sometimes i want to thwack the food writing community in their collective nads. as i've mentioned in the past, during the course of the day i read a ton of food blogs & news & whatnot. most of the time, reading about food trends & restaurant openings and looking at pictures of burgers & pizzas & fast food concoctions brings me joy. lately though, the constant reverb of motifs has been getting real old real fast. it's like i'm in a friggin echo chamber. case in point: over the months leading up to the new year & in the weeks since then, folks have been repeatedly referring to 2011 as "the year of the pie." blog after blog after blah blah blah is all "suck it, cupcakes. your day is over. bring on the pie." i'm no proponent of cupcakes or anything but i'm not yet ready to dub this the "year of the pie," no matter how many times food bloggers regurgitate the phrase.