Bakehouse News: 2023 Recap

Did that year feel longer to anyone else? Somehow, this decade has been longer than the last few put together, and we're only winding down 2023.

I usually put together a monthly review, but for December, especially being New Year's Eve, it feels more appropriate to do an annual look back.

Blog Launch

Let's start with the obvious; this blog came into existence about halfway into the year, but there's a decent number of posts.

I've tried to keep the focus of each week eclectic; we've had recipes, book reviews, course reviews, events, and bakery wanders around a couple of towns. The weekly cadence has felt manageable. I won't lie; some weeks have lacked motivation, but I've almost always got a post out.

When I first posted, I wasn't convinced that I'd keep up with the posting, based on previous incomplete extracurricular hobbies. I've been pleasantly surprised that I've kept the literature flowing. I'm not entirely confident that the prose has been of high quality, but I definitely feel a gradual improvement over time.

All of the entries have been written from scratch, and I've utilized ChatGPT as a proofreader for grammatical revision and the occasional enhanced phrasing here and there. What's been so helpful from this tool is the ability to converse with it.

Early on, following ChatGPT's review and coaching, I learned that my entries were a bit flat and purely descriptive. Over the entries since, this is something that I've tried to move away from towards a more personal touch to make conversation with you, albeit one-sided.

I've had a small gathering of readers, despite battles with Google AdSense, which still haven't been won. Their weapons of unclear guidance are certainly a formidable opponent. The readers have come from all across the world, including the UK, France, Spain, China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Australia, to name a few.

Considering that I anticipated no viewers at all, even the small number so far has been quite an achievement. The most popular post by quite some margin was my first posting, possibly disagreeing with my felt progression, although it was the most special article, which neatly leads me on to the next highlight of the year.

Earthshot

In true chronology, this preceded the blog coming into life, but it featured as the first item. To this day, it has had an amazing 48 views, hardly record-breaking in terms of viral, but a phenomenal feat for what I anticipated.

Looking back, this was probably the best day of the year; you can read all about it in more detail visiting the post itself.

The Sorted Food YouTube channel hosted a secret event in London in collaboration with the Earthshot Prize charity.

The charity is headed by Prince William and provides financial prizes to entrepreneurs across the world who are actively working to save the planet in many different ways.

This event was celebrating the efforts of the previous year's winners and promoting the cause by using a popular food-related channel for exposure.

We had the Earthshot Burger, a fantastic vegetarian burger, possibly the best burger I've had; it was that good. The burgers were made from produce grown by sustainable small farms, cooked on fuel-efficient cookers, and served in boxes made from seaweed. The most impactful and scalable idea, that I thought was standout, was the seaweed packaging, which is completely biodegradable and is created from a very sustainable material, and more importantly, has a use that's widely applicable to the developed world.

As wonderful as saving the planet is, I also met the guys from Sorted Food. All of the team are as lovely to meet as you'd imagine. I have special thanks to Chef Kush for giving some advice and encouragement for starting this blog.

Oh, and by the way, I met Prince William too!

New People

The day with the Sorted guys was insanely awesome, but it didn't end after a very delicious burger and pint.

For understanding, I'm very much an introvert. Going and spending my day people-ing doesn't sound anywhere near as good as a cup of tea and a bit of solo entertainment, whether that be gaming, cooking, or martial arts.

It was an unusual occurrence meeting a bunch of strangers, all with an interest in food to some degree. I'm used to working in a dull office, not chatting to people with a common interest.

I have been to events with a common interest before; I've done much traveling to gaming events, where the genuine fans that turn up are lovely, but I've never done it for a foodie group.

Very much unexpected is that I got on well with some of the other attendees, hitting it off right away; there were some wonderful people. I've no idea if I'll meet most of them again, but a couple I've stayed in contact with.

In the afternoon, three of us, the two aforementioned and I went for a walk around the vicinity in London, to Borough Market, a place I've not been before, and a walk along the river, in the wrong direction; this turned out to be a good thing, seeing a few extra sights.

I've had a few brief chats since with members of the Sorted team since, but also one of the fellow participants, I've also had a little adventure with also.

I already alluded to being in touch with a couple of others, but Sophie, the most lovely Irish lady from Norfolk, joined me on another outing.

One of my goals following the launch of my blog was to attend more events and have more outings, using food as the vehicle.

Sophie and I went along to the National Geographic Food Traveller's Festival in London, and although a somewhat small venue was great fun and had a variety of really interesting sessions with cuisines from around the world. Azerbaijan, a country that has never crossed my mind as a place to visit, and Greece with its wonderful hosts were unexpectedly the most enticing.

After the event, we went for a wander as before, stopping by at Hoppers, a great Sri Lankan restaurant, and aimlessly walking, making the most of such wonderful company, oh and a Guinness by the river, with a rainbow!

In my gaming world, I've made a few more online friends from all over the place, although that does happen from time to time already. The irony of people told to go outside to meet people when I was younger, I've met the most diverse group of wonderful people online.

For a person averse to social situations, the year was dominated by people, meeting both old friends and new.

Courses

On the Sorted Food theme, I've done three courses this year created by Sorted Food: Baking, Food Photography, and Food Gifting.

These courses have been great fun, and all of them I gave glowing reviews on this blog. I've learned a great deal, and the best bit, strangely for me, was talking to the other learners and sharing photos of the food we'd made.

I liked how the courses split us into smaller groups, which was more conducive to chatting amongst ourselves. In the last course of the year, 'Edible Gifting with Ebbers,' there were only three active participants, so we ended up building a great rapport between us.

All of the courses were worth doing, but my favourite dishes were the Focaccia, that I've made again since with tweaks, and the Chutney from the gifting course. I gave a few hampers of homemade gifts from the later course as Christmas presents; I hope they were enjoyed; I know the excess was delicious.

A really cool thing about the courses is that in marketing material published by Sorted Food since has heavily used my photos; there's definitely a sense of pride there.

Conclusion

This blog may read like my year only started half way through, and of course in a literal sense it didn't, but arguably it did from my current perspective. 

In the second half of the year, most of the year happened. I've started a blog and worked on my writing, cooking skills, mental health, and met new people.

I've made a friend who I'm sure will be for life (Sophie), and I've gained confidence in rewinding back to the cooking interests of my much younger self.

The year hasn't been without it's problems, I've had many medical appointments, and there's been losses in the family, but this isn't a time to look at what went wrong, all those things had their moment.

We'll be leaving 2023 behind in three hours at the time of writing, so I'm going to say cheers, check the Bucks Fizz is ready, and go sit above the gates of Stormwind on my Dragon Serpent mount.

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas, and will have a Happy New Year!