2008 Recipe Challenge Round-Up

I was sitting at our dining table, lazily flipping an old issue of Better Homes and Gardens, when my daughter, Liane, noticed me and remarked, “Ma, isn’t your round up due today?”. It was around 10 PM and, normally, around this time, I would be in front of the computer, either just contentedly gazing at my blog pictures or actively hopping around from one favorite food site to another. But tonight, there I was, half-enjoying a lukewarm cup of ocha along with a copy of a very tattered magazine. If truth be told, I was feeling a little sad, a little crushed…

I planned my first food blog event with the same gusto as when I attack a quart of Cold Stone Creamery’s Chocolate Devotion~either eat the whole tub or have none at all. I suppose you can call me an overly optimistic individual: always starry-eyed, always hoping for the best. After I submitted my event to Andrew of Spittoon Extra, I was checking my Yahoo mail daily~very excited, mostly hoping, half-expecting it to be overflowing. As the deadline neared, I continued convincing myself “Ok, they are probably like me, they’ll probably submit at 11:59 PM, one minute shy of cut-off. As the 25th loomed closer, that booming voice of confidence was slowly muting to a whisper. That same worry as The Mini Pie headquarters expressed, “You know how it is… what if we throw a party and nobody comes?” gnawed at me!. So, around the 20th, with an inbox still empty, I flopped down on my knees, grabbed Gay’s ankles and begged her to submit an entry! Thanks Gay! I, too, have been shortcutting my way around kare-kare and I’d love to learn how to prepare it from scratch. And yes! I did not party by myself afterall! Ann from Redacted Recipes came with her religieuses challenge and with her resolutions accomplished. Nice banner, Ann! And glad to make Jack’s acquaintance! Carrie from Carrie’s Cooking Adventures arrived with her smoking Mac-N-Gouda with Cauliflower.! How very right she is~food is not about impressing people, it’s about making them comfortable. That mac-n-cheese casserole sure is the perfect comfort food!

Every day, every post, every recipe, is a learning process. In life, when you hit a wall, you use the bricks to pave your road. I’ve been asking myself non-stop what I did wrong, how could I have done it better, why I didn’t I get my desired results and then I realized, I haven’t been following through with my own resolutions…I need to enjoy. Suddenly, this whole blog became about numbers when initially, I started it just because I love to cook, just because I love to share little snippets of my life. I think, losing what blogging meant to me in the first place WAS what I did wrong. I have no reason, no reason at all to be “crushed”, to be “sad”. I have received so many graces~I now have 12 feedburner subscribers. Woohoo! I now average 60-70 visits a day. Yeyyy! Two of my recipes were bookmarked. Wowowee! I finally got my very own DSLR camera. Thank you, husband of mine! And drawing from the wisdom of my 16-yr old daughter, “Ma, you can submit again, right?”. Yep! I can always try again.

Thanks Ann, Carrie and Gay! I will be sending each of you day planners. Please email me your addresses. Thank you to all who have walked and continue to walk beside me in this world wide web journey! To my friends, Hazel, Marian, Benny and Nona~thank you for being, or at least, for pretending to be, as excited as I am!