I hit 4 years writing on Stir and Strain a few months ago. I’m not proclaiming this for any smug, self-gratifying reason; just acknowledging the milestone of keeping this going. And it is a milestone. With all the grumblings about the internet of the state of food blogging being dead, or near-dead, or reaching the saturation level that will soon too quickly rise to… well, being dead… ignoring all of that chatter, keeping your head down and moving on feels like a monthly, if not daily goal. So, OK, I’ll give myself a little pat on the back.
But writing on here is so different now. Audience wise, I’m reaching far more of you out there then I was 4 years ago. But choosing to leave an office work environment and confine myself to working under the same roof I sleep under day after day has made this a very insular, navel-gazing (or bottom of the rocks glass gazing) job. Job: it’s still a job.
Part of writing about cocktails was developing drinks an audience would love, and sharing those drinks in an experience where I could potentially see the outcome. While I’ve briefly done that once a month with the supper club, the day to day drinks on here usually only go as far as Christopher, if not just me, and have led to some unusual drinking hours (10am cocktails anyone?) that are dictated more on which way the light is coming through my windows rather than a special occasion coming up.
I realized that this was not a sustainable work environment, at least not for now, which is why I’ve come back around to trying to surround myself with creative people and fresh ideas. Collaborations are where it’s at when it’s time to get some new perspectives on the day to day.
So what does that mean? Some new collaborations (and voices!) coming up on the site this week as well as some partnered collaborations taking a sharp left from the usual recipe posts in the next few months. It also means you will find me hopping on over to a few other sites as well.
I hope you all enjoy some of the changes and tweaks to the site. And, as always, feel free to let me know how you feel about it.
Cheers!
Elana
Congrats! I know that I’ve enjoyed your writing this far a look forward to stories, recipes, & seeing which direction you choose to go. Thank you so much for your hard work and dedication.