Bliss In The Kitchen Goes English!

Happy Birthday Bliss In The Kitchen!

Lemon Tartlet*

Ce billet en français!

My Dear Little Blog,

On this very day, you are celebrating your first birthday and I can hardly believe. Time just flies. It doesn't seem so long ago, I was discovering the food blogosphere and the idea of writing my own started to cross my mind, and was becoming a true itching. For a few more weeks, impressed by the talent and the creativity of my fellow food bloggers, I lacked the daring, with the feeling that I wouldn't be up to the job. But little by little convinced by Grégoire I decided that there would be a place for you and that you would make your way.

So I flung both of us into this adventure. You proved to be an extraordinary space of expression, a precious link towards new friendships, and of course a great way to nurture, else than in the kitchen, my love for the world of culinary matters. I would never have imagined the contentment that you would bring to me and I am truly happy that I went against my natural shyness. I take the opportunity of this letter, that Grégoire will surely read as well, to let him know how much I thank him for his unconditionnal support and encouragments. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him, and I am infinitely grateful to him.

Of course you grew at a quite irregular rythm, according to my availability and along the small and big events that filled my life this year. It has been a very busy year and I have to confess that at the moment all my energy both physical or mental is seized upon the very expected arrival of a little baby. So please, do not be cross with me, if I sometimes stay away from you a little more than I should.

I promise to dedicate as much time as possible to you during the upcoming months and I wish both of use many new posts, recipes and encounters.

I wish you a very happy first birthday!

Florence

* The lemon tartlet comes from the delicious bakery close to our place, called Les Cinq Sens. It will make Grégoire very happy later as he just loves them. I will have to wait a few more weeks to treat myself with pastries as the doctor said I shouldn't eat any sugar, because of gestational diabetes... As long as it's temporary, I'll cope with it!

Les Cinq Sens 31 rue de Saint-Cyr 69009 Lyon.

Basil Sorbet

Basil sorbet, fresh raspberries, and crêpes dentelle.

Ce billet en français!

It's a long story that binds us together Grégoire, basil sorbet and me. When we had some for the first time, we were neither husband and wife, nor boyfriend and girlfriend, but just colleagues and good friends. At this time, we both worked for the same company, and our team was receiving this European manager that we had to take out to a fancy restaurant. So there we were, on this great evening of June 2001, four of us, at a table of the restaurant Le Ciel de Paris, highly perched at the top of the Tour Montparnasse.

Escapade in Paris for my Birthday

Picture taken last october, just before we left Paris, of Le Chateaubriand, our favourite restaurant in Paris.

Ce billet en français!

The week of my birthday had started very well. Sandra from Malice et Pain d'Epices had organised a great bloggers pique-nique on Monday and it was a really pleasant evening in spite of a threathening storm. We enjoyed each other contributions:

• Sandra and her great sorrel terrine were a sucess
• Alhya from the blog A Turtle in a Kitchen was such a pleasure to meet thanks to her spontaneity, her bright smile and her large production of fuits and vegetables cakes
• Venor, from Un Dimanche Matin à Lyon, had carefully prepared an unbelievable flaming yellow apricot pie, flavoured with saffron and lavender honey
• The discreet but so lovely Aude, from Epices et Compagnie, fed us pretty little matcha flavoured financiers and a very refreshing iced tea
• Thalie from Côté Cour...Vanille et 7ème Art impressed us with her great suhis

What a great pleasure than sharing our blogging and culinary passions without, for once, any screen to hide us. Behind the blogs real people met and new relationships were initiated.

Later during the week, my birthday was coming up but I was expecting a gloomy day: it was really really too hot in Lyon and Gregoire was going to Paris for his job. Eventually on my very birthday, I decided to buy a train ticket and to meet him in Paris, grabbing the opportunity to enjoy a shopping trip and the evening of the semi-finale with our friends.

A Brand New Bliss In The Kitchen, in English from A to Z

Pic of a page in my English/French repertory and my food dictionary

After almost a year writing Bliss In The Kitchen both in French and in English on the same page, hesitating whether I should create two separate blogs each one in their own language, I have finally decided to take the step. As from today, I shall be writing  two separate blogs: Bliss In The Kitchen in French, and Bliss In The Kitchen Goes English!right here... in English. The bilingual aspect will therefore be far easier to keep for me than it has been until now (imagine the headache it was to try and come up with short category names understandable in both languages) and for you to comprehend. I am quite confident that the whole thing will now be more consistent.  The same stories, recipes, and reviews will be feeding each blog in its own language, with maybe a little more freedom than I have been allowing myself until now, both in the translation process and maybe slightly, in the content.

Although I mean to republish and/or link all the recipes already posted in English on the old Bliss In the Kitchen bilingual page, I am not sure how to do this, but I will let you know.

As I was already on the right track, I created a Moblog as well. A fun and easy tool to share in a twinkle what I have come across that I liked, made me laugh or curious, what I have tasted or even cooked. Check out Bliss In The Kitchen Moblog here.

There will be links from one blog to the others at the top of the left columns. I hope that you will enjoy this new design, I wish you a happy reading and I am looking forward to welcoming you in my new virtual home sweet home.