Meet my good friend Marisa McClellan. A celebrated blogger (and now a published author!), Marisa runs the wildly popular Food in Jars blog, where she teaches the Internet how to make delicious canned nibbles.

Yesterday Marisa’s book, Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round, hit stores everywhere via Running Press, a lovely publisher here in Philadelphia. The book is fantastic, the photography is beautiful, and you should absolutely pick it up immediately.

Seriously. Do it now. Here’s a link to Amazon. You’re welcome.

In honor of her book release, Marisa’s our Geek of the Week. Enjoy, and make sure you visit her blog at foodinjars.com.

1. What made you decide to launch Food in Jars? Why canning?

I started Food in Jars in early 2009 because my job as the editor of Slashfood (AOL’s now-defunct food blog) was ending and I wanted to stay in the food blogging world. I grew up canning with my mom and have been entirely obsessed with jars for years, so it was something that was always part of my life. At the time, there weren’t really any blogs out there dealing with canning, so I figured it would be a good niche for me. At the time though, I had no idea that canning would effectively become my career.

2. A lot of times when a blog lands a book deal, we see those blogs go quiet, start updating less. You? You don’t stop. How did you find a balance between writing on the blog, pursuing your other writing interests, and working on your cookbook?

To my mind, it was never an option to stop writing the blog while writing my book. One of the reasons that I got the opportunity to write the book was that I had an engaged community of readers. A large part of my value as an author was that audience. I had to continue to feed that relationship and develop that community so that there would be people welcoming the book when it was finally released. So I kept writing.

I will say that the summer of 2010 was really hard, because that’s when I was developing all the recipes for my book and was still working full time. I spent all my free time canning and making sure all the recipes for the book worked, while also continuing to invent stuff for the blog. It wasn’t so much about balance as it was general brute force.

3. The photography in the cookbook is stunning. What was it like working with Steve Legato?

I absolutely love the images that Steve made for this book. He was wonderful to work with. He spent a considerable amount of reading my blog before the photo shoot, so that he could get a feel for my style of photography. The result of that is that the feel of the book is similar to the blog. I couldn’t be more pleased with how the book looks.

4. Back to food blogs, who are some of your favorites? Any local favorites?

There are so many excellent food blogs out there these days that it’s really hard to pick favorites. If I’ve forced to choose, a few of my all-time favorites are Local Kitchen (a fellow preserver located in New York State), Remedial Eating (so much lovely photography) and Mostly Foodstuffs (a friend with a tendency to make the most delicious fruit-infused spirits).

Around these parts, I’m always on the lookout for new posts from Messy and Picky (confession: authors Albert and Kate are dear friends), Mac & Cheese (blogger Taylor is expecting her first baby!), The Cozy Herbivore (Sara May is also a pastry chef down at Franklin Fountain/Shane’s Candies) and Madame Fromage (Tenaya was my advisor when I wrote my masters thesis. Be kind to your professors, as they may turn into some of your closest friends).

5. Philly is full of fabulous foodies, many of whom likely have cookbook-writing-aspirations. Have any advice for them?

Find a niche (what could make your book stand out?). Start a blog and build an audience (you are a heck of a lot more valuable to a publisher if you can point to a group of people who are already engaged in what you do). Keep trying (Before I got my contract with Running Press, I spent nearly a year working with another publisher. When the deal there eventually fell apart, I gathered myself up and started over). Be prepared to compromise (once you do get a deal, you rapidly learn that it takes a team of people to create a cookbook. These people have worked on many, many cookbooks. They often know better than you. Figure out when to defer to their judgment and when to stick to your guns).

6. Is there another cookbook coming up? I’ve heard from a reputable source it’s going to be called Food in Jars II: Jar Harder.

Love that title!

Right now, I have a couple ideas for future cookbooks, but nothing is official yet. Working on this book has been so engrossing that focusing my energy on a new proposal has been more than I’ve been able to manage. I’m hopeful that soon, I’ll get my act together and get those ideas down on paper.

7. Anything else you’d like to share?

Just two things. The first is that if this canning thing intrigues any of you readers out there in Geekadelphia land, don’t forget that I teach canning classes. You can find me at Indy Hall and Greensgrow all summer and fall (schedule here). The second is that I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of my husband and fellow geek, Scott McNulty. You should buy his books too!

