Interview with Ken of Date Night Doins

1. What sort of work or play were you doing with food before you started your blog?

I worked in Telecom, building cell towers the last 10 years. Retired now on SS….

2. What drew you to food as a hobby or profession?

As a kid camping always enjoyed cooking over the fire. Then, it grew beyond the normal campfire foods into creating foods folks would talk about and remember for years to come…

3. Why did you decide to start a food blog over other food-related businesses or professions?

When Patti and I were dating we set one night aside just for us. She would come over with something good for the grill and a 12 pace of beer. (I had to marry her).

One week we invited someone to join us and that made such a fuss we ended up emailing out our recipes. It got to about a 100 a week.

We sent a few to Barry Marten of Char Griller. He liked our recipes and for a few months he posted our recipe every week. At the same time pushing us to build our own web site. That was over 10 years ago.

4. What was the most difficult part of starting your own food blog, and how did you overcome that challenge?

I didn’t have a clue how. I struggled along for a few years learning a bit here and there. Then, Nate Edson of “Country Bob’s” stepped up and helped me build out my web site to today’s standards.

With Nate’s help we are 5 web site upgrades to what you see today. I have never met Nate in person and I truly believe that without his help we would have been homeless. (It was that close)

5. When did you realize that your food blog was successful?

About 6 years ago Jason Baker from Green Mountain Grills asked us if we would do recipes for them.

Since then we have grown, we have a forest of photo lights, 2 studio set ups and always learning and growing.
We are 5 cameras down the road and have learned a lot about food photography and still running strong.

God has sent a lot of good people to guide us and teach us how to do the web site and photos.

• Nate Edson, Country Bob’s
• Jason Baker, Green Mountain Grills
• Brad Barrett, Grill Grates
• Brett Kacalek, Bull Racks
• Seth Fischer, “BBQ Pellets on Line”

6. What is your favorite food or type of food to cover on your blog?

We can’t say that we have “A favorite”. I think of our web site as a “teaching” BBQ Blog. As everyone of our recipes have step by step pictures to show folks just how easy it is to be a “Grill Master”

We have over a 1000 recipes and videos and try to add 2 new ones every week.

So we do everything we can dream of. From cheesecake to a whole piglet!!!

7. How do you discover or create new recipes and foods to cover on your blog?

Patti and I are always thinking about cooking and we both even dream of recipes. It’s something we do together and enjoy doing. “Date Night Doins BBQ For Two”

8. Which of the foods on your blog do you eat most in your own kitchen?

Everything on our blog goes on the table. We cook on the GMG most nights…

9. If you could only recommend one recipe or dish to your readers, which recipe or dish would you recommend?

Smoked shredded beef, there is so much you can do with it for different meals.