Name: Dan Clapson
Blog name and URL: Dan’s Good Side, dansgoodside.com
Where were you born? Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Where are you living now? Calgary, Alberta
Why did you start your blog? At the end of 2010, I made a New Year’s Resolution to write a cookbook since I never followed through on my prior resolutions to work out more or go on a diet. The website was born to serve as a place where I could store my recipes. Old school recipe boxes are, like, so 1955. You with me?
How did you decide on your blog name? The tag line for Dan’s Good Side has always been ‘the good side of food’. Whether I’m cooking in my kitchen, out with friends at a restaurant, or traveling around North America, my main focus is highlighting different experiences that make the culinary world an exciting place!
What do you blog about? At first, the site centered solely around recipes, but I began sharing my thoughts on different restaurants in Calgary and beyond as well. Recipes and restaurants are still the bulk of my material, but I do cover the occasional culinary event (i.e. Eat St. coming to film in Calgary, Top Chef Canada, etc...) and voice my general thoughts on food and life when I’m feeling extra share-y!
What post are you most proud of and why? Hm...probably this recipe for Chai-Spiced Salmon Steaks and Lemon Dill Potatoes. It was the first time I can remember a person coming up to me and telling me that they made one of my recipes. It’s always nice to hear something like that, but equally scary in case the dish didn’t work out. Luckily, it did!
Which post do you wish received more love and why? ALL OF THEM! I’m a very insecure man!
Which post’s success surprised you and why? One of first recipes I ever posted back in July, 2010, was for a Vegan Strawberry Sorbet. I was very new to taking (quality) food photos and, really, just blogging in general. By some miracle of god, I wound up with a beautiful photo of the dish AND the image was accepted by Foodgawker. I find it too time consuming to submit pictures to those kinds of sites nowadays, but back then I was pretty pumped.
What is one (non-kitchen) gadget you can’t live without? Airplanes. They get me around fairly regularly and efficiently. Wait, is that technically a gadget?
What is one kitchen gadget you can’t live without? My brain. That’s where it all starts in my the kitchen!
Favourite food, care to share a recipe? Meatloaf and, why yes I certainly do!
What else should we know about you that may or not be in your “About Me” page? I think parrots are way cooler than dogs, my love affair with chicken fingers sometimes scares even me, and last, but not least, I really, really like listening to Kelly Clarkson while I’m cooking.
What makes your blog unique? Well, I’ve always wanted my site to be the kind of destination that if you did not read food blogs regularly, you would still read mine - a.k.a. something my friends would read. Ha, ha, ha. I’m still not sure if they read it...I can be a little saucy sometimes, so I think my site is pretty bad ass, as far as food blogs go. See? I just swore!
Facebook: The Good Side of Food
Twitter: @dansgoodside
Pinterest: dansgoodside
Great read! 🙂 V
Hi Dan — Nice to meet n’ read a fellow Canadian blogger!