Hey geeks! You like Philadelphia, right? Sure you do. And beer? Yeah, thought so. How about cupcakes? Uh huh. Well have I got a deal for you. Take a look…

Beer Cakes is the result of a girl who loves cake, loves beer, and loves going to breweries with her Dad…  After a couple fresh pints and some good pub food, I always wanted something sweet and was disappointed at the lack of dessert on the menu.  So I began to develop some recipes.  What I came up with was a way to make cake that tastes like beer!

Using the amazing craft brews that Philadelphia has to offer, I put beer in both my cake and my buttercream.  What makes every craft beer unique is the flavors and spices that are used to brew them.  I play with those same ingredients in my recipes to bring out the beer’s flavor. The result is an amazing dessert that has savory and sweet notes that will tickle your taste buds.

While you can check my website (www.beercakesphilly.com) to see a list of the flavors that I’ve created so far, there are so many more awesome Philly beers that are just waiting for me.

Right now Beer Cakes Philly is only a wholesale or special order business, and though it’s going very well, I want to bring my cakes to the masses. I want everyone in Philly to have the chance to stop in for a beer cake!

My bakery won’t look at all the way you would expect a bakery to look.  You will most likely walk in and think you’ve entered a dive bar.  My cakes are about the beer, and the shop should be too.

I see local art on the wall, eclectic decorations, wooden tables that you can carve your name into, old tin signs, white christmas lights… can you picture it?

I imagine my Beer Cakes Philly storefront everyday, and with your help I’ll be able to wake up every morning and actually live the dream.

We’ve all had sweets made with beer before, but made to actually taste like the beer itself (and its special ingredients)? That’s new. And she’ll be open late, so when you’re leaving the next Geekadelphia / Tatooed Mom’s Halloween Extravaganza, you’ll have somewhere to go! Pony up.

The Project: Beer Cakes Philly

Creator: Lexi Malmros

The Sweet Spot: A measly $25 gets you six pack of cupcakes from the shop. Way better than any actual sixer you could pick up for that price. Know a real hophead? Drop $100 and you can get a novelty cake or two dozen of the little guys.

Funding Deadline: June 16th, 2012

More Info: Learn more on the Kickstarter page, on the Beer Cakes Philly website, or over on twitter.

Every Monday Geekadelphia features a Kickstarter created by locals. Check ‘em out and support our local geek scene. If you have a project that you’d like featured on site, contact geekadelphia@gmail.com

So, Hawk. What’s your backstory, are you a native Philadelphian?

I grew up outside the city in Jenkintown and came to the city pretty often. Went to college in Brooklyn (Pratt) and lived there for a few years before moving back to Philly in 2001.

What’s your favorite part about the food scene in Philly?

When I first moved here, whether it was running good comics in the alt weeklies or putting sweetbreads on a restaurant menu, there was this idea with everything that “Philly’s not ready for that.. this isn’t New York..” but now it’s like the land of golden opportunity. So many of the people I’ve worked with over the last 10 years both art and food wise are opening their own restaurants and businesses and it’s just amazing to watch.

You’re a great illustrator. Do you have a background in art? How long have you been drawing food?

My parents are both artists so I was trained from birth, went to art school and have been illustrating for over ten years, at first mostly comics and humorous editorial illustration. I was working as a line cook and doing illustrations at night, and realized that combining the two would probably give me a better chance at making a real career out of it.

What’s your favorite thing to draw… aside from food?

What I really love and want to do more of is just crazy scenes of Philadelphia neighborhoods. Right before the hot dog thing took off I started working on a series of big illustrations of Citizens Bank Park and the Italian / Mexican / Asian market chock full of wild characters and chickens and beers flying though the air. Wing Bowl would be an awesome one for that too. I guess that”s sort of about food too though..

You seem to be quite the foodie, specifically hot dogs, what’s the story on that? How did you become such a fan of them?

I grew up near a short lived outpost of Levis’ Hot Dogs in Jenkintown that got me hooked on the fish cake combo thing, especially years later when i realized how unique it is. Also my parents were (and still are) big on combing small town Pennsylvania for old diners and abandoned amusement parks and checking out the local food was always a part of it. I’ve always loved all types of food – not just hoagies and hot dogs – and also worked as a line cook for 6 years.

