On September 1st 2012 I started writing a food blog, essentially (and possibly naively) because I wanted to write a cookery book. It was a Saturday morning, I was lazily watching Saturday kitchen whilst drinking a cup of tea, and realised that although the dishes that were being prepared looked amazing, I didn't possess a single one of the ingredients being used in my cupboards. I had an idea about a cookery book that would contain recipes that could be made using a core selection of store cupboard ingredients, and be made up of versatile recipes that could be easily adapted, with recommendations for substitutions and alternatives.
A Kick At The Pantry Door was born of this thought. A place where I could start to share basic recipes and hone my writing skills. In all honesty however, I had never read another blog in my life. I had no idea how it all worked, but my very nature is to make a leap before considering the depth of the drop prevailed and by teatime on that Saturday in September I had a blog, a name, a facebook page and a twitter profile.
Over the last year and a half, I have virtually met some amazing people, as this blog uncovered a whole new world for me. A lot of negative things are said about social media and it's affect on our modern society, but when a group of people with shared interests and commonalities from all corners of our fair country and indeed the world can come together to form such tight communities and support networks, that can only be a good thing. In truth, there have been a few darker times in the past year and a half that only my blogging network managed to pull me out of, many of you without even knowing.
This blog has given me a much needed outlet. An escape from a sometimes difficult reality. A focus when life suddenly lost direction. An insight into the best parts of human nature. Not to mention lots of opportunities to 'test' food! It has become very dear to me. Through writing this blog I learned to meal plan and budget, and as a result we are much better off financially and have managed to clear nearly all of our debt. Through writing this blog, I embarked on a mission to follow Paul Hollywood's series to learn to make bread, and taught myself a whole new skill set. And through writing this blog, I learned to decorate cakes.
Right back near the very beginning, I tried to explain to a friend of mine what I was doing with A Kick At The Pantry Door. Her response was "ooo that's great, you can make our wedding cupcakes!" I can honestly say at this point that cake decorating had not crossed my mind, however I have a slight problem that I cannot say "No" to people... So I started to do some research. For those of you that have followed this blog, or read a few of my posts, you will see how this has gradually taken over my life. I unwittingly discovered an interest, that turned into a hobby, that became a passion, and if I may be so bold, uncovered a dormant talent. Being a person who struggles with a very short attention span, oh what a joy to have found something that not only has kept my interest, but makes me what to learn more, do more, be better.
I am so proud to confirm that from the 7th April this year, my little fledgling cake decorating business will be launched upon the unsuspecting folk of Chesterfield and the surrounding areas. My absence from blogging for the past two months I hope can be explained and forgiven by the list of things that I have had to do to get to this point, finances, tax, insurance, environmental health, website building to name but a few. Incidentally, I would really appreciate some feedback on the new site www.kickatthepantrydoor.wix.com/thepantrydoor
I hope to get back into a more regular and consistent mode of recipe blogging over the next few months, although (quite excitingly) my order book is already fuller than my initial forecast for cakes. I do however need to make some decisions about the blog, not least the future of the Feel Good Food challenge. For the time being I won't be taking on review projects, as last minute cake orders may impact deadlines and I would only ever want to do a good job for my readers. As hard as it has been to balance everything at the moment, I am not quite ready to let go of this blog, so as long as you all want to hear from me I shall keep at it.
Thank you all for your continued patience and support! I will leave you for now with a few glimpses at recent projects. Thanks for reading! xXx
