One Blog, One Year

Exactly one year ago today I plunged into the world of blogging with ‘A Slice of Cherry Pie’ and my very first post. When I first dipped my toe into the water I felt all the excited and nervous feelings you get when you do something new for the first time.

I first discovered food blogging by clicking on a link from a website to the now iconic Chocolate & Zucchini and from there I found all these other amazing food blogs. I was thrilled to find this world that up until that point I hadn’t known about and I was completely awed by what I saw. It was these blogs that gave me the inspiration to start my own and I’m so pleased that I did. Where else would I have been able to pour out all my enthusiasm for food and cooking? Where else would I have met (both virtually and in real life) such wonderful people who share my interest?

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being a food blogger over the last year. I’ve written 212 posts in that time and just for fun I thought I’d pick one from each month to reminisce over (bear with me here, I’m getting a little sentimental..). Here we go:

September ’06 – Breaking Down the Casserole
If there’s one thing I love to make throughout Autumn and Winter it’s a casserole. I get so much pleasure in transforming cheaper cuts of meat into something special. And to me a casserole really is special. It’s hearty, family-sized, warming and comforting, home-cooked food that's full of love. Who wouldn’t want to come home to that after a long walk home on a cold, dark evening?

October ’06 – Plum and Blackberry Crumble
I was thinking about this only yesterday when I was deciding whether or not to make a crumble. I came across this combination accidentally and it’s definitely one to try again. Soon.

November ’06 – Simplicity at it’s Best
If you have eggs you have a meal. Simple.

December ’06 – A Recipe to Evoke the Spirit of Christmas
Oooh Christmas! I so love it and I could go on and on about it but I won’t. It’s only September and you might slap me.

January ’07 – Mmm….Marmite
That fabulously sticky brown goo in a pot that is oh so British. Do you love it or do you hate it?

February ’07 – Self-Catering
We took a Valentine’s holiday in a log cabin down in gorgeous Summer set (I know I’m cheating here by choosing two posts but they are linked), and cooked some lovely food. I wish I were back there now!

March ’07 – Hearty Irish Fare
I embraced the Irish in me for St Patrick’s Day with this traditional, homely dish that’s very tasty and very filling.

April ’07 – Easter Cake Bake Round Up!
I had so much fun hosting my first ever food blogging event, Easter Cake Bake. I had 29 fantastic entries that quite frankly blew me away. You’re a talented lot!

May ’07 – Patience is a Virtue
Risotto is fabulous food, isn’t it? Comforting and very versatile - throw in what you like.

June ’07 – A Gastro Tour of Borough Market
I’ll never forget the first time I met fellow bloggers for the first time. I had such a great time and it was so nice to finally meet people I’d been communicating with through our blogs.

July ’07 – Chorizo and Canellini Bean Soup
I love soup and this is a really punchy one with the great Spanish chorizo sausage.

August ’07 – Proper Burgers
You just can’t buy ‘em like this!

Phew, well there you have it – 12 months of food blogging! When I look back over the last year and all my posts I’m reminded of how much time and energy, and how much of myself, I put into this blog. And that is not a complaint - I enjoy every aspect of it. I enjoy the food, the cooking, taking the photographs, writing and putting it all together on a post. Perhaps most of all I love to see how the blog is evolving over time. I spent a lot of time, particularly in the early days, tinkering with the HTML (blame my IT background for that!), choosing a colour scheme, playing with the layout and the fonts – making it my own. It has evolved in other ways too, I now have a monthly newsletter (which you can sign up for by entering your email address in the box on the navigator on the left), I run a monthly food blogging event with Cherry from Cherry's English Kitchen and Scott at Real Epicurean (by the way we took a break last month but will be back very soon with another bag of goodies) and I have a list on the left hand navigator of all the fantastic sites that link to 'A Slice of Cherry Pie'. Best of all I can look back on what I’ve cooked, the recipes I’ve created, the reasons for cooking what I did when – a diary of food, food, food!

Now, I would be lying if I said there were never times when I just feel too tired to blog, times when it feels like an effort, times when I just don’t have the energy. Thankfully those times are the exception rather than the rule. And then they pass and I get another bolt of energy and inspiration; I read a new cookbook, I get excited about an ingredient or a new dish and I’m posting again to tell you about it.

At the end of the day, it's you who makes it all worthwhile. You visit me from all over the world and tell me what you think of my recipes and pictures, you explain how ingredients are used in your part of the world, you share your ideas, you make me smile. I know you’re there reading what I write and that, my friends, is simpy wonderful. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Julia x