The world of hot dogs just seems to have this stubbornly regional and individualistic spirit that keeps it interesting. Every small town with a crazy hot dog shack thinks it’s the best in the world, every place has a legend about their chili or relish recipe being won in a poker game in Detroit from an old Greek man. I like fancy restaurant food too but feel like there’s plenty of people writing about that already, although I wouldn’t be opposed to doing a giant painting of tripe & tongue from Han Dynasty or something..

This will probably be hard to answer, but what’s your absolute favorite hot dog (or other food if not hot dog)? Why?

No way can I pick one. I’ll just throw some out there.

Philly top dogs at the moment would be Scott Dogs (when he’s open), the NY-style dog at Famous 4th, The green truck at Oregon and Passyunk. Any of Hot Diggity‘s specials. Krakus Market in Port Richmond.

Carving up a turkey

This week’s Geek of the Week is a man of varied interests, my pal Brian Lim.

Philadelphia foodies might know Brian from his food blog Bridges Burgers Beer, where he rambles about local nibbles, or from his work with Foodspotting as a Philly Foodspotting ambassador. Those driving in and out of thte city… well, you probably don’t know him, but he’s the gentleman who helps engineer those bridges your car zips over.

Bridges. Burgers. Blogs. Brian does a lot. Read on to learn about this geeky gentleman.

So when you aren’t busy at your day job, you run a food blog. Tell us a bit about it.

I started my blog, Bridges, Burgers & Beer in October of 2009. It was sorta created out of boredom. I like to eat, drink, and cook. I’m also somewhat of a bridge geek. I hoped to combine my passions for all those things in my blog.

You party down with the Philly Foodspotting community quite a bit. Tell us about that group.

I got hooked on Foodspotting a few years ago when my friend/fellow blogger, Amy Cao, started to work with them. Because I take photos of my food normally and it was a fun, neat way to find food, I figured why not contribute to Foodspotting.

Since then, a Philly Foodspotting community developed and I became one of the two Philly Foodspotting ambassadors. We hold a food eatup or crawl every month, open to everyone.

Since you go to a lot of restaurants, tell us… what are three restaurants geeks absolutely have to go to in Philadelphia.

People would be shocked if I didn’t mention my regular spot, Khyber Pass Pub. They’ve got tasty Southern food, several craft beers on tap, and a chill atmosphere. Another place I’ve been really into lately is Loco Pez, a Mexican bar/restaurant up in Fishtown that has a real neighborhood feel and some delicious nachos and tacos.

Lastly, I really enjoy the food Mitch makes at Supper on South Street. The Supper Burger is one of the best burgers I’ve had and the same goes for his homemade bagels he serves for weekend brunch.

Building bridges

Now back to that day job… why? Why engineering? What made you fall in love with bridges?

I chose engineering because I became obsessed with roller coasters and theme parks when I was younger. I aspired to become a roller coaster/theme park engineer and even worked at Six Flags Great Adventure and Dorney Park. Eventually, I came to the realization of how difficult it was and how lucky one had to be to even get involved in the engineering side of rides and attractions.

After giving up on the theme park engineer dream, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my civil engineering degree. I’m a firm believer in the quest for finding a job you truly love so that you don’t look at work as work. Lucky for me, the first company I worked for was a consulting firm who specialized in bridge inspections and design. On day two, I was wading through the Raritan River in Central NJ while inspecting a historic truss bridge that was built in 1870. On day three, I was running across 11 lanes of heavily traveled Interstate 78, safely of course, in North NJ to inspect an overpassing bridge.

I couldn’t believe that this is what I happened to fall into. In my mind, this was the best job an engineer could have; the perfect balance of field and office work. Since then I’ve done some work in Pennsylvania and am now involved with railroad bridges and subway tunnels! One day in the future I hope to climb to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge or walk through NYC subway tunnels.

Why do I love bridges? Growing up 40 minutes outside of New York City, I was always fascinated with the bridges and tunnels in the city. Mainly, the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, connecting Brooklyn and Staten Island, always made my jaw drop in awe as I passed over it on my way to grandma’s growing up. She is so massive and so beautiful. When she was completed in 1964, she was the longest suspension bridge in the world! I’m still in awe to this day.

Brian Lim: A geek since childhood

You tweet about gaming every now and again. What are you playing these days?

