Lurking in the background

I have a new profile picture! What do you think?

I know, I know, – it’s a bit romance-novel-y. I like it though – it keeps the elements of the original William Morris Strawberry Thief design and gives you a glimpse of the person behind the name. Just a glimpse, mind you. People who know me in real life will know that it’s me, and those who don’t won’t be able to stalk me, or come to my place of work and harass me for dissing their restaurant, or demand my autograph...

When I began this blog, anonymity was really, really important to me. It still is in many ways.  I do like to keep my personal life, work-life, and hobbies in nice separate compartments most of the time. So what has changed?

First, I had no idea when I started on my blogging adventures that there was a whole West Australian  community of bloggers, cooks, chefs, restaurateurs, and others in the F&B industry, out there and that I would eventually be meeting Real People. This time last year, I was having a few nervous moments about heading out to my first food-blogger Tweet-up. A year on, I feel that I have found a little place for myself within Perth foodie circles and made some very good friends therein. It’s a nice place to be, not a huge or important place – very peripheral (in this particular universe, I am quite the minor planet…) - but I enjoy it, and, of course, in these circles, people know my real name, who I am and what I do, and a fair bit about my life. This means that absolute anonymity isn't really necessary anymore.

Second, I am finding it increasingly difficult to stop elements of my life creeping into my food posts and my Twitter stream, and I find myself wondering if I should even try to stop it. Sometimes, I’d like to get on here and write about my work, or my children, or my other interests. I don’t just eat, bake and write. There’s a lot more to me than that, and I’d like to share some of it (or at least the parts that don’t smack too much of an existential crisis or a mid-life crisis or both…)

Of late, my personal life has been taking a few interesting twists and turns. There have been a lot of changes  and these have brought about those champagne moments where I fizz up and bubble over, or those other moments that make me want to starfish on my bed in a shiraz-induced stupor. By writing about some of these things, I feel that the blog will get more ‘flesh on its bones’ and be a better read for those who visit regularly. You'll be pleased to know that I plan for more of the champagne than the shiraz when it comes to personal-sharing.

So I'm going to see what happens if I diversify a little while still keeping things mainly about food, still enjoying the writing, and still finding a use for all the pictures that I take.

I hope you will stick around to see how the blog grows.