Twenty months and over 350 recipes into my @storeboughtisfine Instagram project, I’ve finally given in. Welcome to the Store Bought Is Fine blog!
If you’re not familiar with the project, about 2 years ago I decided to cook my way through all (1,000+) of Ina Garten’s recipes. I was obviously inspired by Julie & Julia, but you can read more about how the account came to be on a guest post I wrote for Cassandra’s Kitchen.
Friends and coworkers have been encouraging me to expand the account into a blog, but I was always held back by a couple of factors:
- I thought it would take too much time. I like the fact that the insta account doesn’t require too much to maintain. I’d be cooking anyway and the only additional work is writing the caption and editing the photo.
- I don’t consider myself a great writer. Going back to the time issue, it takes FOR-EH-VER for me to write coherent sentences. And would what I wrote even be interesting?!
But I’ve realized the only way I’m going to improve my writing is through practice, so I’m diving in!
I hope to use this to share my musings about recipes, cooking, baking, entertaining and of course all things Ina. No guarantees that I’ll find time or motivation to write for every recipe, but even if I don’t write a full post, I hope to include the following here:
- Book: Where the recipe is from
- Episode: If it was featured on her show
- Rating: Scale of 1 to 5
- How Easy Is That: skill level for the recipe
- Store Bought Is Fine: what you can buy rather than making yourself (eg chicken stock)
- Good Ingredients: ingredients for the recipe where quality is a must
I hope you’ll follow along and that you actually enjoy the posts! 🙂 Whew… now that the first post is done, I’m heading back to where I’m a little more comfortable: the kitchen.
Xoxo,
Trent
P.S. If you’re interested in seeing what I’ve learned since beginning this project, take a peek at my interview with Kayt Molina.
yay! so glad to see you’re taking the leap! <3
Yay! I’ve been hoping you would start a blog. I love hearing about your experiences making a recipe (is it easy or hard, faster or longer than you thought?) and of course whether or not you love it! I wish I had more time to cook but until then I’m living vicariously through you. Bon Appetite!
Thanks for encouragement, and so happy to hear that you’re excited for the blog expansion! Hope I can continue to provide you a feast … for at least your eyes! 🙂 xoxo
I love your new blog so proud of you and your passion for food. I am looking forward to see where your new blog leads to new opportunities. I must say I love being on the receiving end of your cooking adventure. Hugs
This is so great! I’ve been following your Instagram account for a while now and hoping you would expand into a blog. I’m excited to see where this leads for you and will be cheering you on and taking cooking notes in the process!
Thanks, Monique! Excited to take on the new challenge and so happy you’re following along! 🙂
Wishing you every success.
Cool idea, Trent.
Love your photo on the Cosmo with Ina!