I really do love video games. As a child, I used to give my parents a multiple page Christmas list full of video games. Unfortunately, post college, I’ve found myself to be too busy to play. In the past couple years, I’ve fallen in love with the Uncharted series on the PS3. It’s too damn addicting and it sucks you in.

My PS3 unfortunately died earlier this year, leaving me console-less and I ended up getting an Xbox 360. I don’t have many games since I am quite busy as I previously mentioned. I recently friended Geekadelphia co-founder, Eric Smith, on Xbox Live and he immediately texted me to mock my extremely low gamer score.

Confession 1: Okay, don’t laugh. Within the past month, I’ve been playing Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition. I’m aware it’s pretty old but I never got the game before and it’s a fairly simple game to pick up and play now and then.

Confession 2: (again, please don’t laugh), post Goldeneye/Perfect Dark first person shooters make nauseous. I will never join your COD party. I will, however, destroy you in Goldeneye. Just ask Collin Flatt and Mikey Ilagan.

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To learn more about Brian, visit his blog and follow him on Twitter.

Want to join the Philly Foodspotting community? Follow their events through our Twitter and Facebook page.

Beyond its luxury steakhouse offerings, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House encompasses some of the most marvelous architecture in the city. The building exhibits a “Classical Revival” style, an architectural trend popular around the time of its completion in 1924. Design and construction was led by the firm Ritter & Shay.

The Packard Building, as it’s known, won a gold medal award from the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) the following year. Today, the Packard building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ritter & Shay was also responsible for the U.S. Customs House located in Old City and The Drake Hotel building in Center City.

The entire building is a 407,000 square-foot, mixed-use tower rising 26 stories. The space that Del Frisco’s occupies on the ground floor was once the First Pennsylvania Bank. Many of the bank’s key traits are still intact. The ornately-carved ceiling soars high above the marble floor, being held by tall stone columns.

Near the entrance, steps lead down to the vault, once the home to bank customers’ safe deposit boxes but today it contains a large private dining room. In the rear of the restaurant on the main level, a grande staircase leads to the mezzanine where an delicately designed clock face can view almost every inch of the 23,000 square foot space.

Additions to the space include a 34-foot-tall (two stories) glass wine tower, capable of holding nearly 2,500 bottles. Along the mezzanine wall, a large sound-deadening piece of art stretches from floor to ceiling. My favorite installation would have to be the “memorial pole” — rumored to have been installed to ironically honor a certain restaurant critic in Philadelphia when he had stated that “the only thing missing is a stripper pole.”

In regards to Del Frisco’s, the thing I hold near and dear to my heart would be its mention in 2009′s Law Abiding Citizen. Sous Chef Orin told us that some of the movie’s producers came in for dinner one evening and loved it so much that they returned on another visit with others working on the movie, including actors Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx. The food that appeared in the movie was actually prepared at the restaurant.

In the month of April, you can sample some of their food yourself. They’re running a filet mignon and lobster tail (surf ‘n turf) special for $79. On April 5th they’re also the exclusive after-party location for Brews & Bowties, a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

As most Pennsylvania residents know, the Liquor Control Board has executed firm ownership over the state’s alcohol dissemination ever since the end of Prohibition – a time period from which the Board often seems a relic. But, last month, the LCB made a concerted effort to modernize and join the digital age by getting onboard with a popular new technology: the smartphone app.

That’s right – a new free application, titled Fine Wine & Good Spirits, was released by the LCB at the end of February. The app provides searchable databases of alcohol and alcohol stores, a feature that allows people to search out nearby locales, shop for wines online, and get more information about a beverage in which they have interest. There are currently about 40,000 products included in the application.

When accessing the app a user is provided with four options. He can either (1) shop online, (2) locate the nearest LCB store, (3) scan a bottle in his possession and get more information, or (4) browse items that are currently on sale. While there are several other apps that provide alcohol-locating features, none offer Pennsylvania residents with the same breadth of information.

There are a couple great uses for this app. First, let’s say you’re out on a date and your significant other has enjoyed a bottle of wine that the two of you have just consumed. At this point you can whip out your smartphone, scan the empty bottle, and then immediately learn where the closest store has that item on sale. You can also learn more about the wine in case you decide instead to try something new but similar while still at the restaurant.

