2008 Recipe Challenge Blog Event

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January 3, 2008

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We all have traditions in ensuring the luck and bounty of the new year. And although I didn’t have the gall to jump into the icy waters of Redondo Beach with just my bathing suit on, I did buy, cook and eat red snapper fish, and, donuts, and carrots, and dried tofu curd, and cabbage, and lentils, and black-eyed peas in the hopes of calling all the luck, and prosperity, and fruitfulness, and bounty, and happiness, and financial security, and long life that can possibly be given to one person. But these are traditions, simply superstitions. I need to determine what I really want. I need real resolutions, a solid game plan on how I can achieve all the things I have prayed for, and have wished for this 2008.

I want to be bathing suit ready in July. I want to add more pennies to my piggy bank. I want to have more alone times with hubby. I want to be my 16-year old daughter’s bestfriend. I want to learn beyond Mi nombre es Lalaine in Spanish. I want to waddle my tired housewife-slash-career-woman feet in the clear waters of Honolulu (by MYSELF, if I may). I want a DSLR camera which I didn’t get for Christmas because I have a husband who never listens! (got me a watch!) I want more than 30 unique hits on my blogsite a day.

Yes, more than 30 visitors. So, I sat down and wrote what will make me sufficiently happy. I sat down and wrote how I plan to accomplish that. This is what I came up with.

I NEED A PLAN
I have a little notebook. When I signed up for Stumbleupon, I wrote it down. When I discovered a helpful strategy, I wrote it down. Whenever I post a recipe on Blogher, I write it down. My daughter asked, “you have a notebook for blogging?” Yes, I do. Because if I was going to knit a sweater, I’ll need a pattern. If I was going to drive to a new location, I’ll need a map. If I was going to build a house, I’ll need a floor plan. If I was going to grocery shop, I’ll need a checklist. If I was going to cook, I’ll need a recipe. I need to write all the steps I will take~to make my goals seem more real, to make my goals seem more concrete.

I NEED TO LEARN
I don’t know HTML. I don’t understand CSS. I don’t even know where to find the head , much less the body. But I have embraced my ignorance. I have sought and will seek help. The web is so rich of people who are willing to teach people who are willing to learn. I will read 5 pages a day regarding SEO and tagging and linking. I will enroll in cake decorating classes. I will ask my friends, my mailman, my neighbors for recipes and cooking tips. I will ask questions. And most importantly, I will listen.

I NEED TO NETWORK
If one went to Career Builders or Monster, one of the things these job sites repeatedly advise is to build a social and professional network. Thus, I will build relationships in the blogging community. I will contribute in forums. I will participate in blogging events. I will join social bookmarking sites. I will work hard to earn link love.

I NEED TO ENJOY
I am in front of the computer 4 to 5 hours a day building my site as much as I can. I have scrapes and cuts in my hands from slicing all those carrots and washing all those pots. And after all that hard work, I check my Google analytics and adsense, and find 25 people only visited my site. I should be discouraged from blogging, I should lose my gusto for cooking, IF only I didn’t love doing the whole cooking and posting so much! Like everything else in life, blogging can be a tedious climb uphill. But I guess one can not enjoy the trek to the top if one doesn’t find pleasure in the beautiful flowers growing by the side of the rocky path.

I NEED TO DREAM
My husband has been questioning how smart my investment has been on having this website professionally set up and . It was not really an obscene amount. Brian Gardner’s generic template is reasonably priced. Josh Bowers, who modified the site, came too cheap for the quality of the assistance he provided. He probably thinks my money and time would have better spent if I bought a crate of mangoes and sold them with a dash of chili near 405 Freeway. The thing is, I am investing on a dream. I am investing on the possibilities. I am investing on what I believe can happen. And if it in the end everything crumbles, I guess it’s going to be 12 months of no new shoes and 10 years of my husband telling me “I TOLD YOU SO!” But still, I’ll be left with the sensations of my culinary journeys, with the memories of people who’ve shared my passion, with all the lessons I have openly embraced.

How about you? What is your 2008 “5 step Plan” for your food blog? Let’s all pull away from our daily blogging grind and evaluate our “recipe” for success! Please submit 4 “resolutions” you mean to implement to achieve your blog goals for this year and a recipe that you’ve always wanted to try (a recipe that you are not a master of, but a recipe that challenges you!). Please link back to me your “resolution” post by January 25, 2008. I’m hoping I can have the complete round-up by January 31, 2007. The best post will win a cool day planner/organizer! Please email me at thecookmobile AT yahoo DOT com with the following information: