Today my blog completes it’s first year *happy dance*

Yes! It’s been a fantastic year of creating foodie memories for myself and my family. It feels like it was just yesterday when I shared my first blog post. Like how every first brings an amazing sense of nostalgia of the time gone by, this one did too. I woke up all chirpy and have a smile plastered on my face 🙂

It’s such a great feeling when my mum, friends or cousins call me to say that they like what they read. My best supporter has been my grandmother who relies on the translations my mum gives her for my writing. It’s funny when she asks me to Whatsapp her pictures of something new I cooked or baked. She is tech-savvy that way. Ain’t she the coolest grandma ?

She loved every picture I clicked at my Italian cooking class, she found the Pasta machine quite exciting. This makes me very proud since she is my mentor, she is the one because of whom I first held a chopping knife or learnt how to make a dough. I owe my love of cooking to her.

I have hosted many dinner / lunch / brunch parties to bring in someone’s birthday / anniversary / promotion / farewell or just catching up with everyone. Friends and family been very supportive and let me take pictures before digging in to the feast. They do email me recipes, they want me to try out and feed them. I like how I got to make some really good friends bonding just over food. I also did get to introduce some non-Indian friends to Indian cuisine and now it’s wonderful to see how they enjoy it and ask for that white pancake recipe while referring to Dhokla.

Dining out on weekdays when I’m too tired to cook after a long day at work came in it’s own pleasures. It gave me and Sahil with some alone time to catch up with each other. We also did a round up for nearly most of the coffee shops. This habit came into being since the very beginning of starting our expat journey here, we do weekend coffee dates just before hitting the supermarket for our grocery shopping.

The first year meant experimenting, getting conscious of the responsibilities which come in with having a food blog. Spending Thursday nights curled up on the couch reading up food blogs or wandering over food websites, buying cookbooks or baking supplies over a pair of shoes, having a window open for The Kitchn while at work, bookmarking favorite recipes, testing the recipes and trying to get across the same emotions into writing as I felt while cooking the recipes. I learned and listened to many people share their food stories and philosophy, letting me in to their personal space and asking me about mine.

I think during the course of the year I came across some really fantastic people be it the restaurant owners when we go out to dine, asking them about their foodie journey or fellow food bloggers who share same passion as me.

I also got to be a part of the wonderful Fooderati Arabia group. Attending fabulously put together food events and reading their food blogs. All of them have been such an inspiration.

It’s been a fun ride so far. The year has passed by in a jiffy, I promise to get more regular with my updates for the next year. I have a better vision and clarity for this blog now. I hope the second year brings in more excitement and learning.

Like I always say – A prayer in my heart, a song on my lips and spatula in my hand, I love my life 🙂

p.s. I have posted pictures for two of the cakes I baked this year for two very special people in my life. First is for a dear friend and second picture is for Sahil’s birthday cake!