When and why did you start the blog?
Big Girls, Small Kitchen was born on Friday, November 28, 2008, in the meditative wake of a Thanksgiving speech Phoebe received from her cousin, Sarna. In her turkey-haze, Phoebe remembered Sarna’s advice: if you don’t like your job, do something about it. Early the next day, Phoebe bought a domain name. Cara woke up, ate a slice of leftover pecan pie, and checked her email. “Blog,” read the subject of a message from Phoebe. A link to www.biggirlssmallkitchen.com was inside.

Many months later, we’re experts at posting accessible, creative recipes, along with the stories about when and why we invented them. And we try to create dishes that you’ll want to make whether you’ve got a giant kitchen or a space as teeny tiny as ours.

What’s your process for writing the blog?
We started the blog two years ago to document what we were cooking in our small kitchens and why, and for the most part we still operate organically. We throw dinner parties and write about them, make a decadent breakfast for our boyfriends and write about it, and eat lunch alone in our apartments—and write about what we ate.

Since we cook so much, we do have something of a backlog and are able to spread out our posts so that they match the season, the weather, the food trends—whatever. At times, we let that season, that weather, that food trend help inspire what we cook so that we can bring the most valuable variety of recipes and stories to our readers.

Who takes the pictures?
We each take our own pictures with Digital Canon Rebel 2000s, usually with 50mm macro lenses. The majority of the food pictures in our book were taken by Josh Shaub of Very Natural Photo, to whom we owe much of our wisdom about light, framing, and styling. Some were taken by Cara’s boyfriend, Alex, who also lends us his expertise on cameras, lens cleaning, and keeping your arms steady in low light (though perhaps that last cannot be learned). The lifestyle pictures in the book, as well as those on the site that don’t look like facebook albums, were taken by the talented Allison Badea and styled by Sarah Lederman.

What’s your technique for taking nice food photos?
Light is the most crucial element when it comes to taking food photos, and daylight is the clear winner among the light sources. Move the food you’re photographing to the best lit part of your apartment or house. Take a few shots from different angles and look at them; this will help you identify which angle get the best light, and, therefore, which angle you should be shooting from. Trust us, you’ll fall in love with random corners and surfaces where the light just seems to work magic on your pictures.

We do both own spotlights and light diffusers, which help when taking pictures at night—especially during dinner parties—and we know some foodie photographers who swear by good-quality flashes. Honestly, once people are over, it’s in our nature to focus on our company, and on eating the food we cooked before it gets cold; we do our best to get photos over and done with before friends arrive.

Most of all, your photos should look appetizing. If you don’t want to lick the screen of your digital camera, you haven’t gotten your money shot yet. Keep going. Certain dishes, like goopy enchiladas and greasy beef are just plain hard to take. Narrow your range of focus, center on something small and pretty, and let the rest of the photo be slightly blurry. Worse comes to worst, sprinkle some parsley on top and set your camera to focus on that.

And, of course, practice. Our photos are tons better now than when we started.

How do I style my food photos?
Even if you didn’t think you were into props, don’t underestimate the power of a pretty napkin or silver-serving spoon to improve your photo tenfold. Little extras can make a food photo pop. Put down a place setting. Pour a glass of milk, wine, or water. Capture the edge of a hand-painted bowl in the corner of your frame. Drape dishtowels or layer wood cutting boards beneath your plate. Filling out the frame—without overloading it—will make your photos look better.

Can I advertise on BGSK?
You can become a sponsor for BGSK in many different ways, from giveaways to advertising to supplying products for review. Check out our Sponsorship and Advertising page here, then contact us at bgsk [at] biggirlssmallkitchen [dot] com with subject line “advertising” for more info.

How can I do a giveaway with BGSK?
Email us at bgsk@biggirlssmallkitchen.com to tell us about your product. We run approximately two giveaways a month, always for products we love. Our sponsors do get preference when giveaway spots are tight.

Can you cater my party?
If you’re in the New York area, we just may be able to. Email us at biggirlssmallkitchen [at] gmail [dot] com to find out more.

How did you get a book deal?
Not long after we started the blog, we started getting some interest from literary agents. We initiated our own search for the perfect agent soon after, and at the same time we started working on our proposal. When we met Heather Schroder at ICM, something clicked. In the fall of 2009, Heather sold our book proposal to Harper Collins.

