One Year Later

Things were not going so well one year ago. Remember then? Life seemed to be falling apart at the seams. To much change was going on, and none of it good. It all was lacking focus and effort. You got bored, so you started to wander the internet during your lunch breaks.

You stumbled onto a little something called The Julie/Julia Project, and it was amazing. Life changing. You read the entire thing in 3 days, shirking responsibilities at work and home to voraciously digest this woman's misadventures. Then you looked for more. You found The Restaurant Whore and she made you laugh, Becks and Posh who made you think, Cooking with Amy who grabbed your attention, and Eggbeater who pulled you in with her prose.

You wanted to start your own blog. Something permanent. So that no matter how much change kept happening or how bad it got, you had one constant in your life. But all the blogs were based in San Francisco. You would be the food blog of Sacramento and Yolo. You would call it Vanilla Garlic (as 14 Eggs was already taken at the time). You would have an excuse to get out of the house and live life. You would give a personal look at restaurants and events in the areas. And no recipes. You didn't want to be a recipe blog.

On your first day, 4 people read your blog. You were floored. Now, you hit over 120,000 page views.

You then started to meet people and e-mail people. You made new friends. Truly wonderful, crazy about love, life, and food people. You started to get together and go out. Raising money for those in need. Volunteering. Having pot lucks and parties. People you didn't know even wrote for restaurant suggestions. You had readers in Europe, Australia, and Asia and your readership kept growing.

People actually cared about what you wrote.

Then one day, you discovered another blog, and you decided to give baking another go. It worked, so you tried again. And then again. And then you decided to try baking your own recipe and it was a success. Then people actually started to make your recipe.

It soon became an addiction. Cupcake recipes sprang forth from you. You were a non-stop flour force, armed with a cup of sugar and a stick of butter. Not to mention a whole lot of gusto. Sure the oven would earn your temerity once in a while, but you loved it. You couldn't bake before, but you started to take classes, read books, educate yourself. You could give baking advice with confidence and teach friends. The blog partially became a recipe blog. A cupcake blog.

The blog became a site of notice, you were mentioned in print. Then one day you achieved a dream. You were asked to write. About food. By a magazine. You achieved a goal you had been after for years.

The blog became a cupcake blog. A restaurant review blog. A blog to write your essays in. A blog to share with friends and family about your life. It was a space for you where you could put your soul into print.

What started as a safe haven, a constant that still persists, is now a home.

To anyone who has ever read Vanilla Garlic, to all the friends I've made, and people I've met, THANK YOU.

One year later. Happy Birthday, Vanilla Garlic.
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I'll be posting every single day for a week to celebrate this. Hope you drop by and see what's in the oven.