony

Kate Hill is a woman that encapsulates an amazing life force, and has a gift for bringing people together. And what an interesting life she has led! She toured the canals of europe in her own peniche, a long flat houseboat. She settled in Gascony and has built her salon there, a place where food enthusiasts meet over the themes she thinks up.

Talent. Vibrance. Delivery. Mastery. And she tells a good story.

I met Jenn at Kate Hill's place during the first Camp Cassoulet event. Over the years we have become steadfast friends. She's a cheese fanatic and the great thing about it is that she blogs about it.

Chez Pim

The one, the only, Queen of the foodies. Check out her new site layout. It is so cool!

Clotilde is the impetus behind the entire food blogging movement, you knew that, right? Despite her incredible influence, she has maintained her grace. She is developing as a writer through various impressive projects into a seasoned professional I respect and admire.

Just getting better and better. I love her simple recipes.

Kevin in Toronto steps outside the box and improves his cooking and photography. He's always got good ideas, and good habits. He blogs like clockwork!

Lara Ferroni has a flair for pulling people together. She also generously shares her skills and time on a tremendously useful photography blog called Still Life With.

Fanny of Foodbeam is as charming and sweet as ever in her beautiful new blog, begun after her professional metamorphosis into a pastry chef, wherein she conducted a stage chez Pierre Herme and is now working in London. Pure pleasure.

Cute cupcakes, all the time.

101 Cookbooks

Heidi is a main inspiration behind the so many of the great photo blogs we see today. I bought her Super Natural Cooking book and have used it so heavily that it has already fallen apart at the spine!

Mostly baby animals in fanciful situations, a must for days when craving for this kind of thing sets in.

David lives in Paris and describes his misadventures in a way that always makes me crack up. Not only a really nice guy, but a great blogger and pastry chef who writes very good books too.

Nicky and Oliver run this beautiful blog with excellent use of type and design in addition to great content. I am always inspired by what I see here.

This is not a blog but a very useful site that often has really good advice from a network of photo enthusiasts and professionals. I like their challenges and assignments.

I like this lighthearted, well laid out mommy blog. Lots of baking and one dish meals.

This is a photographer's site, New York based, born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark. Inspiring use of rich painterly color schemes and fanciful landscapes to frame her subjects.

Dr. John Sconzo is a food enthusiast exraordinaire. I always meet with him when he comes to Lyon for the Bocuse d'Or events.

Domenica Cooks

A graduate from the Columbia School of Journalism, Domenica Marchetti wrote about just about everything else before she honed down to food and cooking. She's published several cookbooks and has a great blog.

What a beautiful blog, what beautiful books! Keeping up with Dorie and her ventures and adventures is always a pleasure and an inspiration.

E.A.T.

Tim Vidra emphasizes supporting local commerce in his image rich blog, which he keeps running with an ongoing Etsy Vintage shop instead of advertising. Nice idea!

Mmmm. Need I say more? These folks are livin' the dream.

Shuna Fish Lydon. Interesting, mysterioius, intriguing, artistic, iconoclast, always up to something.

Epicurious

Not a blog but a website all about food. They hold a special place in my heart because when epicurious was in its very beginnings, my father, who was a food enthusiast when he was alive, won their contest for the best invented cocktail.

This is a great daily roundup featuring 5 categories: food news, food for thought, best of the blogs, wine and spirits, and the business of food.

Dispelling the myth that the world is unsafe for kids to play in, daily.

Another couple I met on line, Abra and Shel came to France for a year and chronicled their adventures and observations. Charming blog, wonderful people.

What wonderful progress this illustrator has made in developing her personal style over the years.

Captivating images and smart writing, plus an unconventional layout and structure to this blog. Go check it out!

I like what I see whenever I go visit this exceptionally well thought out blog. Evocative compiled imagery and guest writers create a little cocoon-like escape to Paris that I am always happy to visit.

Hunter Angler

Gardener Cook

In Hank Shaw's well researched blog, he shows us the many joys of discovering the spectrum of mother nature's many offerings, from game to foraged plants.

Friends Arne and Janine share what's happening in Vancouver, Canada. They travel to Lyon from time to time too!

