Featured Food Blogger
Featured Food Blogger of the Week: Debbie Spivey of The Mountain Kitchen
Debbie Spivey is the creative talent behind The Mountain Kitchen. She and her husband, David, along with their cat, Ashes, currently live on the side of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.
She’s always loved to cook. She enjoyed watching Julia Child and Justin Wilson while growing up. She started her blog over three years ago in order to share her recipes with similarly-minded individuals.
Her blog is designed to get her readers to laugh, learn something, and find something good to cook and eat.1. Your life on the Blue Ridge seems idyllic and charming. What is the best thing about living on the Blue Ridge? And what don't you like about it?
The best thing about living on the Blue Ridge is who I share it with, my husband and cat. But if your asking about the mountains in specific, I'd have to say having all four seasons. The view is always changing, every day, every hour, every minute.
The only thing I don't like is having to commute so far for a good job, but it is a sacrifice my husband I made to live here. We commute to the city together and that makes it a lot easier on both of us.
2. When you're not busy with the website or life on Blue Ridge, how do you keep yourself busy? Can you walk us through a day in your life?
As I mentioned before, my husband and I commute to the city everyday for work. We both have really good jobs within the printing industry.
The day starts at 5:00 a.m. and leave the house around 5:45 for a 1 hour commute (if the traffic is good) to the city. Drop my husband off at 7:00 and I start my day at work at 7:30. Work day ends at 3:30 p.m. I pick my husband up at 4:00 1 hour commute (if traffic is good) back home to the mountain, where I cook almost every night. Supper, Bath, TV, and in bed by 10:00. Monday-Friday. Boring I know... but it pays the bills.
3. Your posts about your melanoma battle are truly inspiring. Like most people, you probably never considered that you'll have to battle skin cancer, what is the one thing that you've learned about yourself being a cancer survivor?
I've learned that I used to get way to caught up in the daily stresses of life. Cancer made me let all of that junk and noise go. I don't worry about hardly anything now. I'm just grateful to be here to face the challenges life brings.
4. What is the most challenging thing about food blogging?
I think the most challenging thing about food blogging, is figuring out what people want to see. I can spend hours on a recipe and blog post that I'm excited to share and it's like I hear crickets are chirping; I get nothing. And then I'll have another post in which I rushed through, with crappy pictures and people are all over it. It's crazy I tell you!
5. Finally, what are the three most popular recipes from your website?
My top recipes came from the early days.
1. Sexy Pork Chops - this recipe alone has 235,619 hits!
2. The Mountain Kitchen Beef Brisket
How to Reach Debbie Spivey of The Mountain Kitchen