What is the book going to cover that the blog hasn’t?
Our book, In The Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes from Our Year of Cooking in the Real World, will be published by William Morrow Cookbooks in May 2011. It has 100 perfectly tested recipes, including more than fifty new recipes that have never been featured online, plus beautiful four-color photography. It also has many stories that take the reader through our “sophomore” year of cooking the real world. While the blog thus far has been more of a how-to by life example, the book is a comprehensive resource, with tips, tricks, and tales behind our cocktail parties, at-home diner dates, and lonely lunches, and all manner of kitchen disasters that our readers can identify with.

Wait—is your book a cookbook or a memoir?
Well, it’s both, really. You can read all about what to expect here.

Where can I buy your book?
When the book comes out in May 2011, it will be available at all major booksellers. Until then, you’ll have to content yourselves with our humble blog.

Do either of you have backgrounds in cooking?
Both of us grew up in households that stressed the importance of home-cooked meals and family dinners. Cara would stand at her mother’s kitchen counter and help her mix ingredients for pancakes. Phoebe learned how to make gingerbread cookies from her mother, but for the main part of the meal, she was usually relegated to remedial tasks like chopping herbs.

We have also taken a few courses at ICE here and there. That’s where we learned to make focaccia, paratha, and perfect vinaigrettes.

In college, Cara had a job as the sous-sous chef at the Harvard Faculty Club. Mainly, she peeled potatoes, trimmed string beans, and plated cookies. Later, she served as the co-chef for bi-weekly open house teas held on campus, spending her Thursdays and Fridays knee-deep in finger food. Cara also spent a few months as an intern in the kitchen of the Martha Stewart Show.

Phoebe works as a personal chef and has been filmed on Plum TV as the host of a segment about the Divas Uncorked food festival in Martha’s Vineyard. She is also featured on The Perfect Holiday Dinner episode (December 2009) of Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa. Before we were co-bloggers, back when we were just hungry college students, Ina had us both as guests on her show in the episode Good Home Cooking.

We also operate a small catering business, which gives us the opportunity to practice our fancy party food, the kind that’s often too fussy or too expensive to be of much use to many of our readers.

How do you create your recipes?
Most of our recipes are inspired by the food itself. Sometimes it’s the sad spears of broccoli sitting in our fridge, other times it’s the gorgeous head of red cabbage on the farmers’ market counter. We also cook from cravings, whether for chocolate or for kale. Events also dictate what we make: if we’re having a big party, we’ll create a new one-dish meal; if an intimate dinner, we’ll fashion a special meal. Family recipes, passed on, take on new life in our kitchens as we tweak them to our tastes, and we’ve been known to put on our thinking caps and try to re-create a restaurant meal every now and then. Inspiration is everywhere, really, and we keep our eyes peeled for it. We do also read cookbooks for inspiration, but we’re hard pressed to remember the last time we cooked with a book open in the kitchen, actually following directions. We write down instructions and quantities as we cook, and we usually make a recipe at least twice before we post it on the blog.

What are the tools I need to cook your recipes?
Though we love improvisational cooking and bet that with your wits about you, you could make everything on BGSK with a pocket knife and a frying pan, our guide to outfitting your first (or any) kitchen can be found here.

Have you had any full-on small kitchen disasters?
Last spring around Passover, Phoebe shattered her entire Pyrex baking dish while attempting to make her aunt’s brisket. Cara recently tried to make a dinner with every pot and bowl in her repertoire. Soon after she knocked the saucepan full of broth onto the floor, she burnt the rice and overcooked the salmon. Basically the only tasty part of the meal was the sausage, which was also the one part of the meal she didn’t make. But we’re not the only ones! You can hear about our readers’ hilarious disasters in the comments to this post.

Who designed your site?
The incredibly talented Laureen Moyal of Paper White Studio artfully spearheaded our re-design, from inspiration wall to launch. Social Ink did the development. You may remember our beloved old banner—that was created by Tom of Type Shape Color.

Do you have any advice for those starting a food and cooking blog?
Figure out your point of view at the beginning and stay true to it. We really took our time when we first started. Our first month included about two posts! But we spent a lot of energy talking about the different categories of posts that made sense, and most of the ones we decided on are the blog categories you see today. Miraculously, we’re still enthusiastic about them all. We keep our voice at the center of what we do, and in our writing on the web, for magazines, and in our book we always remain true to our experiences. People can smell inauthenticity from a mile away. We like to keep it real.

