Blogging as Journal

It’s NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. For the month of November, I’m going to post every day. This is day 28. 

Lately I’ve been thinking about why I have a blog and what the purpose of this here blog is. I started out to share my excitement over food, recipes, and ingredients. At some point I realized I was talking about what I ate, what I was going to eat, or what I wanted to eat quite frequently and maybe my family and friends had listened enough and were too polite to tell me they weren’t interested. But then I thought that there must be some others out there who are interested, who also think about food and recipes and nuances of spice combinations all day long. Perhaps I had to find these people and share with them. So I started a blog to do just that.

Over time it’s changed and evolved, as I’ve changed and my tastes and cooking experience has changed. One of the unexpected benefits of the blog has been to be able to go back and look at earlier posts and see how I’ve changed, how my recipes have changed, and how writing style and photography has changed. In a way, it’s become a type of journal, where I document my life through meals and food-related ideas. Although it’s really a public journal, meant to share with the world and not just for myself.

I also like to think of this blog as my own personal cookbook. Wherever I go, I know that my recipes are always accessible via a quick internet connection. Somehow that reassures me and makes me feel more prepared. Between acting as a journal and a cookbook, I realize that blogs can start out awfully self-indulgent and self-fulfilling. I hope that this has evolved to something more than that, to something that is entertaining, educational, and useful to you. That it provides you with inspiration and ideas and can reinvigorate and inspire you in the kitchen. And that you keep returning to find out what else I’m up to, how my recipes and tastes will continue to evolve, and what other food thoughts are on my mind.