THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN TURNS SIX!

Posted in Desserts, General by

IT’S GIVEAWAY TIME!
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Six years ago I composed a post and hit “PUBLISH” for the first time, with trembling fingers and the excitement of starting a new path. For six years I’ve shared recipes, photos, stories, reviewed cookbooks, fitness videos, baked a lot of bread, quite a few desserts, and invited you over many virtual tours of our kitchen. It’s been absolutely great!  During this time I’ve made connections with a number of food bloggers and readers that now feel like real life friends. That side-benefit of blogging I could not foresee on day one, and I love it!

As I prepared this post, I noticed about 25 wordpress drafts waiting to go live, and probably nearly as many folders in my computer of recipes and photos “to be blogged soon”. Come to think of it, I could quit cooking anything new for about 6 months and still keep the site going. I have no intentions of slowing down my cooking, but such a backup of posts definitely makes life easier. Who needs a hobby that is a source of stress? No, not me, not into it. However, in such a special day we must have cake, which all of a sudden places the stress threat on RED ALERT. Plus. I’m not talking a simple cake, but one defined by Dorie Greenspan as a “show-stopper”.  I tried my hands at her “Carrèment Chocolat”.  Here is the result of my labor of love, which ended up as Phil’s labor of love too.

Carrement Chocolat Cake2

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY, BEWITCHING KITCHEN!

I will dedicate a special post for the making of this cake, let me just say that it was worth the stress and the many boo-boos made by yours truly, and fixed by her awesome husband.  Stay tuned.

A blog anniversary would not be complete without a giveaway to show appreciation for my readers.  You make blogging fun and rewarding. I am giving away a signed copy of David Leite’s The New Portuguese Table.  I take this opportunity to thank David for sending me a signed copy super fast… much appreciated!

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Portuguese cuisine doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Being Brazilian, I grew up under the influence of many such dishes, not only because of Brazil’s colonization, but because my Mom’s parents were both born and raised in Portugal. I have memories of my childhood and teenage years back home, when grandma (Vovo’ Florinda, who lived with us), would make “bolinhos de bacalhau” (salt cod fritters) and the smell made me want to turn around and go back to school.  I was a silly young girl, who twisted her nose at many classic Portuguese dishes. I feel bad because I never even tried one of her fritters. Shame on me! Maybe now that I am older and so much wiser (or as I like to put it… much older and a little wiser), I can do justice to Vovo’ Florinda‘s cooking by offering this book to one of my readers.  To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment in this post. Comments will be open until July 1st, and the winner will be announced the following day. If you’ve never commented before but have been following my blog, I would love to “meet” you, so don’t be shy anymore, and say hello! Contrary to my usual approach, I won’t reply to every comment in this post, so let me say upfront:  Thank you for taking part of my virtual celebration!

I invite you to follow me on the road to my seventh year of food blogging. I promise there will be cakes, breads, and dog tales. I’ve shown you this photo before, but I love it so much, I want to share it again… Plus, who knows how long Chief will be with us? Hard to tell… at almost 16 and a half years old, he still loves going for walks and staring at the road ahead. Like all of us do… The unknown, the possibilities. All there, waiting for us.

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A walk at sunset with the pups…


ONE YEAR AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen turns Five!

TWO YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen turns Four!

THREE YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen Turns Three! 

FOUR YEARS AGO:  The Bewitching Kitchen turns Two!

FIVE YEARS AGO:  Bewitching Birthday!

SIX YEARS AGO: Welcome to my blog!

51 thoughts on “THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN TURNS SIX!”

  1. Congratulations, Sally, on reaching six years. I share your fascination with Portuguese cooking. Also, yours is the food blog I find most inspiring, possibly because our taste overlaps so much. Special thanks last week for pointing me to the Josey Baker pepper and cheese sourdough. The book is irritating, but the recipes are excellent and you helped me give it a second chance. The bread was devoured at a party…which means (as all bakers know) that I could just make more.

    – Jessica

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  2. Sally, heaps of congratulations on giving so many people worldwide your delightful presence, an interesting blog and so many appetizing recipes to follow . . . and that for a whole six years! Methinks you are ‘doing it’ the right way in having a ‘library of delights’ ready from which you can pick and choose. Selfishly I am so glad that you have the energy to look the 7th year cheerfully in the face!! Portuguese cooking: oh I do wish I knew more about it! Way back when had a Portuguese housekeeper in Sydney for a few years. Shy as a fawn, she would oft come with a dish of bacalao in hand for us to try – I knew she was a great cook and we did say all the right things after, but somehow it did not gel . . . would so love to try at a more ‘mature’ stage in life 🙂 !!

