Why Am I Starting This Blog?

I've been thinking about starting this blog for quite some time and I decided to bite the bullet and actually do it. Why? Because even though Instagram is fun and all that, I felt it didn't quite work out for me the way I wanted.

Anyway, let's go back to some time last year. As a book dragon who loves to cook and bake, I naturally have quite a collection of cookbooks (perhaps no shocker there), but I rarely used them. Some? Yes, but most certainly not the vast majority. So I went through them all with page markers (those small sticky post-it style things) and marked each page where I found a recipe I wanted to try that looked interesting and/or tasty. It was a bit labour-intensive as I've got quite a collection of cookbooks, but it was still fun to do.

I slowly started working my way, making some of the recipes, while also posting on Instagram and creating a hashtag for the project ( #kristinscookbookproject ). As I mentioned, Instagram is fun and all that, but with the limit on words and such in the caption, I can't write as much as I would like, so in order to combine the visual with the written word in the way I wanted to, I decided I wanted to start this blog.

While writing this blog, I can also document things a bit more chronologically, so I can see how I evolve in the kitchen a lot more clearly, in addition to whether or not the dish was a hit or miss, and whatever thoughts I've got in general. If it also can inspire some people to pick up a cookbook and make use of it or cook from scratch at home regardless of whether they use a food blog or a cookbook, it's worth doing it.

So far while doing this project, I've made well over 50 dishes, some better than others, but I've also realised one can eat rather good food at home and not rely on restaurants for it. An added bonus for me, as I live in a small coastal town with not that many restaurants, is that I can explore food from A LOT of different countries without needing to travel and/or eat at restaurants. Although I can admit that the food prices are a bit insane at times, it's still more often than not, cheaper to make food at home.

Feel free to tag along on my culinary adventure.