Time to slip on the jacket again….. Oui, Chef is back online!
Hello again, how’s everybody been?
After a longer hiatus than anticipated, I’m finally back with a new and improved Oui, Chef, and am anxious to reconnect with you all and get you caught up with what I’ve been up to. I’m also eager to see what you’ve all been cooking up, because not only did I shelve my blog for a period, but I also suspended my normal routine of daily food blog reading, so I know there’s LOTS of great food you’ve been posting that I’ve just plain missed. Boo.
As for me, I can’t imagine a crazier period than the one I’ve just had. From domestic failure and reconciliation (the failure my doing, the credit for recovery goes to my amazing wife), to waving goodbye to two more of my kids as they drove off to college for freshman year, to rejoining the work force and landing an amazing job after a multi-year stint of playing Mr. Mom…..sheesh. Oh, I almost forgot, I also MOVED after finally selling a home that I had been marketing for a couple of years. Crazy days indeed.
It’s been a time of pulling back and simplifying, taking stock of where I’ve been, where and who I am, and where I’d like to go. I won’t bore you with all the gritty details (this is a food blog after all, and not therapist.com), except to say that I’m in a better place now than I’ve been in quite a while, both personally and professionally, and am looking forward to getting reacquainted with our awesome food blogging community.
In commemoration of the re-birth of Oui, Chef I’ve migrated my site to WordPress from Typepad, an undertaking made immensely easier with the help of my friends at Foliovision. I wanted a cleaner, simpler look for the blog with better SEO and mobile compatibility, and decided the Foodie Pro WP theme would fit the bill nicely. The focus of the blog will change a bit as I’m no longer cooking with my kids, but the heart of Oui, Chef will remain committed to providing curated recipes fit for the family table. Some of these I’ll develop myself, others I’ll cull from my ever growing collection of print and online sources. Some I’ll even share from my work at Cook’s Illustrated Magazine and America’s Test Kitchen once they’ve been published. For those of you who are curious as to what goes on behind the scenes in America’s Test Kitchen, stay tuned, there’ll be lots of fun things to share.
As I’m attempting to do with the rest of my life, my goal going forward is to simplify my approach to blogging. I’m going to try to be more spontaneous (read less anal) in my photography, a little less verbose in my ramblings, and more open to new (to me anyway) social platforms like Instagram and Twitter. I hope to share a full length post every weekend, and pop off quick snippets from the kitchen throughout the week for those of you who want to follow my social feeds. I beg your patience as I work through this relaunch which will undoubtably include a few technical issues I’ll need to work through, as well as some design expansion and tweaking once we’ve all had a chance to play with it for a bit. PLEASE share your thoughts on the redesign….what you like, what you don’t, and what you might stumble across that doesn’t work. I want Oui, Chef to be a site you enjoy visiting, and peruse frequently for great family friendly recipes, not one that makes you want to slit your wrists in frustration because you can’t find what you’re looking for.
I guess that’s all for now. Thanks for visiting, I hope to see you back here soon!
Cheers – Steve