READ OF THE MONTH

Meet the Internets

ts a teenage rite of passage to invent new worlds: worlds of the imagination, cliques and clubs, worlds apart from adults, John Crace writes in The Guardian : And then came the Internet. Many teen bloggers have made the Internet their own new world, and now theyre among the webs leading voices, says Crace. Many teen bloggers have total obsessions like fashion, movies or in the case of Nick Normile food.

Beefy Breakfast
Its the first day of the school year, and our school just adopted this policy that grants each student their own laptop. So right now Im writing to you from my homeroom. I wanted to talk about my awesome backto-school-breakfast, a magnificently meaty melange of protein. I rendered some chorizo [Spanish pork sausage] in a pan, then pushed that to the side, using the spicy fat to fry an egg. At the same time I cooked some bacon. I threw the meat into a bowl, then slid the fried egg on top and poked the yoke, allowing it to run over the meat. Im now ready to start my day.

Foodie at Fifteen (now 16), Normiles blog from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, gets up to 10,000 hits a day. His blog took off after he wrote about saving up to go to New York for just one meal at a gourmet restaurant. It was an unusual thing for a 15 year old to do on his own and I got a lot of media coverage, says Normile. His blog became linked to bigger food sites and made Normile a teen foodie king.

One blog comment: Now thats what I call a breakfast of champions! What do you think of Nicks breakfast? What do you usually eat in the morning?

Hungry yet? You may be after you read these two excerpts!

My awesome breakfast
a magnificently meaty melange of protein.

18 March / April 2010 CURRENT

teen foodie king!

More Pizza
I dont think theres a better way to get someone over to your house than to tell them youre making pizza for lunch. Im really into this now, making a small four-slice pizza that showcases the best that summer has to offer, and inviting someone over to enjoy it with me. Pizza is the best food to set a relaxing summer mood. It just screams informality. Its weird how food so often evokes a mood. To be honest I didnt make this sauce from home grown tomatoes. I used crushed San Marzanos [a can brand]. I sauted some garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil before removing them and swirling in the tomatoes. I left the sauce chunky. I think its best that way. I topped the pizza with the sauce, provolone1 cheese (thats what I had), pork sausage from a local farmers market, pecorino2, and basil from my garden.
1 2

Blogger bio

Nick Normile
Nick, 16, attends Lower Merion High School, in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, U.S. He wants to be a chef and open his own restaurant. Nick burns off calories by cross-country running!
To check out Nicks blog, go to: http://foodieatfifteen.blogspot.com

WORDWISE

Provolone is a semi-hard Italian cheese made from cows milk. Pecorino is a hard Italian cheese made from sheeps milk.

Normile says that food evokes a mood. What do you think he means? What do you think of Nicks pizza? Is he too fussy about food?

rite of passage (exp): event that marks an important event in life, like becoming an adolescent or adult obsession (n): idea or feeling that totally occupies ones mind homeroom (n): the room where you check in at school each day, in American secondary schools melange (n): mix of different things to render (v): in cooking, to melt solid fat into a liquid to showcase (v): to present something in a way to attract attention to evoke (v): to bring to mind a past memory or feeling fussy (adj): very particular, choosy, picky spicy (adj): colourful, sometimes indecent Now go to page 22 for a language activity

Top Teen Blogs

Style Rookie 13-year-old New Yorker Tavi Williams is an overnight

trend-setter for the grown-up fashion world! www.tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com/

Ultra Culture Movie fanatic Charlie Lyne calls his site the UKs Greatest Movie Blog www.ultraculture.co.uk/ Better Never Than Late (BNTL) Hip Londoner Matt Benson uncovers tomorrows trends in fashion, music and clubs http://betterneverthanlate.blogspot.com/
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These teens have made the Net red hot. But be warned: they use spicy language!

CURRENT March / April 2010