Sara Barbour
Courtesy Photo

People (well, at least those who work for Wired magazine) have been calling out blogs as passé since 2008, but the truth is you just have to look hard enough to find the good stuff. Here are three food sites with some local ties that have caught our eye of late:

GirlFarmKitchen.com: Sara Barbour ditched O magazine and NYC for an internship on a farm in Santa Cruz (the one that feeds celebrated Los Gatos restaurant Manresa) and has been blogging the tale since June. A recent Columbia University graduate, she grew up in Carpinteria and went to Laguna Blanca. Her blog is clear-eyed about issues like slaughtering a rooster, erudite enough to refer to Henry James, and rich with recipes and a love of food — I want her potato fennel soup with eggplant now.

Sage Recipes shortbread.

SageRecipes.com: Emily Jacobs has been cooking up this blog since October, focusing on recipes that are seasonal and informed by her life as a culinary school graduate who is still learning things — a visit to New York includes an entry about food styling and creating no-melt ice cream for photo shoots. A recent Top Chef episode even inspired her own hearty Texas chili (no beans!) and cornbread fit for Padma.

YummyMummyKitchen.com: Marina Delio, a Santa Barbara native, was a contestant in The Santa Barbara Independent’s Sizzling Summer BBQ Contest this year and offers the perspective of a mom: food that’s healthy but not too onerous to whip up. This site isn’t just about recipes, for you get some parenting tips (like the best software apps for kids), but it isn’t just about children, either, as a Christmas sangria with rosemary and cranberries attests.

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