Lots of new stories and an important call-to-action

Happy Wednesday!

Thanks so much to everyone who came to my subscriber Zoom chat yesterday afternoon. It went great, and we all had a really good time (and I really loved that so many people who hadn't interacted before got to connect). It's easy when writing an email newsletter like this to sort of feel like you are speaking into a vacuum, and wonder if you are truly adding any value to people's inboxes. But yesterday's chat felt like a bit of community, or as one person on the call said, a big group hug. And I can't wait to do more. Maybe next time, happy hour themed?

In creepy and rather violating news, someone created a fake Instagram account in my name and was messaging some of my friends over the last few days. If that includes you, I'm so sorry you had to deal with that, and I hope fake-me didn't do anything weird or embarrassing while using my face.

It's hard to say why someone would want to be fake me...I have to tell you, as me, being real me is not remotely appealing a lot of days. 

Anyway, I reported the fake-me account to Instagram and it's been deleted. Thank goodness for being verified or this could have been a more annoying process. But if you got any messages from someone who claims to be me, but does NOT have the verified blue check, it is not me. So creepy!!!

Newly published

All week on my Instagram stories (that'd be the real me, not the fake me, to be clear), I've been sharing information about Chef Jose Andres and his World Central Kitchen. It's an organization that I deeply believe in and have donated to recently and in the past -- they've been on the ground feeding people following earthquakes, hurricanes, the wildfires, and in the early days of the pandemic. They are right now at the Ukraine-Poland border feeding Ukrainians as they flee to Poland, and they can use all the support they can get. I wrote about it for The Kitchn today and I really hope you can donate to their mission.

For YourTango, I wrote this crowd-sourced story that will totally gross you out about the nastiest things people have found in their hotel rooms. Happy travels!

LOTS of open story opportunities!

Be sure to read the below list carefully. Many are stories I posted about yesterday, but some of yesterday's stories are no longer listed and a few new ones have been added since yesterday. This (below) is everything that is still a currently open opportunity as of today.

Clean Plates

For Clean Plates, I'm rounding up Delicious Ways to Supercharge Your Morning Coffee for Increased Health, According to Nutritionists - I'm looking to chat with nutritionists, re: ways to make your morning coffee healthier, and would love them to comment on collagen powder, coconut oil, MCT oil, cacao butter, among others as recommended by nutritionists. Not looking to mention specific brands, but rather "types" of products. 

For Clean Plates, I'm working on a roundup of the healthiest, best-tasting jarred tomato sauces available at grocery stores. This is a continuation of the series I have done (examples of previous stories in this series: chicken soup, chicken nuggets,  mac and cheese), for this story, I'm looking to include tomato sauces that are organic, pesticide-free (if not organic), no added sugar (or extremely low added sugar, EVOO > any other oils. Have any tomato sauces to pitch me? Email me! Nutritionist who wants to comment on this topic? Please email me also! Please make sure to glance at the examples above first so you have a clear idea of the kind of story this is.

Forbes.com 

 For Forbes.com I'm rounding up Kosher For Passover wines and spirits for an upcoming story. I'm also doing a story on fun finds in Kosher For Passover snacks/treats/new products. These items must exist online and they MUST be shippable. And please please make sure the item is kosher for passover certified (that's a different thing than kosher, so if something is kosher, it's not necessarily KFP) - I'll do a dedicated newsletter soon explaining the difference for anyone who doesn't quite understand. But meanwhile, you can always email me questions. And, please, pitch me!

I'm also working on a roundup of fun St. Patrick's Day-themed cocktails and desserts (and dishes) at restaurants nationwide. This is similar in format to the Mardi Gras story I did last week. To pitch me for this, please use the following format and include ALL components to be considered:

Name of drink/dish

Where sold: name of restaurant/bar, city, state, URL (MUST exist on the menu, or as a special)

Description of drink/dish

Quote from chef/owner/bar manager about drink/dish

LINK to high res image of dish/drink

Today.com

I'm working on a  big roundup of restaurants open on Easter. We’re looking for a big list of big and small chains across the country –high and low. It's the Easter version of this story we did for Christmas, if you want an idea of the format I'm looking for.

For Today.com, I'm also rounding up food/restaurant chains doing special deals, discounts, and freebies in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Finally, I'm looking for restaurant chains nationwide doing special deals/discounts for tax day (i have a few weeks to play with this one...a rare feat!)

HerMoney

For Her Money, I'm doing a story on how to order takeout/delivery in a way that is smarter. Personally, I RARELY order delivery. It's such a hit on the budget. But when I do, I do my best to avoid the third-party delivery apps with a ton of added fees, and often take advantage of the tail end of a lunch special to get dinner cheaper (or order a special that has more food at a good price, so I'll have leftovers, and thus, bang for my buck. I would love to speak to some experts on the smarter way to do takeout/delivery.

Also for HerMoney - speaking of food delivery...those grocery delivery apps. Are they worth it? Do you end up spending a lot more money for the convenience? And how do we get the best value? I would love to speak to experts for this one as well. As most of us, I spent the BULK of the last two years relying on grocery delivery, and it was a life saver (quite literally). But are we paying a premium for that convenience?

To pitch me for ANY of these stories, please email me at alywalansky@gmail.com (and start a new thread, please!).

I have a really fun cooking-related zoom event I’m attending in a few hours, so I need to get prepping, but will share photos later on my (actual, real, not fake me) Instagram. Have a good day!
<3

aly