Last Thursday evening, July 3, I was surprised when I got a call from Singapore Press Holdings, informing me that my blog was a finalist in the 2014 Singapore Blog Awards for the Best Cooking Blog! The contest is sponsored by omy.sg, Singapore Press Holding's leading bilingual news and entertainment portal.
In addition, I also found out that MySuit&Apron is also a contender in the Best New Blog. So my new, little blog is competing in two categories! Winners are chosen by an independent panel of judges (70%) and the public (30%). So followers, may I request that you kindly vote for MySuit&Apron? You can vote once per day (a Facebook log on is required the first time).
BEST NEW BLOG: Vote under Editors'/Judges' Choice
BEST COOKING BLOG: Vote under Advertisers' Choice
When I started my food blog MySuit&Apron on New Year's Eve 2013, it was an offshoot of thinking about new personal goals to pursue in 2014. Since I cook almost every weekend, post food pics on my Facebook and have a natural love for writing anyway, a food blog would be an interesting and almost effortless thing for me to do in the weekends, since I work full time.
My FB friends had egged me for ages to post not just the pictures but recipes of my food too. I was also encouraged by my best friend Marica, who launched her food blog Mama Munch's Kitchen at around the same time. So finally, over the Christmas break, I started playing around with Google's Blogger, but not posting anything yet. When my daughter came home for Christmas break, she worked on the aesthetics of the blog, making the logo, and taking my picture in my suit, apron, chopping board, spatula and measuring spoon. My daughter also taught me some basic operations of Blogger, because I was (and am) a newbie and I had never blogged before!
So on December 31, 2013, MySuit&Apron was born and I posted my first 7 recipes, based on some dishes that my whole family had cooked during the flurry of parties we had that December, as well as our own Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations. For succeeding posts, I already had a lot of pictures of food I had cooked, so it was pretty easy to write a post about each one. And from that time on, every time I cooked, I also started taking pictures of pertinent steps in the process, to help new, inexperienced cooks to follow the recipes. Since I work full time and have a very busy weekday schedule, I knew I had to keep the blog going consistently. So weekends are devoted to cooking, taking photos and drafting the posts, then posting a recipe every Friday evening or Saturday morning. I've never missed a post since, even when I go on business trips or vacation, and I have about 20 draft posts, almost enough to last me for the remaining weeks of the calendar year. Thus, looking back at the humble beginnings of this blog, I'm both surprised and overjoyed that this small, humble, personal project would actually attract some serious, nationwide recognition.
For the Best Cooking Blog, the category is sponsored by Panasonic and a requirement is for all finalists to produce 3 recipes featuring the use of the Panasonic Breadmaker by July 31. I picked up the brand new, on loan bread maker from SPH last Friday, and next Saturday, I'll be attending a demo for the product, along with the other 9 finalists for the Best Cooking Blog.
But I've used the new "toy" yesterday to make bread and a cake, based on my own recipes but will still continue experimenting.
So watch this space where I'll be sharing my three official entries using the Panasonic Breadmaker. :) Follow this series of recipes by clicking on the tags Panasonic or Singapore Blog Awards 2014 in the list of tags on the left.
Winners for the Singapore Blog Awards will be chosen in the middle of August, during a formal awarding ceremony. Let's see what happens, but whether MySuit&Apron wins or not, I am already honoured and glad enough to be a finalist in two categories as it is. I never expected this!
Thanks so much for your support! I hope MySuit&Apron has inspired you to try cooking and baking at home. As I said, it's healthier and more economical than always eating out. Plus when it's done with the family, it can be a great bonding activity, as well as a valuable life skill.
Happy Cooking & Baking!
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