Sweet Decadenze

Strictly speaking, this post isn’t a soliloquy (but it will be long) because I do have an intended audience - my blog readers. So do pardon me for the lack of a better title.

It’s been almost a year since I started this baking blog. In the course of this 11 months and more, I’ve encountered numerous times when friends ask me why I bother to maintain this blog, especially so when I sometimes grumble about how demanding some people can be.  I had never deviated from my original intentions - to share, to learn, and to build up my self-confidence.

Now, when I say ‘to share’, I don’t mean it as a one-directional communication, neither am I saying that I will be sharing all the recipes I possess.  If I can attend baking classes, so can you.  And if I can purchase baking books, similar, so can you.  I am very fortunate because I haven’t really met nasty people leaving nasty comments.  The only downside I’ve faced is that it seems a small portion of my readers are more interested in getting free recipes.  Yes, they do ask nicely but I’m sorry, sometimes the answer is no.

I have ‘met’ and ‘got to know’ many other flog owners, in a cyber-sort of way (because we’d never met).  And I have learnt a lot from them.  Because I have little to offer to these baking gurus with my limited knowledge, I return my gratitude by offering my knowledge to others who need it, in a sort of pay-it-forward style.  And I never stop trying to get other novice bakers to bake more often because it’s such a fulfilling hobby, I think.

I have also met wonderful friends through my blog.  Readers who leave comments or email me offering their advice or knowledge, readers who just want to leave comments to encourage me, and readers who go way beyond their call of duty as readers of my blog. 

Many a times, the thoughts of placing google ads on this blog crossed my mind, only to be dismissed a short second later.  Personally, I dislike visiting and reading blogs full of advertisements.  As a matter of fact, it irritates the hell out of me.  While I can’t stop the blog owner for wanting to earn some extra income from the traffic to the blog, I can choose to stop visiting that particular blog.  Which I have done for numerous websites.  Hence, I resolve never to put it upon my blog readers what I do not like to see on a website.

I have started a mini baking venture after much encouragement from those around me.  But I prefer to keep it separate from baking as a hobby, so I’ve ‘housed’ the venture on another website.  You can always email me at cadenze[at]decadenze[dot]com if you are interested in paying for my bakes.

But I promise, I will not deviate from the original purpose of setting up this blog.  So yes, there will still be free recipes to share, experiences from attending classes, and occasionally, pictures of my two dogs.

Thank you for sparing the time to visit my blog, and I hope it has been a wonderful experience so far.