MB Manion Morell

This is the "About" section from my blog... which about sums me up.

Every year, after the annual Christmas letter has been mailed, I inevitably get several notes, comments, texts or tweets saying some form of “that was hilarious… you should write a book.” I should note some of these people are not actually blood relatives, or otherwise paid to say these nice things. This year, my friend Ron sent me a text indicating he thought our family should be part of a reality TV show. I wasn’t sure whether that meant he thought we were wildly entertaining, or completely off our rockers. Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned drinking all that Venezuelan orange rum as we negotiated a particularly wild year…

I have been working for nearly a decade as an accidental tech teacher and coordinator (long story). In many ways I love what I do (cool techie things with a hobbit-sized fan club), but am wondering perhaps, after an extended detour, I really was meant to be a writer. The thing is, I’m terribly rusty, having shelved my degrees in Journalism and English years ago. Writing a book seems quite an ambitious start.

My work colleagues know I’m addicted to blogs. I’m forever forwarding them items from Edutopia, the Nerdy Book Club or the Daring Librarian. I suspect this is driving them nuts. The thing is, the blogs in my feed I’m always most excited about are the cooking blogs like Dinner a Love Story, Half Baked Harvest or Smitten Kitchen. I have an embarrassing number of treasured cookbooks (well perhaps I should be embarrassed, but really I’m not). So, I’ve decided to take the worn-out adage “write what you know” – this is the year to hone my writing skills by beginning a blog.

This is the plan: Share my favorite recipes focusing on my adventures in cooking and entertaining close to home… I’m always cooking for someone – good gracious do I have good material. I’ll reminisce a bit about my crazy, unpredictable life through food and recipes (really, you can’t make some of this stuff up). I’d also like to have a platform to write about the culinary scene in DC, and other locales as I tag along with my husband as he jets about the planet. And you’ll likely be subjected to commentary on the latest books I’m reading… I read constantly.

You'll find that I love food with an international twist, having lived and traveled all over the world. My favorite food is dulce de leche. Or excellent coffee. I adore empanadas, pad thai, spaghetti bolognese and fresh summer stone fruits like peaches and apricots. Really, I'll eat almost anything.

About the name…

Bourbon and Brown Sugar. I liked the ring. I have a crumpled 10-year-old recipe from Cooking Light titled “Bourbon and Brown Sugar flank steak” that is rather fabulous. Not only is bourbon a favorite drink, but Bourbon Steak is one of my favorite restaurants in DC (bit of a splurge… but practically perfect in every way – I mean, they serve truffled mac and cheese and duck-fat fries – what else is there in life?), and who doesn’t love Brown Sugar? In everything? I hope to cover culinary wonders from cocktails to sweet endings…

I would love to have you join my adventure!

If you would like to contact me, I can be reached on: bourbonandbrownsugar@gmail.com

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