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Saturday, January 9, 2016

New Year's Resolutions

I am constantly examining how food and technology impact communities. I do aspects of each in my personal and professional life. I think that food brings people together and can create and build community. I initially started this blog to have an outlet to discuss food, friends and fun and I am committed to these discussions happening more frequently in 2016 in a potentially different way.

As we're all talking about resolutions at the beginning of the year, I resolve to write more. Eating and sharing experiences brings me joy as I hope it does for you reading it. This year, I'll be sharing information on restaurants, recipes and great events. I initially started the blog thinking that I'd only write about a restaurant once, but I am going to open myself up to write more if it's a new visit after a while. 

When I initially started this blog, I was in grad school which meant that I had a lot more time. I needed something to divert me from the hundreds of pages of reading a week and as a writing warm up. Now, I'm in a full time demanding job and food is still a huge part of my life as are friends and fun. Again, I need a creative outlet-- a way to share my passion with who wants to read about it. I started this blog completely as a passion project to share my love of food and what I learn about community events with whoever wants to read. I also was curious how different channels brought traffic to the site. Back to technology and its impact on community. Since graduating a lot more of my food life has been happening offline, but not to worry, it's still happening!

Some new year's thoughts
During 2016, I want to think about how to have more fun with the blog and share more. I initially started writing this blog as "Fun Foodie," but I am thinking about sharing more about who I am. Part of why I use the anonymity is for anyone who is reading. I want to share the experience of another diner without any perks that come with being known as a diner to watch who may get different service. However, this means that my personal Instagram posts (which are predominantly food related) are not linked to the blog or when I connect with someone in the food scene, I don't write about it because I'm afraid I'll be identified. This seems counter intuitive as I reflect because there are some great stories about people I've met in the industry who are interesting, kind and who I've built a rapport with. As I continue to evaluate the direction of the blog, please feel free to share what you think. My feeling is it's fun to hear good stories and learn about great places to go and if I can continue to provide that more frequently, that is beneficial to all.

Another reason, I'm thinking about writing more without anonymity is I really love sharing and meeting new people and making recommendations. I often diagnose my friends' and family with the right restaurant for an occasion and price point or organize group dinners. I would love to connect more with people through food and volunteering this year and I think that this can happen more. 

One idea for connection comes from a trip my boyfriend and I took to Canada at the beginning of the summer. We went on two food tours. We had the best time and enjoyed meeting the people. I have been thinking about how these food tours could work in the Boston area.

What about eating in?
Most posts for this blog are focused on food or community events that have food. That is only half of the fun we can have together! I've been cooking and baking a bit and think that some of these recipes and discoveries are worth discussing. Expect more posts about cooking as well as eating out.

And the fun?!
As I discover new opportunities for fun, that will be shared too. This could be a trip to a new market, yoga studio or a vacation.

Expectations for 2016
This year, 2016, is already off to a great start and I think that the new year is a great time to reflect and think about how to be better and how to have more joy and more fun in life! You can expect somewhat of an evolution to FoodFriendsNFun and more-- more posts, more joy, more food and more fun. I want to figure out a way to have more community, so that will happen too. The best way to get up to date information about this evolution is on the blog and on twitter.

Happy New Year to you and I look forward to eating my way through the year with you and having fun while we do!

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