Happy Burp-Day: Let's Drink to Six Years of Burp! Blog

Six years. Wow.
Six years of blogging flies past faster than you'd think.
But, here we are, still cooking up a storm and loving what we do.

And we have only you to thank.

Thank you, dear readers, for reading and interacting.  For hanging tough when we've suffered from recipe block and when we didn't have much to say. For understanding when posts weren't quite as frequent as we would have liked.

We may not have the MOST readers of any blog out there. But, I can assure you that we have some of the best. And we're privileged to have gotten to know you all -- some of you in person, but even more of you online. Thanks to you we have an active Facebook page, a healthy Twitter following, and a blog that we love coming back to day after day.

Over the years, we've run into a lot of people who were amused by the name of our blog, and excited about what we stand for (this makes us happy!). We've also had a host of requests from family, friends, and fans to create a bit of Burp! swag.

Our first attempt was the Burp! t-shirt, which we printed for the first time in 2010 and again in 2012. People loved them, but we decided to do something different this time around.

So, in celebration of our sixth year, we've teamed up with talented local Milwaukee ceramics artist, Kate Riley, to present the first ever Burp! mug. Read more about Kate here.

The mugs are hand-crafted and hand-painted - iridescent black on the exterior, with a flat white on the interior. Best of all,  each mug holds 12 ounces of just about any liquid you can think of -- from coffee and tea to milk or beer.  Beautiful. Functional. And microwave and dishwasher safe.

Mugs are $20 plus $5 shipping and handling.

Proceeds will support MKEfoodies.

Please note that the mugs are hand-crafted in small batches in Kate Riley's studio here in Milwaukee. Right now, we have 30 mugs on order, which we'll mail out as soon as they're finished.  If demand warrants, we'll commission more mugs to be created.

©BURP!

Bits on Blogging and the Food I Wish I Was Making

I'm impressed with all of you who blog up a storm during this time of the year -- sharing delicious treats and logging all of your holiday baking and meal planning.  It's amazing, really.

Because while you're taking the time to share all the wonderful things you've got cooking (along with adorable anecdotes about your children, crafty ideas for holiday decorating, and plans for the new year), I'm experiencing a moment of not really feeling as if I have anything quality to convey.

Some of it has to do with other obligations, including my new freelancing gig at OnMilwaukee, which I really enjoy.  But, some of it has to do with not wanting to pump out content just for the sake of pumping out content.  When you come over to Burp!  I really want to give you something of value -- something unique and interesting. Original recipes.  Original content.  All the things you've come to expect from us over the past five years.  And right now, that's gotten to be a little bit tough.  

I’ve also been struggling a lot lately with identifying my own voice as a writer. The fact is, now that I've taken some definitive steps to make something more of my writing and cooking (more, that is, than the purely self-indulgent activity that is food blogging), I find myself increasingly constrained. Blogging isn't so fun when there's all that pressure.  And I'm certainly not nearly as amusing.  And yeah, I really need to get over that. Because I really love what I do here on Burp!  And I want to keep sharing it with you guys.  For a very long time.

So, with all that off my chest, let's shift gears and talk a little bit about all the food I wish I was making -- and the food I plan to blog about in the  new year.   Like the homemade sausages we're going to make with the back-fat in our freezer.  And the homemade doughnuts we've been meaning to tackle.  And that recipe for Thai style waffle sundaes that we've been keeping from you for a very long time.  And I'll bet there is plenty of new territory just waiting to be explored in our kitchen.  We just need a little time (and patience) to get there.

Of course, while we're fallow, maybe you'd like to take a look at my "Eat Me" board on Pinterest...?  It's kind of become my wishlist of sorts... All the food I'm NOT currently making -- but hope to tackle in some form, some day.  Pretty delicious stuff, and the pictures are pretty good too.

"Eat Me" Board on Pinterest

You could also do us the favor of leaving a comment (either here or on Facebook or Twitter), and telling us what you'd really like to see more of over here at Burp! during the new year.  We promise to take your suggestions to heart and use them to shape the content for 2012.

And, in the meantime, I'll be working on getting re-energized and inspired to come back here and give you what you really came for.

Promise.

 

©BURP! Where Food Happens