The more dedicated readership of Omnomicon may have noticed a marked lack of update for Wednesday. Perhaps they are thinking to themselves that I am a total friggin liar because right there on the sidebar, just under Ad City, is a little blurb assuring passers-by that I faithfully update on Wednesdays, and between last week wherein I updated on THURSDAY and this week wherein I failed to update AT ALL, I have not upheld this informal agreement. But I’m pretty sure that most of you are only just now thinking to yourselves “huh, I guess she didn’t update this week,” so hopefully I haven’t let anyone down.
I’ll get candid for a moment here. I’m pretty psyched that there are lots of you who come back every week and leave comments telling me that you’ve made a bunch of my recipes. You guys. That’s pretty much the coolest thing ever. That’s one of my regrettable catch-phrases, but here I mean it. Six months ago, all I wanted to get out of this site was a few people I didn’t know in person to come by more than once.
I’ve received some requests for more frequent updates, but unfortunately between my real-life full-time job (which I love very much and has nothing to do with food at all), and the two thousand-word posts a week that take me no less than 10 hrs apiece to produce, adding three more such posts is simply undoable. As it is, I’m up til 2am at least three nights a week trying to perfect half-batches of cupcakes, find the most artistic angle on that batch of ingredients, and sifting through vintage cookbooks for interesting ideas. Nevermind the fact that I can no longer make plans on Saturday or Sunday til after 2pm because THE LIGHT, what if I run out of LIGHT while we’re out at brunch? Plus, I am literally incapable of producing posts of a lesser quality, owing to some kind of Type A personality disorder, but I think I have a compromise.
How about daily photos? I can never use every photo I want in a post, and while I have no problem fail-blogging, sometimes there just isn’t enough to say about that thing that didn’t work out, leaving me with 10 lovely but orphaned pictures. Think of them as out-takes, bloopers and previews. How about every weekday?
To kick things off, here’s a picture, and a quick question for those of you who keep coming back. I’m not trying to fish for compliments (I already know I’m pretty great, thanks), but I’d like get an idea of why do you keep coming back? Your response doesn’t need to be a 300-word essay, but if you tell me what you like, or even would like to see, I can work on more of that. And then everyone wins.
Thanks, guys. You are the best internet-friends a gal could ask for!
When I just started my blog, you took the time to read mine and comment. That made my day. I repay my debt to you with an addiction to your blog because the food looks good, your pictures look good, and you look good. (There. I said it.)
Keep it up!
I come back because I love creativity and food. I only started my cooking journey a few years ago, so everyone who cooks is an inspiration.
I love your tongue in cheek way of narrating, the incredible artistic value of your photos, and how much you love food! I’m a full time student and I check faithfully twice a week and most of the time come more often because it is a beautiful break from papers and projects! Keep up the good work but take care of you! Oh and I made Pho after your post and it was wonderful! I hadn’t eaten it since I moved from Minneapolis a few years back, THANKS!
I found your website through a link to your awesome rainbow cake, though i don’t remember how i found the link. loved that article, loved your photos. so i sifted through some more entries and i thought to myself, “Self, these recipes are really good, easy to make vegetarian, and not weird!”
Thus, you were a keeper.
i also really enjoy the way you word your entries. you write like i talk. 🙂
and i like to laugh with you at your fumbles. it’s refreshing to have an entry about how “such and such didn’t work and here’s why so don’t do as i do!”
your photos are really well composed too. as a quasi-photo student, i can really appreciate someone that know how to adjust the white balance on a camera so your lovely meringue doesn’t end up looking stale and yellow from the light. happens too often in blogs.
<3!
The sens of humor. The way of writing. The decadent recipes. The step-by-step pictures. The fun I get reading it all and do some of them 🙂
hmm…i think i keep coming back because once in some blog or website i read abot your rainbow cake…i loved the photos of that and i think that the very best thing is the artisctic photos you make….and how the food looks like in them. it really makes me want to eat my computer screen sometimes:D i think thats because i am not a cook (i am just 17 year old)….but i really like the recipes and someday i will try them out:)
I keep coming back because you post great material. I would much rather have a few great posts than a lot of good post.
