20 Years of One Hot Stove

20 rambling thoughts on 20 years of blogging--

1. Time: In the winter of 2005, I was a graduate student in NYC, and had newly discovered some of the early food blogs. It was fun to read them. On a dreary Thursday evening, Feb 3, 2005, I made a free account on Blogger and wrote a tentative post on a blog that I named One Hot Stove on a complete whim. I had no plan to blog for 20 months, let alone 20 years! I can't wrap my head around the fact that two decades have passed since that day, and the blog is still active. It gives me a strange feeling. It is the same feeling that I had when my toddler son once asked me if dinosaurs were around when I was a child. 


2. Creating: I've taken long and short breaks from this blog, but so far, I keep coming back. A big reason is that it makes me a content creator and not just a content consumer. Even as I consume books, blogs, TV, podcasts and media of all types, I get to process it and produce some content of my own, and that is deeply satisfying. Creating content also makes me a more thoughtful consumer as I realize how easy it is to be a consumer and a critic than to be a creator of any sort. 


3. Tally: Looking back, I'm proud and amazed to see that I've churned out hundreds of original posts. This is my post number 808 on this blog. It has added up to quite a substantial body of work. 
   


4. Vulnerability: It takes some vulnerability (or maybe courage or imprudence- call it what you will) to put your innermost thoughts out here on the Internet. Some of it will resonate with readers while some will turn them off or leave them indifferent. You have to be somewhat thick-skinned about the whole thing. I never delete posts and rarely get around to even updating them with better pictures/ correcting grammar/ deleting old links. Everything- good, bad, boring, ridiculous- is here for all to see. For better or worse, it is what it is. 
   


5. Winners: I never look at blog stats, how many views I'm getting, or how many comments I'm logging. I never use SEO keywords or any of that. This is truly a hobby blog. But, for the purposes of this post, I did look up the all-time top 3 posts and they are all from the first few years (apparently, I peaked early.) The bronze medal goes to On Freezing Indian Food (2011), the silver medal goes to A to Z of Marathi food (2006), and...drumroll...the gold medal goes to Pav bhaji recipe (2005). 
   


6. Hype: Cooking is a big and necessary part of my life. Preparing family meals and everything that goes with it- grocery shopping, meal planning, kitchen management- is an endless, relentless, time-consuming job. The blog hypes me up to try new things and record what I'm making. It turns a daily chore into a fun project of sorts. 


7. Features: What started as a food blog has increasingly morphed into something much broader in scope as my life and interests changed. Books, crafting, parenting, fitness- many things in my life are represented here. The blog fits my unofficial life motto: "Get excited and do stuff." Just as important is what's not on here. For instance, I realized early on that I don't really care about food photography or recording recipes step by step. Photos are added here and there for illustration. 


8. Stamina. Writing posts for decades has helped me to be comfortable with the dreaded writer's block and to work around it. The discipline that it takes to put something down, no matter how terrible the first draft, has helped me in other areas of life, including the technical/scientific writing that I do quite often in my professional life. I am not afraid of a blank page or a blank screen. Blogging builds writing muscles.


9. Flow: On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes I sit down to write a post and the words just tumble out effortlessly. It is that "flow state" of being completely absorbed in a task- rare and special. Occasionally, I'll read one of my old posts and think- did I really write this? LOL
   


10. Diary: Yes, I do read old blog posts now and then. Usually, it is when I search the blog for some recipe that I've made before. But this blog is more than my online recipe diary. It is very much a diary of my life and is full of memories and slice-of-life glimpses of some of my most precious years- what I think will be the "good old days". 
    


11. Projects: I would love to turn some of my blog projects into book projects, whether that's proper published books, self-published e-books, or just a manuscript that I write using R markdown. Three of my favorite projects have been the A-Z of Marathi Food, the A-Z of Indian Vegetables, and my ongoing Moments of Fitness. Right now, time is my biggest challenge in bringing this dream to life as I work full-time and have school-aged kids. I was also working through the United Tastes project- cooking dishes from all 50 states- on Instagram, abandoned it halfway, and would love to finish it sometime. 


