CulinistA

Annouchka Engel-Vaillancourt is the elegant, bejeweled brunette behind the food and lifestyle blog, CulinistA. This frequent food52 contributor started CulinistA about a year ago so that her family (who live in France, Switzerland and Canada) could keep track of where she and her husband, DH, have traveled, which restaurants they frequent and what recipes they cook at their dinner parties. "I started CulinistA because cooking, eating and traveling have always been my passions and are for me so intertwined -- and because I am always making lists," she says. “I was also hoping to get my father to stop asking me over and over again for restaurant recommendations for his clients and friends.” Now, she simply directs him to her site.

The blog is a mish-mash of Annouchka’s favorite food and travel-related things -- and these are some very nice things. A recent round up of her favorite restaurants includes two in Geneva, the private NYC club Norwood, and the quaint West Village Market Table. An earlier New York City Guide lists must-hit shopping: Catherine Malandrino, Ralph Lauren and Henri Bendel.

Annouchka’s good taste extends from fashion to food, which is the heart of her blog. She lives by a strict food ethos: eat fresh, unprocessed and seasonal foods, little dairy and limited meat. The recipes, like her Grilled Halibut and Pea Puree and her Roasted Rack of Lamb with Mint-Yogurt Sauce, are pretty, light and simple and could be considered healthy food. But don’t be fooled. Her Spring Cake with Whipped Lemon Curd, while not over-the-top, is still one sweet treat.