{a day in the life} The Little Kitchen

Today’s “a day in the life” is Julie of The Little Kitchen. Julie not only has a terrific blog, but manages to squeeze in so much other great stuff like The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. She’s hugely talented and so kind and helpful to other bloggers. If you’re not reading her blog, you should be!

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Tell me about yourself and how you started food blogging.

In December 2009, I started The Little Kitchen just to share recipes with families and friends. I was emailing recipes after family events or dinners so I thought I would create a space to share those recipes my family kept asking for. Three years later, it’s now my career (which I’m still completely shocked about).

Take me through your day.

If I’m not traveling or visiting family like I have been a lot lately, it’s kind of something like this:

• 8 or 9:00am – get up! first thing I do is check instagram/facebook/twitter on my phone – embarrassing, right?
• 9:00-12:00pm – I’m either on the computer editing photos, writing posts, visiting blogs or I’m in the kitchen cooking something up!
• 12:00pm – make some kind of quick lunch or I work through lunch
• The rest of the day, I’m either hanging with the dogs outside in the backyard, cooking or back on the computer. Running errands, the usual fun ;) stuff. I’m literally and completely boringggg.

What is your one must-have kitchen tool or gadget?

Oh gosh this is hard…I’m going to list a few things. I love the OXO handheld mandoline slicer and I could never part with my KitchenAid stand mixer, I can’t make buttercream or pizza dough without it.

What is your favorite part of your day? Why?

My favorite part of the day is when I get outside, there’s nothing like getting off of the computer and enjoying the outside. I’m lucky to live in Florida where it’s warm 10 months of the year so I can enjoy the outdoors a little bit.

What is your LEAST favorite part of the day? Why?

When a recipe doesn’t turn out the way I had hoped. Doesn’t happen all the time but it’s a bummer when it does.

If you could choose one room in your house to spend the WHOLE day in, which room would it be? Why?

I just love cooking and baking…I could just hang out in the kitchen all day every day!

If you could choose one room in your house to remodel (on an unlimited budget!)

The kitchen – this year I got new appliances from KitchenAid. I would love to do new cabinets and countertops and a new sink! And new flooring – haha. It’s not in the budget for 2013 but it would be so nice.

If you had to choose one place to travel to every year over and over, where would it be? Why? Have you been there before?

Anywhere in California. I love San Francisco, I loved Monterey and I love San Diego. I was born in the LA area and traveled there during the summers when I was in elementary school. I have been back many times and I could travel to California every year and see something new and different.

If you could travel anywhere in the world for free, where would you go and how long would you stay?

We really want to travel to Atlantic Canada. It’s our dream. Funny story, we got this awesome calendar from an Asian grocery store a couple of years ago with the most gorgeous pictures of the islands and the landscape…from then on, we both said we want to travel there! Maybe three weeks?

What is your favorite quote or verse?

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” –Gandhi

This quotation is in my email signature and has been for many years. The essence of it, if you see something that you see needs changing, you need to be a part of it otherwise how can the change be exacted. I love this and I have to constantly remind myself of it.

What recipe on your blog are you most proud of?

My white chocolate toffee crunch cookies. I had to tweak it a few times to get this recipe right and it’s so good. It’s popular every where I take them!

What recipe on your blog do your readers seem to love most?

These cheesesteaks are very popular on my blog. The recipe was something Curtis and I worked on for a long time and we made them countless times before I realized I should blog them! The secret is tightly wrapping the cheesesteaks in foil and throwing them in the oven for a few minutes before devouring them.

What have you learned since you began blogging?

Don’t compare yourself to others. A wise friend once told me to define my own success, to pave my own path. I can’t say I don’t get into a rut like everyone else but I don’t let what others or doing or getting consume me. It might sound cheesy but it’s definitely helped me to stay grounded and decide what goals to set for myself and focus on those.

I celebrate my friends’ successes and I’m genuinely happy for them as I would want them to be for me. And the important thing is to be supportive of others. I think it’s very very important to build your network in whatever industry you’re in, you build each other up, you support each other, ask questions and give advice, makes it so much easier and fun!

Do you have any advice for someone who is interested in cooking or food blogging?

I have tons!! Actually for anyone that wants to start a blog, I wrote a long post about blogging advice I give all the time.

Who would you like to see featured here in the future?

Aggie’s Kitchen
Baker’s Royale
Love & Olive Oil
so many others that you have already featured!

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Thanks Julie! I loved getting to know more about you. 

You can also find Julie on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. 

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