Keep up the great work.
Love the photos and your sense of humor! Keep it up!
I come back for your writing, and your kick ass appreciation for food. You aren’t pretentious or snobby, but you know the good stuff.
I liked the picture of you in an apron. Where has it gone? =(
I come back because you have a good personality, you take WONDERFUL pictures (I found your flickr before your website) and the recipes are fun to make!
I enjoy your recipes. I make them every chance I get. PLEASE keep posting!
This is my favorite food blog! I love your writing style. If I had a food blog this is how I would like to think I would write it, too.
I also found Omnomicon because of the RAINBOW CAKE!!!!!
And now I continue to read it because it is hilarious and I love your pictures. I don’t have an oven and even if I did I don’t know how to cook anyways, but I’m always hungry and (living in a dorm) I am especially always hungry for some home-grown cookin’. So Omnomicon gives me the little fix I need.
My favorite thing to ask my friends:
“Hey, do you like food??”
“…Yes?”
“Okay do you also like blogs??”
(To which the answer varies between indifference and appreciation)
“Great, then go to this website!”
I find that most food blogs are either pretentious or unreal or (worst of all) unattractive in both content and/or presentation. you are neither. beautiful and interesting and inspiring and TASTY.
thank you. always.
I must have found you right around the same time as Ulma, because I know I thought that the spice-buying post was the most awesome thing EVER. It is just me and my husband here and the idea of buying a whole cannister (sometimes a whole expensive cannister) of spice for the two of us to try a recipe that may or may not become a standard in our house is enough to put me off of trying some more challenging things. But that post really helped. So I promptly lost an entire delightful Sunday afternoon in your archives.
Things I like: The pictures, the humor, and the helpful way you often say “don’t do this, because I already did it that way and it didn’t work … you’re welcome!” It really helps to know what improv moves will enhance a recipe and which will bring epic fail.
Thanks so much for having a real food blog for real people. And 10 hours for a post? Wow, that’s all I can say, just wow. It makes me appreciate every word even more.
1. Beautiful photos
2. Inspiring recipes
3. Hilarious commentary
Please keep writing. Thanks!
I come back every week because you are family and I feel obligated.
HAHA! Just kidding. It’s nostalgic and reminds me of family dinners/breakfasts. Remember when you threw a huge wad of oatmeal at me? Yeah, that’s the feeling I get everytime I visit (except it makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over, not just on my cheek).
I too found your website through another one showing the rainbow cake! I love to cook – and am always trying to come up with new and exciting ideas. Like clothing, vintage is always cool! I enjoy your writing, pictures and your “realness” (if that’s a word!). Even when something doesn’t go right – you share anyway! Keep up the great work!
Since you asked, I’m a long time lurker first time commenter. I’m not a huge foody, so coming back to your website is a pretty big deal for me. You’re not boring or snooty like other food blogs often are. I come back because you’re funny, you post such awesome pictures, and your recipes are lovely!
I haven’t made any of your recipes, but I always read each post all the way through, cuz you’re just so darned entertaining! Maybe one day I’ll make something of yours, but for now, your pictures and commentary is really doin’ it for me!
I am sucker for your writing style, too. I think I fell completely in love when you referred to yourself as “bitch” in the 3rd person in this post: http://www.omnomicon.com/strawberry-heart-shortcake Thanks for all your hard work. The quality is appreciated!
You inspire me to think outside of the box that it would appear I’ve wedged myself into. I also feel encouraged to find the joy in creating something pretty and edible just for the sheer pleasure of doing so.
I wanted to offer my opinion as I’ve also been in a similar situation. I’ve run aurgasm for 4.5 years and regularly have gotten requests for more frequent posts. I’ve kept the post volume relatively low (2-ish posts a week) for this whole time, and my traffic has been growing steadily. (now 5-7k visits/day)
I’ve seen many bloggers that feel pressured to maintain an unsustainable blogging rate and then call it quits after a year or two. You really have to find a good balance. I certainly would not trade more frequent updates if it meant i couldn’t have blogs posts like your Coffee Chicken or Labneh ones. Those are such high quality, they keep you as the only food blog I follow.
