Having a blog is like having a child, you know before you have one that it will be a lot of work, but you don’t truly comprehend all that it entails until you finally have one. My mom would probably tell you that children are more work, and she would know as she has two adult children and a blog. At the end of the day, or in this case at the end of the year, it has been well worth it.
Our journey has been years in the making but it wasn’t until June of this year that we finally got our site up and posted out very first post. Our one and only baking tip of the year, how to line a square baking pan. Although we have many more baking tips to write about, I am glad that if there could only be one this year it was this one! It truly has been a lifesaver.
Some of our recipes have been passed down generation to generation like the Lazy Daisy Cake and Chocolate Drop Cookies. Others like our Ginger Nanaimo bar and Hazelnut Nanaimo bar were workshopped by us. The common denominator in all these recipes is the memories brought forth of time spent in the kitchen with grandmothers, mothers, and daughters. Or the time spent with loved while eating the food and treats made in the kitchen.
What we have both come to realize after months of blogging is that we could not do this without each other as we each have our own strengths and weaknesses. Out of the two of us mom is the baker, yes, I can bake but mom has years of experience and knowledge and I rarely bake anything without her. Her love of table clothes, napkins, platers, dinnerware, and cutlery have allowed us to stage our photos differently each time. Something we are both very proud of as it helps us stand apart from other blogs and allows mom to share her favourite pieces.
We are always commandeering the kitchen table and on the weekends the kitchen is often off limits to my father and brother as us “bloggers” need the space to get our posts finished. Chairs are moved into the living room, as is the garbage can to make space for the step-up ladder I use to take photos from above. The table is moved this way and that so I can get the best lighting and the ironing board becomes a permanent fixture as mom needs to spend a lot of time ironing table clothes and napkins.
One of my contributions is to take the photos, though mom is always there to approve them or help me adjust the items on the table. My major role however is to upload the photos, type out the recipes and write up our memories so we have a post after all that baking, staging and photo taking. Once published I make sure to send out the update to our subscribers and share the posts on social media. I am a sounding board to many of her ideas as she is to mine. We have both talked each other down off a ledge or propped each other up. I know I have said this before in other posts, but we are both thankful for the memories we have created together while working on our blog.
Since we started in June we have posted 22 recipes, 5 table settings and 1 baking tip for a total of 28 posts, not too shabby for first time bloggers!
The Top 5 viewed pages were:
Top 3 posts on Facebook were:
- Hazelnut Nanaimo Bar with 374 likes and 68 shares
- Ginger Nanaimo Bar with 380 likes and 41 shares
- Apple Galette with 207 likes and 21 shares
Jane’s Favourites
Set of photos: Roasted Potato Medley
Recipe: Lazy Daisy
Table setting: Halloween
Kayla’s Favourites
Set of photos: Chocolate Drop Cookies
Recipe: Ginger Nanaimo
Table setting: Christmas
It has been a year of learning and making new memories, we are thankful to those of you who have been with us since the beginning and those who have joined us along the way. We hope that you have fond memories to look back on from this past year and that you will make many more in the year to come. It has been a joy letting you into our lives and we are both looking forward to all that this new year may bring. Happy New Year from our family to yours.