Secondly, the app can also be useful in a more professional setting. Assume, for example, that you are conference calling with a client using something along the lines of MegaPath VoIP services. If the client is coming to town and needs a recommendation, gets upset and requires a bottle of wine to patch things over, or simply aggravates you to the point that you’re going to need some self-medication, you can simply glance down momentarily from the hosted pbx and insure that a bottle will shortly be arriving at your door – or at the door of your client. It’s almost too easy.

Fine Wine & Good Spirits can be downloaded free from the Apple and Android app stores, as well as at FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com.

Have you been watching your friends tweet updates from SXSW and found yourself a little sad you couldn’t go? Well, come join us, Technically Philly, Indy Hall, and Young Involved Philadelphia for a special #whyilovephilly party at Barcade tomorrow night.

Come celebrate with your favorite groups of people who are in the SXSW target demographic but love Philly a little too much to leave. The Barcade folks are going to extend their Happy Hour deals just for us, with $1 off draft beer until 9pm.

For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page. See you there.

#notatSXSW Celebration @ Barcade
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
www.facebook.com/events/324335397613350

Barcade Philadelphia
1114 Frankford Ave (19125)
(215) 634-4400
www.barcadephiladelphia.com

Photo via Grid Philly

Everyone loves a good stake dinner, right?

Sorry, you knew the “stake” pun was coming. And no, this isn’t a post about True Blood. We’re talking about Philly Stake, “a locally sourced, recurring dinner in which money is raised for creative & relevant community engaged projects.” Great! So what does that mean?

It’s like this: Philly Stake throws a dinner at which the meal is made from local foodstuffs. Philadelphians buy tickets to said meal for $10 to $20. Local projects that aim to improve Philly are proposed to diners, who then vote to decide which project will receive the proceeds raised by the meal. So you get to support local farmers and food vendors, eat a tasty meal and select a project intended to improve Philadelphia. Win!

Philadelphians are skeptics. Right now you’re sneering and tossing your chicken wings into the street, growling, “Sure, sounds perfect. But what have they ever really done?” Plenty. You can view the full list of funded projects at the Philly Stake website. Seriously–they’re all good causes, and they’re all local.

So what can you do? Easy: Go eat. The next Philly Stake dinner is Sunday, March 25, from 5pm-8pm at the First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut Street. Tickets will be available online in mid-March for $20 or at the door for $10-$20. Tickets go fast, so if you want to participate, get them early.

And if you happen to be involved in a local project that could use Philly Stake’s support, proposals are being accepted through March 11. You can find details on the Philly Stake website.

From now until February 29th, Hot Diggity is displaying the artwork of local illustrator and food lover, Hawk Krall. Prints and original paintings are also on sale. Hawk’s name (aside from sounding like one of the coolest you’ve ever heard) might be familiar for readers of Serious Eats, as a regular contributor.

His wonderful cartoon-like food illustrations are seemingly endless in number. Many are based on real foods from his travels. The detailed listing of ingredients on his work should delight any foodie with a taste for art. If you’ve ever been to Hot Diggity, he’s the one responsible for each one of their beautiful menu items. Said menu item prints are also on sale for the first time.

Be sure to stop in, enjoy some hot dogs and check out Hawk’s artwork.

Hot Diggity
630 South Street (19147)
www.thehotdiggity.com

Interested in seeing more of Hawk Krall’s artwork? Be sure to check out his website.

Philly boozehounds and barflies take note – the 2012 Drinker’s Choice Awards are accepting nominations! You have until Wednesday, February 15th to put forth your favorites for the following categories:

* Best Happy Hour
* Best Beer Bar
* Best Sports Bar
* Best Wine Bar
* Best Cocktail Bar
* Best Wings
* Best Brewpub
* Best Local Beer
* Best Bar-Hopping Neighborhood
* Best Beer Store
* Best BYO
* Best New Bar/Restaurant of 2011

The top ten nominees in each category will then move to the final round, which takes place from February 21st to March 6th. Your votes determine the winners here as well.

Winners receive a custom-engraved trophy and recognition on DrinkPhilly.com. More importantly, they’ll get some sweet, sweet bragging rights.

Nominate here: DrinkPhilly.com/vote

First round: February 8-15

Final round: February 21-March 6