12. Escape: In my posts, I try not to comment much on news and world events, other than what's happening in my little life. There is so much suffering, tragedy, injustice, chaos in this world. In real life, the news usually has me somewhere between bewildered and devastated. But I save my hand-wringing and editorializing for my long-suffering spouse and friends. This blog is my escape- a mundane, cozy, dream world full of domestic simplicity and the excitement of stacks of books to read and new recipes to try. “Life is deep and simple, and what our society gives us is shallow and complicated.” - Fred Rogers


13. Comfort: Recently, a few readers have shared that this is their comfort blog and it moves me deeply to know this. I am glad to host a space of comfort in a world of hard edges. As it is, I don't fit into this world of wanting more and more, of ruthlessness and winning and disruption and being a boss lady, whatever that is. None of it resonates with me at all. I'm happy to carve out this quiet corner of the Internet to just be. 
    


14. Words: Long form blogging is the only think I've stuck with. Over the years, I've tried some other forms of content sharing like the photo-centric Instagram but it did not endure. I never did get into micro-blogging or podcasting or video blogging. Trends have changed completely, several times over in 20 years but I like words more than images and audio and I'm happy to stay right here. 


15. History: The early years of blogging were magical as I was part of a big and vibrant global community. I got to see food blogging from almost the start and through its heyday. Food blogging democratized the voices of home cooks everywhere. I learned so much about regional cooking, food from all over the world, family recipes, the many talents beyond just cooking and baking- like writing, photography, food styling- that lurk in ordinary homes. We would do these challenges and it stretched my skills beyond anything I could have done on my own. Occasionally, I run across a sentiment online about food blogs that is along the lines of- "I don't need your life story. Shut up and give me the recipe". It is a sad and ungracious response to the generosity of food bloggers, and let me tell you that food bloggers (I know so many of them) are some of the most generous people you will meet anywhere, online or in real life. 


16. Journey: Many bloggers from those early days took their blogs to the next level, monetizing them and leveraging them into successful careers. They are now food personalities, cookbook authors, professional bloggers. I did...nothing. Part of it was a lack of interest for doing so, and part of it was the fact that I was on visas at the time that precluded any other sources of income. There are pros and cons to everything. On rare occasions, it feels like a missed opportunity. But mostly, it feels really good to keep writing whatever I like without any external pressures, to keep cooking and baking as "real hobbies" and to keep this space simple and unfussy and low-maintenance. 


17. Gain: I've never made a penny off my blog. I've gotten free cookbooks to review, and once, a few spice extracts, but it has always been, by design, an ad-free zone. In terms of non-tangible things I've gotten from the blog, including inside knowledge and friends from all over the world and a working knowledge of html, I am very rich indeed. The blog adds meaning and purpose to my life. 


18. Values: The blog fits my core values well. The biggest one is lifelong learning- the blog gives me a venue to share and record tidbits of what I've learned.  A second one is service- I love being useful and providing something, whether it is a good recipe or pointing out some good media. A third is well-being- I get to promote wholesome food and an active, purposeful life that I strive towards.


19. Connection: One Hot Stove has been an enduring way for me to connect with people around the globe. The comments were and are a big part of the blog. On many posts, you'll find the best nuggets of wisdom in the comment section. For my part, I read and respond to every comment and email. When people tell me that they make one of my recipes or that they read and loved a book I recommended, I am amazed and grateful to have touched their lives in a small way. "I am a part of all that I have met"- Tennyson.


20. Reciprocity: I've always maintained that I write the blog for myself, but there's no doubt that it is kept alive by the wonderful people who stop by and read it. To YOU, gentle reader- whoever you are, wherever you are- I send you my love and gratitude. ❤️ These lines of poetry that I read recently capture this feeling perfectly, that being creative is a social process--
    
    You make the thing because you love the thing
    and you love the thing because someone else loved it
    enough to make you love it.
    ~ from An Horatian Notion by Thomas Lux (read the whole poem here)
    

If you feel like it, drop me a comment below. Tell me something, anything- your favorite recipe on this blog, your favorite feature, how long you've read OHS, what you'd like to read more of, share something about yourself, or a favorite book/poem/song that you think I would like.