I am sure many of you may have wondered what a food blogger does all day. Well if you ever had that question in mind, then this post is just what you have been looking for. Let me walk you through all the fun, craziness and the yumminess behind the scenes of my blogging life.
Recipe Ideation & Development
One of the common questions my friends put out to me is what type of recipes I prefer to post and where do I get my recipe ideas from. Ideas are there everywhere; sometimes it’s from a casual talk with friends/family, or an inspiration after trying out a new dish at a restaurant, or books, magazines, cookery shows, etc. My husband and me are ardent foodies with no boundaries; we love to try new cuisines, understand the flavour and spices, and recreate the memories in our own style at the comfort of our kitchen.
With Pepper Delight I try to focus on recipes with seasonal produce, seafood, meat, chicken, drinks, cakes and desserts. Healthy recipes are one of my main targets for this year and I look forward to include more salads, soups, & smoothies, and of course traditional variants of Indian/Kerala recipes from my hometown. I also prefer to have recipes with a cooking time of 30 minutes or less, keeping it simple and delicious.
Once my dish is finalized, comes the recipe preparation. At this point, it would be more of a draft version as I would be looking to get the basic dish, portions, and the recipe right, giving it my own variations & style.
Now let’s move to my favorite part of the recipe development, and that’s Shopping…! What I love about shopping is, being able to visit different authentic country stores in search of their local ingredients, and learn more about their produces, vegetables, food products, desserts, etc. Once back home from shopping, it’s time to put on my apron and head to the kitchen. If it’s a new dish I’m cooking, I usually start with a trial run and end up experimenting it a couple of times until it’s up to my satisfaction.
Food Styling and Photography
Once my dish is ready, the next critical phase is styling and the photo shoot. Food Styling & Food Photography are two areas where I cannot predict the time required as sometimes things work out pretty well and I get to wrap up quickly, but mostly it’s a time consuming process and at times it takes more than that required to cook the dish. Styling is usually a trial and error, it’s a combination of the right props, lighting, and how finally everything turns out to look like. I try different styles by arranging the props, sometimes I pen down my ideas a day before the shoot which helps me to stay planned and wrap up the shoot easily. I’ve had days where I used my entire plates and bowls for getting a single shoot right, but the real pain begins when you start cleaning them, I hate cleaning…!!!
Understanding your food and its details help you find the right props to compliment your photos, like the fillers/garnishes used depending on your meal time (for e.g. it’s ideal to use milk/coffee on the side for a breakfast shoot)
Post and Share
So now my pictures are ready and my recipe is written down, it’s time to pen the content and the story, edit the photos, and finally post. My post uploads on the blog and the shares across other social networks happen usually at midnight. I love to wake up and see the likes and comments the first thing next morning, and that makes my day…!!
So that’s it, A peek into the life of a food blogger….!!! Happy Blogging…!
Follow me on Instagram, try out the recipes and tag #pepperdelightblog to all your pictures of Pepper Delight recipes you prepare.