She's a wedding photographer, and much much more. Fascinating to read about her life. She hooks you with the first word and doesn't let you go until she's done with you.

John has a serious flair for gathering up information from the print journals so that he always has a good idea about what to do and where to eat in Paris.

Kalyn's Kitchen

Kalyn has been blogging low glycemic recipes for over 6 years now and is always an inspiration.

These two women do a podcast from Paris. Fun to listen to.

I like blogs by illustrators. This is one of the best.

Klary blogs from the Netherlands. Even if I don't understand everything she's writing, I always leave her blog with a craving for something.

Everything about Bea's blog whispers beauty. I love to go and just soak up the light and warmth that she produces in such a seemingly effortless way. Initially influenced by the photographic style from magazines in her native France, she has chugged along for years developing her own way.

It is with great relish that I share Rachel's site with you. She spins a web of home and happiness, silver linings, interesting observations, and good storytelling.

Warning: If you are on a sweets restricted regime, this one might put you on a bender. Crazy good baked goods and desserts of all manner and form.

Confessions of a gourmande. One who loves sweets. And baking. And has a wonderful flair for sharing. Interspersed with old family photos.

Martha lives in a house called Linderhof in Fort Scott. Visiting with her is like going to the fanciful Victorian world of polished silver services and porcelain tea sets I always dreamed about as a girl.

And cooking and cooking! Mmm, delicious!

Ximena Maier lives in Spain and is the blogger who got me hooked on illustration blogs. She makes a dish and then creates this beautiful illustration to celebrate it, in a very distinctive style that I simply cannot get enough of. Clearly this is a labor of love and the quality shines through.

She shares her passion through photos and cooking.

This blog is full of brilliant ideas for projects involving kids. Sometimes they can get slightly more ambitious than I could handle, but that's the beauty of it. These projects are always fun to look at.

Like I have always said, this guy has the perfect job. What I would give to walk in his shoes for a week.

Pretty crafts blog that always exites my creative side.

Charming as always.

Not a blog, but a great resource for information and how-to's. Great for all of the projects and considerations of cultivating a little spot of your own off the grid like we have.

Living the good life in Italy, Sara's dedication to sharing it with us is intoxicatingly addicting. She consistently pleases with her great articles, recipes, and photos.

Great stuff, delicious looking recipes.

This project is one after my own heart. First, a strong designer/illustrator and a great idea. Then funding and development: young hungry artists, looking for and reporting on the little things that make Paris so wonderful. They then expanded to Lyon. Follow. They are going somewhere good.

Ronell lives in France, paints watercolors, cooks, writes, and enjoys the country life. Most days, I lapse into daydreams of becoming her.

Charming and disarming, this blog sinks right into your skin from the first. Such a pleasure to follow.

Over time, Keiko has built up an absolutely breathtaking selection of posts that echo the intertwining elements of lifestyle and food. This is not an 8 post a day blog, but more of a slow massive build up of beauty.

Stephanie Quilao caught my rapt attention when she began her quest to lose 40 pounds and start a business blogging during an interesting juncture in her life. She has blogged about difficult subjects with an honesty that gained my respect along the way.

Lucy blogs south of the equator, so when we're huddling by the wood stove, she is pregnant with the harvest, and when we're lazily watching the fireflies dance to the crickets song under the apple tree, she's simmering up a winter stew. Both her writing and photographs are amazing.

She blogs from L.A. which is where we lived before coming to Lyon, and she loves to go to restaurants. From time to time, she travels internationally and blogs every bite.

You'd think that Sara was busy enough selling houses, but as a side activity, she pours her heart and soul into this very human, friendly blog. Go Sara!

One of my all time favorites. I love sitiing at Molly's kitchen table and catching up on her life. Molly's a good family friend, even though I've never met her. Strange but true.

This mysterious man and his dog were at Kate Hill's place once. He brought the most wonderful wines to share. We exchanged information and I began to follow his blog. He chronicles his life in a small town in southwest France.

A blog about food and film... in that order. The thing this woman cooks has me licking my chops all the way to the market. Full of inspiring ideas.

