Renee Kohlman: sweetsugarbean

The art of food – from gardening and cooking to blogging and photography

Food is such a sensual pleasure. My mouth starts to water as I read about rich chocolate desserts or admire a photograph of a plate heaped high with fruits and vegetables. So it’s no surprise that food blogs are popular.

Renee Kohlman’s blog, sweetsugarbean, is delicious. Renee loves desserts so she appeals to anyone with a sweet tooth. She’s also a strong believer in using fresh, local produce and is a regular shopper at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. Her enthusiasm and enjoyment of all life has to offer is contagious, and she’s a wonderful photographer.

The fine art of cooking
Renee grew up in Saskatchewan moving to Montreal to attend art school at Concordia University.

Now came the tough part – finding a job. Renee wanted something creative, that she could feel passionate about. She wanted to enjoy life as well as earn a living.

Renee had always loved to cook so when a friend suggested cooking school, it made a lot of sense and she thoroughly enjoyed her two years at NAIT in Edmonton.

Heading north
Renee’s first job was at a wilderness fishing camp in the Yukon, and she spent four summers there cooking for a staff of 16 to 30 people. “The Yukon is magic,” says Renee. “Go at the end of August or the beginning of September when the bugs are gone. The colours and the northern lights are amazing.”

Renee then moved on to a full-time job at The Arbour Restaurant & Tea Room in Edmonton’s Rutherford House and enjoyed the creativity and independence of developing the lunch and high tea menu.

Renee was at The Arbour for four and a half years, but family ties were calling her home to Saskatoon.

Moving home
Three years ago, Renee purchased her brother’s house in Pleasant Hill, just a few blocks away from her mother’s house. Her sister was having a baby, and her brother lived nearby. It was good to be home and surrounded by family.

Renee soon settled into a job as executive chef for a local catering company. She planted a big garden this spring and, although she enjoys the occasional trip back to Edmonton, Saskatoon is definitely home.

Writing about food
Given Renee’s degree in Fine Arts, it’s not surprising that her enjoyment of food has expanded to include a blog. The primary hurdle was feeling more comfortable at the computer, but once sweetsugarbean was up and running in January 2011, Renee added a Facebook page.

I shamefully admitted that I enjoyed Renee’s blog but was unlikely to make any of the recipes. Renee reassured me by saying that food blog readers rarely make the recipes. They enjoy looking at the photographs and following people’s lives. As a result, Renee always tries to provide some back story about what’s going on in her life so that people can feel connected.

Renee says that about half her followers on Facebook are friends while the other half are strangers who are becoming friends. “It’s really neat to get comments,” says Renee. “You develop a rapport.”

The majority of Renee’s posts are recipes, but every few months she posts a restaurant review, and she includes some additional information and sneak peeks on her Facebook page.

Food photography
Renee says she has an idea in her mind of what she wants her photographs to look like, but she may take as many as 150 shots to come up with 6 or 7 shots for her blog. She has successfully submitted a number of photographs to Tastespotting, an extremely popular food photography site.

(A recent article in the Los Angeles Times reports that TasteSpotting receives over 5 million clicks each month and the site receives as many as 1,000 submissions a day.)

Dreams
Renee enjoys blogging and reading other people’s blogs. And occasionally she weaves a dream of making it big like Julie Powell (Julie Julia) or The Pioneer Woman whose food blog has turned into a book and a movie. “She’s just a Mum with four kids in Oklahoma, but now she’s a millionaire,” exclaims Renee.

My dream is a little simpler. I hope that one day I’ll actually eat one of Renee’s amazing desserts. In the meantime, I’ll drool over the photographs.

Postscript: From Blogs to Books, a recent post on The Guardian’s Word of Mouth blog, is an interesting account of what it takes to turn your blog into a book.