When I leave my email in the comments, what do you do with it?
Nothing. Unless you’re a giveaway winner, in which case we’ll email you. We respect our readers’ privacy one hundred percent. Same goes if you subscribe to our newsletter.

How do I subscribe to your newsletter?
Subscribe here. Our newsletter is a weekly recap of our blog posts and includes some subscriber-only features.

Can I write for BGSK?
We’ve opened up two columns—Dude Food and Great Minds Eat Alike—to outside contributors. Check out our Contribute page to read about the guidelines for these columns and the best ways to submit. If you’re a college student or recent grad, you may be able to contribute your writing or your marketing expertise to our new site, BGSK College. Email us at college [at] biggirlssmallkitchen [dot] com to find out more.

What’s this college site you girls keep mentioning?
Though we’re now in our senior year of the “real world,” we remember our college days well. Or, rather, we thought we did. In fact, we recently realized we’ve gotten so old we’re a little bit out of touch with culinary life on campus. We started BGSK College so that we could get the experts on college life writing about what they know. You’ll find articles about campus eating, dining hall cooking, great dorm room parties, best boozing habits, and setting up first kitchens-all by students and recent grads. If you’re without a kitchen or moving into your first apartment, BGSK College is an amazing resource. If, like us, you just want to relive your college days, you can do that there too.

Do you have a recipe for ________?
Our recipe index is sorted by main ingredient, season, holiday, meal, dietary restriction, and oh so much more. Use our search function to find what you’re looking for, or scroll through our archives if you’re not exactly sure what it is you’re craving. If you’ve got ideas for recipes you’d like to see featured, email us.

Did I chop this right?
If you have a question about technique, ingredients, or tools in any of our recipes, the best way to get an answer is to leave your comment in the comments section of the post you’re referring to. We’ll answer there—so check back.

How do I cut into a sweet potato?
We swear, someone once asked us this. We were like, “um, you…cut into it?”

Whether you’re a total newbie or a curious cat, you’ll find common cooking queries, a slew of how-to’s, a glossary, and our sometimes irreverent “best of” lists in the new Guides section of our site. Everything we know about cooking, from how to cut an onion to the best ways to get grease off your pans, can be found there.

Are you vegetarians?
No. We’re really omnivores or flexitarians, and we try our best to eat in a healthful, thoughtful way. Cara was a vegan for a while and was a vegetarian when BGSK was founded. Phoebe has never gone down that route but always makes a point of balancing her steak out with salad. Many of our close friends, however, are vegetarians, and in part as a result of eating with them, we both have soft spots for tofu, eggplant parmesan, and hummus sandwiches. Vegetarian staples are also cheaper than meat—another reason they have our love. In other words, you’ll find a lot of vegetarian and vegan recipes on our blog.

What do you think about local/organic/sustainable food?
We dig it. And when we can afford the $10 per pound tomatoes from the farmers’ market, we buy those. When we’re poorer than usual, we settle for some non-organic items from the supermarket and hope that mealy tomatoes are never among them.

What’s your go-to dish when you’re cooking just for yourself?
Cara – A Classic Grilled Cheese
Phoebe – An Olive Oil Fried Egg

What are your favorite recipes from the blog?
Cara - Inside Out Squash Ravioli Pasta
Phoebe - Brisket and Pumpkin Chili
Both – Brownies

What are your favorite places to eat, drink, and hang out in NYC?
Check out our BGSK’s Best of NYC Guide here.

What do you love most about living in NYC? Least?
Endless inspiration. We live in close proximity to so many markets and specialty food stores. And least? If only we didn’t have to carry all those bags of produce and specialty products all those blocks home…

What other blogs and food websites do you visit?
101cookbooks
Amateur Gourmet
BigBang Studio
Bitten
Chili Takedown
Chocolate & Zucchini
David Lebovitz
Eat Me Daily
Economy Bites
Forget Burgundy
Epicurious
Food52
Food Loves Writing
The Gamine
Homesick Texan
Hotplate Confidential
The Huffington Post - New York
The Kitchn
Ladies at Brunch
Last Night’s Dinner
MWF Seeking BFF
The Naptime Chef
Not Derby Pie
Orangette
Pink of Perfection
Ramshackle Glam
Serious Eats
The Spice Spoon
Sprouted Kitchen
The Traveler’s Lunchbox
Umami Girl