Judy, Judy, Judy. My word, what a fabulous adventure she is living. She is nurturing, full of knowledge that comes at just the right moment, and enterprising. This woman speaks softly and carries a big spoon, my friends. She published a cookbook with hundreds of recipes collected over 25 years in Italy, and I refer to it often.

The photos on this blog keep sending me off on willy nilly shopping excursions.

Watercolors, windowshopping, wandering the streets of Paris. My favorite things.

Charming Phyllis Flick who also writes for Time Out Paris and worked with me on the Pudlo Guide has a blog that covers restaurants in the city of light.

Seven Spoons. When you click though, you'll see some very clever graphics and a beautiful layout.

Ptipois

The beautiful Sophie Brissaud shares insights, captured moments, and restaurant along her path as she lives the life of established culinary author and freelancer in Paris France.

Not a blog, but an online magazine that publishes articles about photography. A great resource.

Sarah has been publishing the thrifty girl's guide to the good life for 5 years now, and throughout that time, I've followed her along the way. She's got something very good going!

Pinot & Prose is Laura Lutz, former librarian turned childrens' book marketing exec. Book reviews, memoir, and personal musing on food and life.

Linda shares photos and short commentary on the many aspects of being a food enthusiast and a freelance chef in Connecticut.

I haven't a clue what this blogger is writing, but wow, the food sure looks delicious.

Elissa Altman is behind this great ongoing collection of thoughtful and creative essays on food and life.

Highly recommended.

A strange voyeuristic look into the secret world of thousands of troubled souls who have sent anonymous secrets on the back of postcards to the post office box listed on this blog. Published weekly.

Before the book came out, it was a guy writing an anoymous comedic memoir about life in a little town somewhere in the middle of nowhere England. Now they know who he is. Funny and interesting.

Megan Blocker lives in New York and blogs about her discoveries and explorations into food in the big apple.

One of Apartment Therapy's sites, re-nest is all about green living. They research and compile all kinds of wonderful lifestyle and design ideas.

Real Baking With Rose Levy Berenbaum

The author of The Cake Bible shares her cooking tips and thoughts on baking, and there is a lot of really useful information compiled in her archives.

Rob Brezsny's

Freewill Astrology

There's something wondeful about Rob Brezsney. Go and look up your horoscope and tell me he hasn't hit the nail right on the head.

Rosa Jackson's

Edible Adventures

Rosa Jackson splits her time between Nice and Paris, teaching in Provence, giving food tours in Paris, and blogging along the way. She is an inspiration!

I have always liked this blog, written by Kelly Peacock Wright, from San Diego. Lots of tutorials and a curious palate to get in the mood to cook.

My husband got me really interested in comic books. This man is an expert in comic book design, and is also a graduate of Syracuse University. I stumbled upon his website and love to keep up by visiting his blog.

Oh how lovely. Even the recipes look lovely and I can't tell what they even say. The most difficul to photograph dishes made to look luscious.

A very nice site that I visit often. Even though the restaurant section is based around New York, the recipes and interesting food artcles and columns give a ton to appreciate and devour. A commercial site.

Noëlle Lothamer lives in Detroit and blogs about everything food related. She's begun a nice activity freelancing, as well as involved in her local food scene.

Francois Simon is blogging from Paris, where his principle activity is restaurant critic and author.

Hello. I love breakfast.

Named after her dog, this is a zone 6 garden blog. She's very well organized with lots of lists and links to get you going as you work on this season's garden.

I am not sure how I got started reading this blog, but I have continued because it's interesting. Maybe I started because the name contains the word "bacon".

Slate Magazine

Clean Plate Blog

Why not begin reading at Slate on the food themed blog they have going? Their resident blogger, Ellen Tarlin, is blogging everything she eats, eGullet style. She is trying to eat more healthfully. All kinds of things come to mind about this. Check it out.

Deb likes bourbon, artichokes, things that taste like burnt sugar and baked goods with funny names. In this very personal blog with pretty photos and good recipe ideas, she tells us everything.

Peter is an Australian blogger of Greek descent with huge gorgeous photos on his blog. He travels extensively, and has a voracious appetite for beautiful food.

