Hi friends! Today we’re celebrating one year of blogging — an entire year as food bloggers. A Hedgehog in the Kitchen turns one, and we feel like proud parents. It’s surprising how quickly the past twelve months have flown by.
Our first year of blogging was a crash course in everything involved with running a food blog.
There was so much to learn, and we still discover new things every day. That continuous learning is one of the reasons we’ve fallen in love with blogging.
Being a student for life has become a core belief for us. Every new skill expands your mind and horizons, and blogging has offered us many opportunities to grow.
Hugo and I both love our day jobs — Hugo works in electricity and sustainable energy in France, and I run a center for autism in Paris. We’re fortunate to already do work we care about. Blogging isn’t an escape from those jobs; it’s a joyful complement that lets us build something new together.
Together we created a “third thing”: a shared passion that combines learning new skills with building a small business from the ground up. Looking back over our first year, here are some of the lessons and moments that stood out.
Table of Contents
I love to write.
I’ve journaled almost every day since I was about seven, and writing has always been a part of who I am. Recently I listened to a Food Blogger Pro podcast with Bjork Ostrom interviewing Molly Yeh, who shared that journaling helped inspire her to start a blog. That resonated with me: our blog has become a home for thoughts, a place to express ourselves through writing. Sharing food stories and life in Paris lets me keep communicating in a way I love. Thank you for reading and for letting me share this space with you.
You meet the coolest people through blogging
The most surprising and rewarding part of this first year has been the friends we’ve made. Many people assume working from home isolates you, but blogging has shown the opposite: it builds community. Through blogging we’ve met supportive people, exchanged ideas, and learned from others. It’s been a social, collaborative experience beyond the hours spent at the computer.
One of the most important things you can do as a food blogger is improve your photos.
We knew our photos needed work from the start. Food blogging is intensely visual, so improving photography was a priority. My work with children on the autism spectrum sharpened my visual awareness — noticing detail and visual cues — which helped when learning composition and styling.
From the beginning we devoured every tutorial, blog post, and resource about food photography to accelerate our learning. Practice and study made a clear difference in our images over the months.
Lemon meringue tart – photographed in May 2016, after four months of blogging.
Ile Flottante revisited as a tart – photographed in January 2017, after eleven months of food blogging.
Hugo has been cooking deliciously for years and keeps exploring techniques and flavors. Our challenge was translating those dishes into beautiful, inspiring photos. We studied blogs like Pinch of Yum and resources such as the Tasty Food Photography guide, which helped us understand lighting, composition, and creating images that invite readers to try a recipe themselves.
Food is a love language.
Food brings people together. Beyond nourishment, preparing and sharing food communicates culture and creates connection. Travel and food go hand in hand: menus and market stalls often tell you more about a place than its monuments. After almost 15 years in Paris, I still have small food moments that remind me how differently people experience flavors across the world. Our blog has reinforced that idea: people love stories tied to food.
Our most popular post so far is the Caramelized Apple Galette des Rois, where we shared the French tradition of hiding a fève inside the galette and crowning the finder for the evening. Readers respond to cultural food stories as much as to recipes.
We love serving this Mont d’Or fondue platter when hosting friends. Imagine you’re invited to our next dinner party!
Cooking is one of our favorite activities to do as a couple.
We enjoy spending most of our free time together — traveling, exploring Paris and France, trying new foods, reading poetry, hosting dinners, and being with family. Building this blog has been a shared project that gives us a creative outlet and a place to collect our photos, recipes, and memories. The bonus is getting to share those experiences with you.
Some of our favorite meals of 2016 :
(Clockwise from top left): Leek Sweet Potato Soup | Indian feast including our favorite raita | Sardine Rillettes Deviled Eggs | Two-seed Wholewheat Bagels with poppy and sunflower seeds.
We will never stop learning.
After one year, our list of goals keeps growing. We want to further improve photography and styling, refine French recipes, explore other cuisines, and learn to create short food videos to share on Instagram. Most of all, we want to keep connecting with you — our community — and learn from your feedback about what you enjoy seeing on our little corner of the internet. We’re excited for year two and all the learning and sharing ahead.