I’ve been blogging here at Kitchen Treaty since March, pumping out so many recipes that I accidentally just typed “pumpkin” instead of “pumping” (seriously). I’ve focused so much on content for these past seven months that I realized it might be nice to just take a step back and just do some splainin’, Lucille Ball style.
Kitchen Treaty might be a new food blog, but I’m not a new blogger. My blogging career started in September 2009 with a blog named The Hazel Bloom. When I started out, I blogged about pretty much everything that has to do with keeping a home. I was in full-on nesting mode when I started it, and my tagline was simply “Domesticity rules.” Gardening, home projects, thrift store treasure upcycling, and, of course, recipes.
About a year into my blogging stint at The Hazel Bloom, probably nine out of 10 (or more) of my posts were about food. I’d evolved into a food blogger, and The Hazel Bloom was becoming a food blog. But then I realized two things: 1) With no particular theme, there’s really nothing to set my blog apart from the (literally) millions upon millions of other food blogs that are out there, and 2) “The Hazel Bloom,” originally derived from my love for green flowers and my adoration for the name “Hazel,” also sounds like something that happens to a loaf of bread if it sits out too long.
Mold isn’t really an image I want to conjure up when I’m trying to entice readers with delicious recipes.
So, in about 2010, as I was publishing a “One Dish Two Ways” type of recipe (I called it “adaptetarian” at the time, which is a term I still go back and forth on), I decided to launch a new food blog, with a new name, focusing on our “vegetarians and carnivores living together” way of life.
But then life got in the way as it tends to do. Job changes, rough pregnancies, hackers … and as I dreamed of my new blog, I went through a few iterations and names. Gruntilicious was one, as my guy and I have sort of a “grunts up” thing when he really digs food, and I’d run with that on The Hazel Bloom a bit. But it was more cutesy than explanatory. Nix.
Franks & Beans was another, and probably my favorite alternate. I reserved franksandbeansblog.com and started working on it, then one quiet morning my husband attempted to browse to the site in progress, leaving the “blog” part off of the URL and ending up at a website far more, um, eXXXciting. “OH MY GOD!” was not something I wanted my readers to scream when attempting to visit my site, so it was back to square one.
We finally settled on Kitchen Treaty in early 2012. It had taken me so long to get the site up and running that I sat down for a few hours and slapped together a design, launched the site, and just immediately started focusing on the content.
I can do a bit of hacky design and some coding, but with a baby to look after, time is not on my side. So I hired a designer to whip Kitchen Treaty into ship-shape, and spent most of September working with said designer on the brand-new Kitchen Treaty. Unfortunately, that project was a disaster, and I had to scrap it.
Blogging can be quite the roller coaster. This is a fact.
Meanwhile, there’s the matter of the hundreds of recipes and posts that are just sort of languishing on my old blog. If you’ve been reading Kitchen Treaty somewhat regularly, you’ve probably noticed I like to bubble up my favorite old recipes from The Hazel Bloom and feature them here now and then. I’ve been toying with what to do with all the recipes and posts over there, and here’s what I finally decided on: I’m going to move the posts from The Hazel Bloom over to Kitchen Treaty, and eventually shut The Hazel Bloom down. I’ll republish these archived posts a few at a time, refreshing the recipe and photos as necessary, but keeping the original date and any comments that were made on the post. And when I’ve moved a batch of recipes over, I’ll mention them in a new post so that you know they’re there.
So here on Kitchen Treaty, the archive is going to grow, and it’ll go back to 2009, even though this blog really launched in 2012. A little weird, I know.
Design-wise, in between new posts and recipes, you may notice a few visual tweaks here and there as I slowly work on making Kitchen Treaty more user-friendly and, hopefully, a lot nicer to look at. Here’s a quick look at the new logo, which I must say I’m pretty excited about.
So that’s what’s been going on around here. Whew!
There’s just one more thing I’d like to say. Despite all the work, the roller coaster, dealing with hackers, hiring the wrong people, and the fact that people comment and complain that my sangria made them too drunk or the buttercream frosting was too sweet (two of my favorite comments, actually), I love, love, love that I can call myself a food blogger. And I’m so excited to say that Kitchen Treaty is my job.
Thank you so much for reading. Here’s to creating peace in the kitchen!
