As mentioned numerous times, I’ve been exploring my old drafts. There were 315 when I started my foray into the past. I’m down to 305 now after I’ve deleted a few and actually published a few more.
When I started this blog in 2010, I wanted to be the next big thing. I got to the point that I posted everyday. I wrote every weekend all weekend. Admitting to these things is a bit embarrassing because if you go back to 2010, the writing is stilted and sometimes overly ornate. (Really…I am serious…it was “I am so precious with my content.” Makes me cringe.) I wasn’t writing for me. I was writing to be “discovered.”
Obviously, that has not happened.
If you recall, the food blog world seemed to be exploding around that time. There were numerous websites that one could link to to expand your readership like Foodista, Food52, Daily Food Buzz, Food Stories, BlogLovin, etc. Now, most of the sites don’t exist or have morphed into something totally different. More often than not, they are just broken links.
There were blog hops and giveaways and The Secret Recipe Club and The Holiday Recipe Club. Does anyone else remember “The Versatile Blogger Award” or “The Liebster Blog Award”?


I was so excited to get these badges.
I visited and commented on my favorite sites at least once a week. I felt like Choc Chip Uru, The Mom Chef, Veronica’s Cornucopia, Juanita’s Cocina, Rhonda at The Kitchen Witch, Kelli’s Kitchen, MJ’s Kitchen (RIP), Louis from Months of Edible Creations (RIP) and Aimee from Chapel Hill to Chickenville were all neighbors. It was like we were all commenting and conversing over coffee klatches. Most of these blogs are gone or they haven’t posted in a long, long time. I wonder where they are now?
I did find out that some of my other old favorites are still posting so I was glad to find that! Chris at Café Sucre Farine is still at it as is Jess at Inquiring Chef.
The only “clubs” I participate in now are Cook the Books and Movies & Munchies.
We all change. I also started this blog at the beginning of the local food movement, right after we had both read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. We put in large gardens, built a green house, visited farmers markets every weekend…. Now, if I do post a recipe, it’s based on a book review. If I harvest anything from our gardens now, it is truly a miracle. Things evolve as we age and I’m more likely to just make a pasta or rice dish for dinner because it’s easy. I used to record almost every meal I made here. Now, most of my cooking seems un-blogworthy.
I am totally embarrassed when I look back at those early posts. Again, that writing. And the photos (when there were any) and the look of the whole thing (not that it’s changed that much at all).
But, let me circle back to those drafts. Seriously, what was I thinking. There are a couple that have no title but have a picture of something (like the dog or the late Eliot).

Some are just a link; usually these links no longer work. Some are just musings. My favorite one is entitled “Wine Tasting” with a one liner that I must have overheard at said event: “I drink wine to make other people more interesting.” OK, in 2012 apparently I didn’t know that was a Hemingway quote. WTH?
Some are Christmas gift ideas or ideas for holiday themes to post. I literally have been postponing a Christmas theme where I revisit my old Gourmet and Martha Stewart December issues. Every year I vow to tackle that….
A lot are recipes I did make, I just never photographed the end result.
I am going to continue to rework some of those 300+ drafts. Maybe I can come up with a dozen or so that will merit posting.
Sorry for the rambling rant. I do truly miss those old bloggers though and the virtual camaraderie that we shared. And if you’re one of my current commenters (Mae, Wendy, Karen and my Cook the Books posse), please know that you are greatly appreciated. I will try to do better with my comments on your posts.
Your memories of that time in blogging are quite different from my memories. I find your memories fascinating. i can’t remember when I started reading your blog.
It is easy to check what I was writing then with a couple of clicks, so I just read through one month of blog posts from 2010. I posted much more than I do these days, but it wasn’t that different from the type of things I write about now. I had a few commenters, including Louise (whose blog, “months of edible celebrations,” was destroyed after she died, which is a great loss as she was a very interesting food scholar).
I’ll be interested in any of your new posts from that era.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I actually think I found yours from Sherry’s “In My Kitchen.” Louise was a great scholar. I always loved reading her posts about National Cereal Day (and the like).
[…] haven’t noticed, I’m kind of all over the place with my posts recently. There was the retro rant about days gone by and a book slamming review. I’ve also been revisiting old drafts and trying to rework them to […]