ready, set, blog!

 for the love of food <3

when I read about project food blog on foodbuzz.com (a huge foodie community), the first thought that came to mind was

“omigosh! it’s like the next food network star” – only this involves blogging challenges.

project food blog is the first-ever interactive competition where thousands of Foodbuzz Featured Publishers are competing in a series of culinary blogging challenges for the chance to advance and a shot at the ultimate price of $10,000 and a special feature on Foodbuzz.com for a year.

voting for entries on the first challenge will kick off september 20th, and contestants will be whittled down over the next 12 weeks via exciting challenges related to food blogging. entries are voted on by Foodbuzz Featured Publisher peers and rated by our panel of judges.

-foodbuzz

i found myself clicking on the “join” button for the contest, not quite knowing what I just got myself into…but one thing for sure is that i was uber excited when i saw my contestant widget with my picture on it. :) i am an official contestant! yay!

there are ten challenges in the next ten weeks and it kicks off this week with the first challenge:

first challenge | ready, set, blog!

what exactly defines me as a food blogger and why should i be the next food blog star

my biggest motivation for starting my food blog is solely because of my passion for food. every foodie has a huge love for food but let me share how my love affair with food&flavors started.

thinking back, i guess i never realized my fascination with flavors until perhaps a few years ago but i know it has definitely been there since childhood. as a kid, i used to pay with mini cooking set toys in make-believe restaurants. ahhh...those were fun times :) i also remember that my sisters always told me that it was so easy to bribe me with food since i probably live to eat more than i eat to live - to which i would gladly concur. growing up in malaysia where food is a melting pot of different cultures, the act of eating itself is a gastronomic adventure.

my first memories in the kitchen were helping my mom cook dinner for the family which i enjoyed. saute-ing the garlic and onions in oil while savoring the wonderful aroma that fills the kitchen was probably a favorite memory of mine. when i was about fifteen, i was so proud that i cleaned and gutted a fresh fish on my own (with some guidance from my dad) - a weird sense of achievement but a satisfying one at that. i also remember a time when i would help my mom de-shell some shrimp, i would secretly compete with her to see who could deshell them faster. she wins most of the time, of course...hehe :)

the best thing of all of being in the kitchen is learning all the great recipes that my mom has collected over the years or created through trial and error. that instilled a great love of cooking in me and even inspired me to perhaps join a culinary school hopefully in the near future.

similar to cooking, writing about food is a way of expressing my passion and love for all things yummy. my blog isn't filled with recipes but it is filled with true and honest opinions of the amazing flavors that i've encountered and tried. through my desire to be more daring and open about trying different types of food, i've grown to love the butteriness of avacado, the salty, brininess of olives and the spicy pickled flavors of kimchi which were initally on my prefer-not-to-eat list. to be able to share that experience with others, which i hope in turn would inspire them to try out something new coupled with the joy they can get from tasting delicious food is something that i think in itself is rewarding.

i may be a newbie at food blogging but it certainly does not mean that i lack the passion for food and writing. i do it simply because i take pleasure in what i do. it really gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling whenever my friends enjoy the food that i've cooked or love the food places that i recommend.

only a small fraction of people enjoy cooking but i know a lot of people who love eating... and that is what i want my blog to be about:  to take you on my food adventures that celebrate flavors & textures and share where you can get them. :)