Home Recipes Reviews Events About Contact

happy 4th blog birthday.


happy new year everyone! i hope you had a wonderful christmas and fun filled new year's eve, whether you stayed in with a cuppa or indulged in one too many g&ts. i wrote my first ever blog post about some simple chocolate truffles back on the 4th of january 2011. four years on, i'm still somehow spending my weekends baking, evenings searching for the best natural light and saturday mornings running off the calories. 


i was encouraged to start writing a blog back at sheffield university, where i studied a masters in print journalism. as well as good writing practice, it was a great excuse to talk about one of my favourite things. food, duh. 

with no idea about food photography, let alone a decent camera (hellooo blackberry!) i created student friendly recipes and wrote about little gems i discovered in sheffield and the midlands. i even wrote my dissertation about sushi, which can you imagine was the most fun piece of university work i ever did. when i started my now job back in summer 2011, i got more and more into baking. since 1) baking is an expensive hobby and 2) it means you can win friends in the office. here's me loving life with some cupcakes back in 2012.


it wasn't long before i discovered the power of twitter for restaurant recommendations, as well as the fabulous foodie community out there. *waves to the food bloggers* i always remember my first twitter recommendation of the old bulls head in woodhouse eaves, and what a good choice it was too.


i started writing a bit more about foodie events too, such as hyper japan and the good food show, which again were fab excuse to eat food all day and instagram anything on a plate.


2013 was the year of my homemade pasta obsession. now i find myself googling tortellini tutorials (usually in italian which makes things interesting), dreaming up ravioli fillings and getting hench arms from my pasta machine. if you haven't tried making it yourself yet, you must. also i finally bought myself a new camera - phew!


the same year was a really exciting one for my little blog as it was the first time i was approached for events and product reviews. any blogger will remember that first exciting email and silent "yay" in their head. i'm still a tiny fish, but it's amazing to get to with with brands and restaurants you love. i remember the excitement of the hello fresh box landing on my doorstep, getting to try out the waitrose bbq range with my friends and heading off to the launch night of leicester's coast to coast


more importantly, 2013 was a fantastic year as i finally got to meet the foodies i'd been chatting to for so long over twitter. firstly gingey bites and thefoodiecouple with many more foodie meet ups in 2014. as always, we were very subtle.


with a love of food and travel coming hand in hand, this year saw me brave my three year flying phobia to head to the beautiful islands of malta, having been on a cornwall adventure the year before. hopefully, this year will be the year i face my fears and finally make it to japan.


i've really enjoyed trying to get some more skills under my belt this year too, which as you can imagine as been a bit of a learning curve. despite the vast amounts of washing up and kitchen tornados, i finally have my own kitchen and it's been fun. my favourite this year have included macarons, edible chocolate potschinese steamed buns and an afternoon tea themed cake i made with my mum.


shucks guys, thanks so much for reading my recipes, commenting on my reviews, replying to my twitter rants and putting up with my instagram feed. this post might be cheesier than my ultimate cheese board, but i don't even care. here’s to many more years deactivating caps lock and rambling about food with people who love to eat as much as me. 

foodie resolutions for this year:
dine in a michelin star restaurant.
travel to tokyo.
go to a supper club.
review a restaurant ditching the camera or phone.
learn new basic cooking and baking skills.
try something new.
cook from cookery books i haven't touched yet, rachel khoo and rick stein to name a few.

what about you? what do you have planned for 2015?

20 comments:

  1. Happy blog birthday!
    I also am going to try some new recipes and techniques I haven't touched before - and try and master macarons! x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Blog Birthday!
    What wonderful things you have done in your four years :) It's my blog's first birthday next week :)
    Your 2015 food resolutions are fab! Looking forward to reading more this year x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww thanks. Hopefully I'll cross them off. Happy birthday to your blog too xx

      Delete
  3. Whooop Whoooop Happy BIRTHDAY to your blog! It's my favourite in all the world xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Blog Birthday! This is a great round-up. I'm going to do a similar review for my blog's first birthday in May but it won't be quite as action-packed as this! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ruth. Looking forward to reading it :) xx

      Delete
  5. Happy Blog Birthday & Happy New Year too! :)
    This is such a nice little roundup, I always love reading peoples blog journeys, amazing how many awesome things & experiences having a blog can bring. Tokyo is on my list as well, it's been top of my travel list for years & now I finally have enough saved to go! You'll have to let me know if you're doing Hyper Japan this year, I usually go to the summer ones & should be down this year too :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Steph :) Exciting times on the Tokyo front. Will have to let you know if I go Hyper Japan this year! xx

      Delete
  6. Happy blogging birthday! and proud to get a mention :) love reading your blog and long may it continue xxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Happy blogiversary!! A major achievement and really nice to read about your journey... good luck with your resolutions for year 5, I look forward to reading about them!

    Chloe x
    PS. Happy new year too ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy Blog Birthday. Lovely to read how your blog has evolved with you. Wishing you a happy 2015. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you - such a nice thing to say. Looking forward to reading what swanky restaurants you go to in 2015 too! Happy new year xx

      Delete
  9. Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you all the best this year and hoping that it brings lots of joy and happiness to you and your loved ones. Happy blog birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love to organize and attend birthday parties because it gives me much happiness. The idea of organize a blog birthday is amazing, I will also try this as I have also run a blog 'write my assignment UK' since last 2 years.

    ReplyDelete