This is the first installment of Finest Foodies Friday. Every Friday, I will be featuring the BEST of the BEST – favorite blogs from the Foodie Blogroll. This is a way for all of us in the Foodie community to get to know the other bloggers and their blogs.

I have set up a place for nominations on The Leftover Queen Forum, here. The only qualification is that they are part of The Foodie Blogroll! If you are not yet a member, you are missing out on a great community of food bloggers! There is no time like the present to sign up, here!

I see at least over 10 new blogs a day, with people requesting to join the Foodie Blogroll all the time. So I must admit, I get over saturated with food blogs at times. However, a girl does have her favorites and there are blogs and bloggers that have a special place in my heart, and whose blogs I try to visit on a regular basis. But this is why I need this Finest Foodies Friday – so I can learn about all of your favorites too and find new favorites of my own!

This week I am featuring my
Top 5 Favorite Italian American Food Bloggers.
Of course I had to start with my peeps! Next week along with the nominated blog from the Forum, I am also going to feature, my Favorite Greek Food Blogs because as you all know, I may be Italian, but I have always had a passion for Greek food! 😉

Jenn’s Top 5 Italian American Blog Picks:

Michelle from Bleeding Espresso
Michelle was the very FIRST member of The Foodie Blogroll and one of my first Foodie Blogger Buddies. She is an American who really started living La Dolce Vita when she moved from PA to her ancestral village in Calabria. Something I wish I had thought of! She features a What’s Cooking Wednesday, with lots of yummy Italian and especially Calabrian delicacies. She is a great writer and dog mommy. So if you want to learn more about Italy, go check out Michelle’s blog!

Candace from Italian Woman at The Table
Candace is a food and travel writer. She and I always joke about how we might have been separated at birth – since we both have similar jobs and are from a Calabrian background. She even spent an entire year cooking Calabrian foods! She waxes poetically about her travels and loves Anthony Bourdain and her posts are always entertaining.

Amanda from Figs, Bay & Wine (formerly Figs, Olives, Wine)
Amanda is married to a Sicilian American, so she is an honorary Italian American. I have always loved Amanda’s focus on not only Mediterranean foods, but also on eating locally. She usually gives an interesting history of the dish she is posting about, so her blog is very informative and encourages me to be more aware about where I am getting my food from and using ingredients from Farmer’s Markets that I am not very familiar with.

Jeni from The Passionate Palate
Jeni is the mastermind behind Passionate Palate Tours – food tours to Italy! How great is that? One day I really hope to be on these tours! In Jeni’s own words from her website: “She created Passionate Palate Tours in order to combine her professional experience and knowledge with her passion for travel and her desire to share these things with others. Through food and wine, Jeni believes that we learn something about ourselves and of the culture that we are visiting.” I couldn’t agree more Jeni!

Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy
Another ex-pat in Italy who left her life in CA and pursued her life long dream of moving to Italy. She is currently living La Vita Bella in Milan and I enjoy reading her posts about her passion for food and learning about life in her Northern city. She also hosts World Nutella Day and The Tour del Gelato! Be sure to check out those great foodie events!

Speaking of great Foodie events – don’t forget, today is the last day for you enter The Royal Foodie Joust and get your personalized apron! This is the biggest joust yet, with 17 entries so far! Way to go participants!
Entries due 10 PM EST (USA).