Rachel Candelaria of Sam's Chowder House Launches New Food and Photography Blog

If you think the only thing second to eating delicious food is looking at gorgeous pictures of delicious food, than the new blog by Half Moon Bay's Rachel Candelaria is a website you will surely want to bookmark.

San Francisco Bay Area food industry devotee Rachel Candelaria recently announced the launch of her new food and photography blog, “Not Just Sweets.” Described as a “love letter to food and photography,” the blog invites the viewer to join Candelaria on her personal journey of mastering delicious family food recipes and artfully photographing them. 

With an emphasis on breakfast and dessert items reminiscent of the author’s childhood, at least one recipe a week is lovingly tested, shared, described, and photographed on the blog.  New recipes using flavors and ideas from favorite meals from the author’s past, as well as from some of her favorite cookbooks, are also developed and shared.

Recipes, personal stories and photographs shared on the "Not Just Sweets" include enticing items with titles such as Pizzelles, Oyster Heaven, Baked Double Chocolate Loaf, Lazy Day Peanut Butter Cookies, Banana Pecan Honey Bread, Olallieberry Pie, and Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes - each with stunning photographs to match.  

About Rachel Candelaria

The blog “Not Just Sweets” was created as a way for Candelaria to marry her two true loves: food and photography.  Her association with food began as a young child, when her Italian grandfather introduced her to the practice of enjoying cookies and coffee for breakfast; his favorite being pizzelles, an anise-flavored Italian cookie featured in her blog. 

Over the years she spent many happy days cooking with her grandparents and sharing meals together. This love of food inspired Candelaria to work in the restaurant industry for more than 12 years, spending time with many renowned chefs who shared their cooking and baking tips with her along the way. 

Her first photography class during her freshman year of high school got her hooked on this form of visual art, and she has been photographing every since.  All of the photos on “Not Just Sweets” are her own, with a clean, natural approach utilizing natural light, unaltered food subjects, and minimal digital editing. 

Candelaria's experience at leading Bay Area restaurants includes John Bentley’s in Redwood City, where she worked as the general manager and director of private dining; Left Bank Brassiere in Menlo Park, where she served as the bar and wine manager; Osteria Coppa as wine consultant; and her current position as the associate general manager and wine director at in Half Moon Bay. 

Over the years Candelaria has collected many treasured recipes and techniques from family, friends, chefs, cookbooks and magazines, and she takes the viewer through her journey in her blog. 

Follow "Not Just Sweets" at http://notjustsweets.blogspot.com/.

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