Five Second Rule

The food blog, 5 Second Rule, was Cheryl Sternman Rule’s way to kill two birds with one stone: she wanted to write about food in her own voice and indulge her love of photography while avoiding the burdens of freelancing -- pitching editors and facing rejection.

Sternman Rule launched the blog just about two years ago with an opinionated post in response to a Times of London article about the supposed dangers for children of too much health food. Since then, she’s written passionately about the foods she loved as a child, including date nut bread, root beer floats and grilled muenster sandwiches, school lunches and one, of many, delicious salads.

Like many of the blogs we’ve profiled here, there are the requisite stark, food-porn-like photos and recipes (lots of breakfast, dessert and produce). But what sets 5 Second Rule apart, says Sternman Rule, is best described in the author’s own words. She acknowledges that there is room in the blogosphere for all types of blogs: “I try not to be too serious, but I feel strongly about the messages I convey. I like to share everything I learn with my readers and try to do this without talking down to them. That said, I am not above cracking a cheap joke or making a godawful pun.” Take the name of the blog, for instance, which includes her husband's last name. Without it, the blog would have been named 5 Second Sternman. Doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?

While Sternman Rule is fair about the equality of all food blogs, she is less deferential when it comes to her muffin recipe, claiming that hers is maybe the world's best: "It has to have a hard cap with a sprinkling of crunchy sugar. It will be dense and substantial, not cakey. It will be warm." It's a relief to see that even in this super beautiful world of food blogs, we can roll up our sleeves when it comes to the really important stuff: muffins!