It's a beautiful day and I have been for a walk, which usually gives me all sort of inspirations. But I confess I am completely out of ideas, and not attracted to my other two default rescue options - a first recipe or a lucky dip, so I am returning to my mini series on other people's blogs. The ones that attract lots of hits.
Truth to tell I was going to do What Katie Ate which is much mentioned but when I started looking at it I found that it was not, in fact, an Australian blog. She is Irish, so eliminate. But have a look if you like. Mind you I'm not quite sure what all the fuss is about. It looks impressive, but the last recipe posted was in August - she posted four in August, and one of the links to the recipe took you somewhere else. The photography is great - she is another blogger who is actually a photographer first and foremost I think. But she has published two books, so maybe she is very much in and I am being unkind. Anyway - not Australian, so not included in my list.
Today's blog is called It's not complicated and is put together by an Adelaide lady called Alex. Her aim, she says,
"is to inspire those who love to cook and to encourage those who don’t."
which is probably much what I would like to do as well, even if it's not that original.
So what can I say about this blog - it appears on several 'best of' lists, so it must have something. If only good marketing. I noted that it's another that uses Mediavine. I'm not sure whether Mediavine is a company that just organises advertising, or whether they set up the whole website. But certainly I think the three that I have written about so far all use it, and they all have a similar look. And so does this one. So you could say they seem to have cornered the market.
The look of It's Not Complicated is simple, classic, clean. Dare I say even marginally boring? But it's different, from the others. Well there are a few similarities when you get to the recipes, but that's where it ends.
Like the others it's purely a recipe blog, although like the Recipe Tin Eats lady she does throw in a few little anecdotes and personal comments. She's also a little more up to date than Katie Quinn Davies. Her most recent post was on September 26th and so I thought, that she also only posted recipes every now and then. But when I checked back from that recipe I found, in fact that she was posting a new recipe every day back then. So why there has been nothing since near the end of September - a month ago now - I do not know.
The recipes are from here, there and everywhere and are indeed simple. I had a quick look at Finger food ideas - another post from September - which actually was more of a compendium of recipes, possible found elsewhere on the site, although I did not check. The preserved chillies recipe was very, very simple, and probably worth a try - and illustrated with a video. And in the blurb before the recipes for this post I found how she came to be doing this blog.
"Delicious Finger Food Recipes were actually how this blog came about – I had some friends over for dinner, and created a selection of small bites. They were all simple and tasty, but I found myself repeating over and over “it’s not complicated”. And here we are!"
Prior to launching into blog writing she had worked in real estate and the airline industry - I think as a hostie, judging from the photographs. But food does indeed seem to be her passion:
"Truth be told, I live and breathe food and there are notes all around my place as I jot down ideas for recipes which suddenly come to me. In fact, there are several recipes on the blog which were inspired by my dreams. Even in my sleep I am focused on food!"
Which I guess if yo were writing this kind of recipe driven blog, you would have to do. I suppose I jot down the odd idea for posts if I remember to do so, but often the moment passes. I actually have a notebook with potential ideas, which I consulted today but was not inspired by any of them. I mean - cold brewed coffee - what is that? Why did I write that down? Well probably because I didn't know what it was. But it was ages ago, so its moment in the sun may have passed.
Like the other blogs I have written about there is a little heart in the left-hand bottom corner which sends out numbers, I assume every time that somebody clicks on the page. Her finger food page has only 39 - as opposed to the Recipe Tin Eats lady, for example, who often has thousands of hits. Still I would be feeling good if I got 5! But then I'm only doing this to amuse myself and maybe a few friends and family. These bloggers are doing it as a career.
I may have sounded a bit negative here, but I suspect that this is more to do with my mood than the It's Not Complicated website. There's nothing wrong with it at all. Maybe a tiny bit bland, but then I've looked at a lot of them now, both for this mini series and also in the course of writing my own posts.
You can get a free e-book of her favourite recipes. I wish her good luck.