I almost missed it. The day snuck up on me while I was busy, and I almost forgot to mention that 7 years ago today I did my very first blog post. If I’m honest (and many of you know I’m brutally honest), it was horrible. I had decided to blog about what I made for dinner, and here’s what I wrote:

Salmon
I drizzled the fish with basil olive oil (my summer creation) and seasoned it with salt and pepper before covering and baking for about 30 minutes.

Pasta
Using a food processor, I made a huge dent in the fresh spinach, mixing it with cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, garlic, basil, salt, and a splash of half and half. I mixed al dente penne pasta with this spinach sauce – really good!

Spinach
Trying even harder to use up as much of that bag as I could (not to mention feeling very responsible about the nutrition packed dinner I was creating), I sauteed some sliced garlic in extra virgin olive oil then added the spinach, stirring and cooking just until it wilted.

I didn’t include a single picture at all. In fact, it wasn’t until later that it even dawned on me that a food blog should have photos of food, and it was much later than that when I actually learned how to take a decent food photo. You can see my early blogging as that old site is still up: Michele’s Dinner Journal. Just try not to laugh too hard when you see it.

I’ve come a long way in the blogging world since then. I’ve posted about 1400 blog posts and my site has been visited by nearly a million people from virtually every country in the world. In fact, the only countries where someone has NOT visited my blog are 4 countries in Africa (Chad, Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Somalia), Turkmenistan, North Korea, and Svalbard (which I must admit I’ve never heard of).

I like to think I’ve found my voice over the years: honest, a little self-deprecating, practical. And I like to think my food photography has come a long way. I earned some nice freelance food writing opportunities in the past few years along with a cookbook contract. And despite what you’re going to read in a post next week about my lack of enthusiasm, please keep in mind I wrote that 2 days ago. Luckily, my heart is still in this little blog of mine. I hope you’re still enjoying it too. Thanks for your loyal support!