Photos by Renee Kohlman: Curried Quinoa Salad with Mango and Black Beans, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, Red Velvet Cupcakes

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great article. I, too, hope she makes it big. She is a fabulous woman.
Jean
June 9, 2011 at 8:34 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flavourful Saskatoon, August 21, 2017

Image
Prairie Harvest Café I was sad to learn that Prairie Harvest Café has closed its doors. It’s been one of my favorite Saskatoon restaurants since day one, and I really appreciated the fact that the chefs focused on cooking with local ingredients, many supplied by the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market. All the best of luck in your new adventures. We’ll miss you. Hug a Farmer This has been a tough summer for many farmers. Prairie Sun Orchard lost their entire cherry crop to insects. Drop by their stand at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, tell them you care, and have an ice cream. My favorite is the chocolate cherry fudge, but Clare Pearson, the principal ice cream maker, says her new favorite is the salted caramel. Peppers If you’re like me, you assume that all small, skinny peppers are super hot and avoid them like the plague. But that’s a big mistake. Kaleidoscope Vegetable Gardens is offering two long, skinny peppers – one can be hot, but the other isn’t. Padron chile pepper
Read more

Flavourful Saskatoon, August 28, 2017

Image
The Next Great Food Business Public Tasting, Sept. 7 The Local Kitchen is hosting a public tasting with samples from each of the finalists in the Next Great Food Business competition. Finalists are: King’s Jerky, Kind Condiments , Smoke and Salt BBQ, Bannock Express , and Voodoo Van . Wine Tastings Guess the most expensive wine (Sept. 8), sample some Rhône wines (Sept. 22), or attend the 2017 Premier Showcase Wine Dinner (Sept. 28) sponsored by Saskatoon Co-op Wine Spirits Beer. Premier Showcase is also offering a Portugal with a Splash of California wine seminar (Sept. 29) and a Women & Whisky seminar (Sept. 30). Refresh and Renew I had a chat with Trent Loewen about his plans now that he has sold Earth Bound Bakery. He is heading east to visit chef friends in Ontario and then off to New Zealand to explore what's happening there. After 9 years with a single focus, it's time to explore new ideas. Interestingly enough, the bakery's new owner is a business
Read more

Spelt and Millet: Ancient Grains for Today's Healthy Diet

Image
When I was growing up, whole wheat flour and rice were exotic options. Now we have a whole range of intriguing choices – buckwheat, spelt, millet, kamut – the list goes on and on. My problem is that I don’t know very much about some of these grains, so I arranged a phone call with Nicole Davis, the Owner/Manager of Daybreak Mill near Estevan. Daybreak Mill grows and processes approximately 18 different kinds of flour, whole and de-hulled grains, flakes, cereals, and legumes. They are 100% organic. “We want people to have access to healthy, wholesome food,” Nicole explains. Two of Daybreak’s products – spelt and millet – have been nourishing people around the world for over 9,000 years. Spelt Spelt was cultivated by ancient civilizations in Europe and the Middle East for thousands of years. It grows well in poor soil and doesn’t require fertilizer. It’s resistant to frost and the thick husk protects the grain from insects. However, spelt requires more processing than wheat as
Read more

Beer: History, Trivia and War

Image
Brew North by Ian Coutts is a fascinating look at the history of beer in Canada. I particularly enjoyed the archival photos and beer labels. Here are some tidbits from Canada’s brewing history:           In 2007, Canadians drank 71.67 litres per capita with the Yukon leading the way at 139.75 litres per person, followed by Alberta at 98.54      The first criminal trial and hanging in Upper Canada was held at Finkle’s Tavern, which opened near Bath, Ontario, in 1793.      Two skeletons at the bar were props for Charles McKiernan’s tall tales (told in rhyme) at Joe Beef’s Canteen in Montreal. Customers shared the bar with a variety of animals, including a succession of beer-drinking bears.      Empty beer bottles were originally stored in crates filled with straw, a favourite spot for mice to nest. And the bottles were dark green, so it was hard to tell if the bottle was already occupied when it was filled with beer.      During Prohibition, many breweries switched to making soft dr
Read more

Artisan Cheese-Making in Saskatchewan

Image
Travel in Europe and you are immediately struck by the number and variety of local cheeses, but then you come home to Saskatchewan and there are next to no local artisan cheeses, but that situation is about to change. ( Salayview Farm south of Regina has just started making an excellent fresh goat cheese.) The Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre Inc. (Food Centre) held a two-day cheese-making workshop this past week, and it was filled to capacity with people who were eager to start making cheese as a hobby or to sell commercially. The course was led by Margaret Morris of Glengarry Cheesemaking and Erin Hiebert, the Food Centre’s Manager of Skills Development and Food Safety Programs, while Brev Chesky, the Centre’s Processing Director, assisted with the hands-on portion of the workshop. I was fortunate to join the class at the end of the workshop and to get a first-hand glimpse at the cheese-making process as well as to meet some of the participants. The Course Margar
Read more