Best of luck.
Came to you from a link to the rainbow cake from Geekologie.com ^^
I absolutely love the photos. Something about the way you compose your photography reminds me of simplicity and freshness. I love cooking but the kitchen became a mess and schedules just never seemed to work so we’ve been eating take-out in our house for a month or two now.
You made me actually force the time into my schedule to clean things up and get functional again.
Also, the blog has a great name. Who could refuse to come back to a name like that??
Because you combine two of my favorite pastimes–cookin’ and swearin’.
🙂
Yep. I’m coming in a little late on this one with nothing new to add.
Omnomicon is pretty much the perfect storm. You have gorgeous photos and witty banter and enough hilarious LOL-inducing swearing and mishaps that keep me coming back to the site when I’m at work, reading when I should be working. The frank and unabashed “behind-the-scenes” looks at your flops and process are very comforting. (Take THAT, Food Network and your carefully-crafted presentations!)
When I’m actually in the grocery store wondering what I’ll cook for dinner? Yup, I find myself leaned up against the endcap with my kindle, going through old post titles for inspiration. Because in addition to being an enjoyable read and a lovable “character” you’re also a damn fine cook with tastes compatible with mine on the ingredient-, preparation-, gadget-, and healthiness-scales.
And I really love the photography, as art and as an instruction method. I’m looking forward to more kitchen pictures, because you have a great eye for lighting and style and they’re purty!
So, yeah. Duh, girl: keep up the good (tasty, practical, beautiful, snarky, funny) work. I’m okay with fewer posts, too. 🙂
My son recommended your blog because I mentioned I can’t get buttermilk in Mexico where I live, which was a surprise to me because I didn’t even know my son liked to cook (it was a surprise to him too apparently, even though there were hints of this between ages 5 & 8) and then I found the famous Rainbow Cake from reading all these comments and will try it because we liked Mama Zuma’s Red Hot Gams and the Surf and Turf Macaroni even though I haven’t had time to try the buttermilk recipe, which sort of sums up why i keep coming back: it’s the recipes…with a dash of wit and charm and good photos to boot, but I don’t get here every week myself due to being busy, so a lite posting schedule is fine and thanks for the inspiration!
I got here via the rainbow cake page and was immediately hooked! You’re fantastically funny and your recipes are easy to follow. I wish I could have you and your mancessory over for noms, the wife and I are big dinner party eater folks.
I come back for the amazing recipes, the great story telling, and your photos.
Keep up the awesome work! ..nom nom nom..
I come back because I love food blogs and yours is my favorite. You’re creative and really easy to follow when I find recipes I really like because of all the awesome pictures. And even, with the switch to more picture posts, it’s still a fulfilling blog to follow. You’ve inspired me to buy bulk spices. I’m intending to make the switch in a few weeks. (Oh, college.) Also, I love your ideas about making homemade hot sauce and bottling it for people. Thank you for inspiring me to cook in a more creative way (and sometimes take pictures along the way). =)
“Nevermind the fact that I can no longer make plans on Saturday or Sunday til after 2pm because THE LIGHT, what if I run out of LIGHT while we’re out at brunch?”
>>I am so right there with you. My friends have taken to mocking me regularly.<<
I don’t remember how I found you, but it was immediately after my friend David and I got on a “nom nom nom” rip over something silly and I said “Hey! There’s this chick that has a blog called…get this…The Omnomicon.” We had a brief, shallow discussion about the sort of person that would cross Lovecraft with food and decided you were awesome. At that moment the clouds parted and the sun shone and….I realized I was hooked. 🙂 Keep writing.
I come back because you say things like ” because THE LIGHT, what if I run out of LIGHT while we’re out at brunch?” and also because you have recipes like Lemon Meringue Cupcakes and Rainbow Cake that I can make that noone’s wife at my work will be able to make better.
I dont care that her banana cake has walnuts in it. Mine doesn’t and its still damn tasty. Now shoosh and eat the free cake.
Also, all the other stuff everyone has said about pretty pictures etc 🙂
Also because you document the recipes etc that dont work. It’s endearing to know that even you have total bombs sometimes
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