Sis. Boom: Year 1

This blog is one year old today. I have seen many food blogs feature a cake for this occasion but I’m not going to do that today. Cakes, as you have seen, just aren’t my thing. To be honest — I’m still a bit surprised that this blog thing has lasted as long as it has. It was just over a year ago that Ms. Fig suggested I start one. It was clear she was having so much fun with hers so I thought, ‘why not?’. I’m really more of a a tech geek than a chef so I thought by starting a blog I would be just learn more about blogging itself: how to set one up, how to transfer a domain, how to get ‘hits’ through referrals, setting up advertising, etc. Over the years I had recommended blogging to many of my family and friends who own businesses or otherwise had real stories to tell so it only made sense that I know a bit more about it. Right? Well, it doesn’t take a year for that and…well…I’m still here.

My usual pattern is to start some project, interest, or hobby, get enthused and obsessed, learn everything there is to know, share with everyone who crosses my path, and then move on. The latest diet, a certain tv show you should be watching, a hot gadget or website, etc. These were the types of “Everyday Explosions” I had hoped to write about and share with the wider internet audience while I figured out blogging mechanics. Sis. Boom. [blog!] had another idea for me however. Despite a surprisingly few detours through haiku, politics, and technology — this blog turned into a year-long chronicle of my re-acquaintance with my former love for cooking. I had lost touch this passion — and like a rekindled romance, the fire seems to have burned brighter the second time around!

I found that the real fuel for this fire wasn’t really in the making of a complicated ‘show piece’ dish. You know the kind. The dishes that many food blogs seem thrive on almost as if to intimidate you into wondering why you even try to cook in the first place. No, I found that it was the simple things — those that one often just forgets to consider, that really revved my cooking motor. In fact, my favorite posts of this past year were on frequently overlooked but simple things: an artichoke, a grapefruit, a gin cocktail. All of them so easy they hardly qualify to use the word ‘recipe’. Yet all of them are quite elegant in their simple way. This year I stopped buying bottled salad dressings altogether! Why did I even do that in the first place? Along the way I’ve taken some photography classes, signed up for a CSA, figured out how to get hits on food blog referral sites, met and been inspired by many other bloggers, and even inspired a few more. I really am having fun with this so… even though I’m sure some in my world think the whole thing is silly, I’m in for Year Two.

Cooking, like blogging, isn’t really that hard. It takes discipline and a will to figure it out. Thats all. Seeing as how I haven’t yet learned all I care to about it I think I will direct the blog in the coming year towards my explorations rather than sharing the items I already knew how to make. Yes, I’m afraid this means more blogstalking! (If I have learned anything this past year it is that the best inspiration is right here in the blogosphere!) I’ve pretty much learned what I set out learn in terms of blogging itself to so I will spend a lot less time on its mechanics and more on the writing and the explosions themselves. (This is my way of saying to not expect as many posts!) I’ll probably post on dinner parties some more as I’m still getting the hang of this weekly “large family feast” thing from the vantage of my small kitchen. My post on a “buffet for twelve” became one of the highest trafficked posts of the year with over 4 thousand hits so it is clear that others have the same issues I do with the whole concept. Just about all the chocolate food dishes show up in my top ten hits list. Food bloggers quickly learn that if you want a lot of hits, feature something chocolate. Despite this truism, Sis Boom blog received its most hits for a cocktail: the lovely Greyhound. (So I think it goes without saying that I will have some more cocktails during Year 2.) The most fun with a post this past year was the “blog challenge” with my friend and collegue Ms. Barrister. I hope we do more of that sort of thing this next year!

In conclusion, I no longer recommend blogging to my friends and family with something to say. I now recommend it to those who think they don’t. There is definitely something narcissistic about blogging but that narcissism isn’t always bad. Sometimes narcissism actually needs a little cultivating so you can discover new things things about yourself. This particularly narcissistic blog entry is not going to feature a cake. Instead I am going to sit back, reflect on “my blog voice” and enjoy a simple yet elegant pleasure. Mint tea. Join me, will you?

Fresh Mint Tea

• 3 sprigs of fresh mint
• hot water

Put fresh mint in cup. Pour hot water over mint. Steep 2 minutes. Drink.