Pingback: Vanilla Bourbon Sweet Potato Pie | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Easy Caramel Apple Dip | Kitchen Treaty
Despite all of the ups and downs you have been through, I must say that when I tripped upon Kitchen Treaty in late August it was a happy day for me. I enjoy the recipes and I like your writing style. Please don’t get discouraged with what life tosses at you because it makes the good times better.
Deb
Deb, thank you so much for your nice words. I always enjoy (and appreciate) your thoughtful comments! Yes, as they say, the dirtiest soil grows the very best plants! I’ve heard that said in a far more profound (and prettier) way, but it’s escaping me right now. 😉
I love your new logo! This is so similar to my story with blogging. I started as The Type A Housewife–which was a joke that no one ever really got. But anyway! It was my personal blog, a blog about handmade stuff, there were reviews thrown in–a mishmash. But slowly the posts started being more and more about food. And those were the only posts I really enjoyed writing. So then I became a food blog, keeping my old name. And eventually I decided that I had to ditch that name. 🙂 It’s interesting how we all evolve as bloggers. It seems like for so many of us, we start out doing things one way and we end up doing something completely different!
Thanks, Kiersten! Loved hearing your story, thank you so much for sharing. I suppose we can consider blogging one very time-intensive way to discover what we’re really, really passionate about!
Super cute new logo. I don’t know if I’ve ever officially stopped by to say hi, but as a veg-head married to a carnivore, I completely understand and love the concept you have going on here at Kitchen Treaty. It is very appreciated.
Our blogging journey is also quite similar. I started a regular old journal-like blog for my family, and then when I realized I was posting a lot of recipes and wanted to write about some more meaningful things, I decided to start a real live food/personal development blog.
I agree with you that blogging is definitely a roller-coaster, but you’re doing awesome! Keep up the great work 🙂
Hi Holly, so nice to meet you! I’ve just spent the past few minutes poking around your blog and it’s great! Love your inspirational story and the mouthwatering recipes. Thank you so much for the sweet words!
Pingback: Pumpkin Pancakes with Buttermilk Caramel Syrup and Toasted Hazelnuts | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Applesauce Pancakes with Apple Cider Syrup | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Buttermilk Caramel Sauce | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Cute Crabapple Place Cards | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Apple Cranberry Crumble Pie | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Double Chocolate Salted Peanut Bark | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Homemade Candy Cane Hot Cocoa Mix | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Archived! Pumpkin Pancakes, Apple-Cranberry Crumble Pie, Homemade Candy Cane Cocoa Mix & More | Kitchen Treaty
I stumbled across your website,and I appreciate all that you have done to keep it going! I will be trying some of your recipes soon. Take care
Pingback: An - The Hazel BloomThe Hazel Bloom
Pingback: Vegetarian Onion Gravy | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: How To Make Vanilla Sugar | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Glazed Vanilla Bean Cookies | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: A DIY Nursery for Eloise | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Archived! Vegetarian Onion Gravy, Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake, Vanilla Goodness & More | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: White Chocolate Oreo Bark | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Cookies & Cream Cupcakes | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Cranberry-Tangerine Scones | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Dolly Parton’s Sugar Cookie Recipe | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Meyer Lemon Cake Bars | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Christmas Muffins | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Coconut Banana Bread | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Deep Dark Hot Fudge Pudding Cake | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Frosty gingerbread cookie trees with lemon icing | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Chocolate Pretzel Candies | Kitchen Treaty
Your delicious white Sangria recipe on Pinterest made me have a look at and subscribing to your blo. Am looking forward to receiving updates with more delicious surprises! Good luck – from Holland.
Pingback: Butterscotch Pudding | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Salted Dark Chocolate Dipped Oranges | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Chocolate Banana Marble Muffins | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Baileys & Coffee Cupcakes | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Archived! Amazing Butterscotch Pudding, Baileys & Coffee Cupcakes, Salted Dark Chocolate-Dipped Oranges … | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Pear & Brie Quesadillas | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Cinnamon & Sugar Mini Muffins | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Rosemary Roasted Potatoes | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Perfect Hummus | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Apple Butter Mustard Dip | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Kopanisti (Greek Feta & Pepperoncini Spread) | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Dark chocolate Raisinet oatmeal cookies | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Espresso Double Chocolate Chip Cookies | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Cowboy cookies | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Classic No-Bake Cookies (Chocolate + Peanut Butter + Easy = Oh Yeah) | Kitchen Treaty
Pingback: Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting | Kitchen Treaty