Hot hot hot, Jaden's Steamy Kitchen. Jaden has always had the golden touch. Food blog forums, community gardens, t.v. shows, fabulous food conferences, you name it, Jaden is a part of it. She's got a cookbook out too.

Jess lives in Cambridge, MA and hooked me with her party map. I am a sucker for bloggers that like to sketch and draw, have you not noticed?

Paul moved from Oslo to New York to work as a food and prop stylist and in addition to crafts galore he does this wonderful mostly food magazine on the side. I get more excited about this than I do most print mags.

Xavier Encinas' blog devoted to type, design and lifestyle.

Swissmiss is a design blog and studio run by Swiss Tina Roth Eisenberg, currently an expat in New York. She also runs a monthly speaker's series called CreativeMornings.

Helene is a French woman living in Atlanta and creating some of the most gorgeous photos I have ever seen of food, in addition to writing really interesting stories to go with them. Go visit!

Everybody keeps telling me I should meet Tea. I'm pretty sure I know her already, if knowing her means having lapped up every single word she's written over the past 5 years. She is wonderful.

What an amazing name for a blog. It is a blog dedicated to design inspirations and full of them. Fun for just browsing through day after day.

An L.A. based food enthusiast living life in the fast lane and sharing every minute with us.

This blog helps making a decision about a book about food much easier thanks to their consistent and complete reviews of food related print media.

As a J. Watson fellow, Kevin has plot out a trip around the world to investigate the culinary culture and how it intertwines with cities identities the world over. What an amazing project!

The Kitchn began as a very good roundup blog but then developed in various directions, taking on staff writers who are working their way into food writing. Faith Durand is managing editor there and came to visit us when she came to France.

A funny lady with a thing for bees, beautiful dogs and a zest for life.

I follow this blog with a kind of amazed fascination. Everything is real! Oh la la everything is real.

The online version of the magazine.

Janet Clarkson. I need my daily fix.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks

A beautiful website and an amazing blog.

The Ridiculous Food

Society of Updstate NY

This blog is a riot.

Ed Bruske & Co. from DC, blogging about all the things that matter most.

Stan's an old friend that lives in NY and always has something interesting cooking.

This is one of my favorite blogs. Melissa called me when she came to Lyon and we got together too.

The Way the Cookie Crumbles

A food blog that never fails to deliver lots of great ideas as well as inspiration for doing things right, from scratch.

Luisa Weiss is a writer and home cook living in Berlin, Germany. She has a cookbook coming out called My Berlin Kitchen. You should get a copy!

A lovely food blog.

This quirky adorable interesting girl lives in London.

This is a blog about container gardening that gives a lot of really good information to anyone starting a project.

This expat has a passion for antiques and a penchant for revealing the stories they tell.

Formerly known as Sam de Bretagne, she pulls herself up by her bootstraps and finds herself in Paris. Go Sam!

The traveling food lady, Jannhas a great collection of recipes and stories. You should go click through her archives!

This is a blog by an English speaker married to a French woman raising his children to speak both languages. Lots of good insights.

Passions: creativity, personal development, technology, public diplomacy and street food.

Jennifer Yu from the Colorado Rockies.

This blogger is raising a child in a bilingual household and is host of the Bilingual Blogging Carnival.

She does weddings, photographs, and digs up all kinds of fabulous detail inspiration for people planning weddings. Makes you want to plan a wedding every day!

This blog caught my eye not long ago as a really great example of mixing life up with food.

Todd and Diane not only have an amazing website, but they are also doing all the things we dream of doing. Photography, design, writing, and teaching. I love this blog.

This is a design roundup and I think the owner hits on a lot of interesting topics.

Blair Stocker started blogging when she left the textile industry to raise a child. Her blog is full of great ideas and craft inspiration.

Matt Wright is a Brit who lives in the Pacific Northwest and began blogging about seafood, but has dangerously swerved towards charcuterie. A pleasure to read and look at.

Yoga Junkie blogs about yoga, and spiritual stuff.

This is a fabulous urban gardening blog that's more than about gardens, but about plant life in general.