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  3. Only stumbled on your blog recently, but have had many positive comments on recipes from here that I have made. Here’s hoping for at least 6 more years of great recipes and interesting posts.

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  4. Congrats! What an achievement ­ and a delicous one! Keep blogging! 🙂

    From: Bewitching Kitchen Reply-To: Bewitching Kitchen Date: Tuesday, 16 June 2015 06:01 To: Denise Santos Subject: [New post] THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN TURNS SIX!

    WordPress.com sallybr posted: “IT’S GIVEAWAY TIME! Six years ago I composed a post and hit “PUBLISH” for the first time, with trembling fingers and the excitement of starting a new path. For six years I’ve shared recipes, photos, stories, reviewed cookbooks, fitness videos, baked a lo”

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  5. Congratulations! I’m just working on 6 months of blogging, it’s so refreshing to see people who have been blogging for years and still have as much love and enthusiasm for it! Keep on cooking 🙂

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  8. Thank you for taking the time to research and write about great recipes and your adventures that accompany them. It is the highlight of my day to find a new post. For some reason, it also reminds me of the “Perils of Pauline” series, albeit with culinary “villains”.

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  11. What a delicious achievement. My blog is fairly new and your story inspires me to keep on going. Wishing you many more happy blogging years. I just love the picture of you walking your dogs with the sun setting ( or rising) in the horizon😊

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  13. Congratulations Sally!!! You know we adore you, Phil and the blog!!! (And of course all the pups too!) I am thoroughly impressed with your cake too! Job well-done! I can’t wait to hear the story of its making! Here’s to many more adventures on the road ahead!!! Hugs to you dear friend!!

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  14. Congratulations on your 6th anniversary. Although I haven’t been reading since the beginning, your posts continue to be fun and informative. I don’t know how you find the time and enthusiasm to keep posting new recipes with the busy life you lead. Best wishes for many more years of blogging to come in the future.

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  15. Carrément certain ma belle amie! Gorgeous looking cake – bien réussi. Congratulations on 6 years of blogging Bewitching Kitchen ~ love your warm, friendly and approachable style to food ❤️ it feels like a good home you always want to return to. Looking forward to your cake story of course and many more years of Sally & friends adventures :D. Thank you also for this beautiful and generous giveaway ~ I know very little about Portuguese cooking and am very intrigued, xx. ps. love, love, that photo of you walking with the doggies under the big open sky… so peaceful and beautiful.

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  16. Sally, congratulations on entering your 7th year. Being half Portuguese, of course I love the food. I still remember my Portuguese grandmother standing over a hot stove, bandanna wrapped her head, cooking away for the family.
    Keep cooking and blogging.

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  19. Happy 6th ! I enjoy all that you share…lifestyle, cooking, adventures and exploits.

    Here’s wishing you don’t catch the 7 year itch!

    thanks,
    mac

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  20. Congratulations! Six years, so many recipes and moments shared. Excellent job! We have all really come to know and care about you through your blog so I wish you many more years of cooking and writing. Enjoy!

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  21. Congratulations! Wish I was there to share a piece of that delicious looking cake with you. Just found your blog through my new acquaintance with SRC. You are a joy to read and such tempting recipes. Can’t wait to see what your next year brings.

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  22. The cake looks great and I love the photo of you with the dogs ❤️❤️
    My best friend at school in Dubai was Portuguese and I stayed with her and her family in Portugal for the summer when I was 17, it was wonderful. I think I ate my weight in Pastel de nata!!! xxx

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  23. Happy birthday to YOUR BK! I am so glad we have gotten to know each other a bit, virtually, of course. I look forward to more, more, more.

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  27. Hi Sally! I’ve read and enjoyed your blog for many years. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes, photos and tips. Happy 6th Anniversary!

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  28. Querida Salete, você não está apenas mais velha….está muito mais interessante! Seu blog é simplesmente delicioso, não só por conta das receitas, mas principalmente pela maneira adorável como vc escreve. Você está de parabéns, minha amiga!

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  30. Congrats! Your Bewitching made my kitchen much better. I have tried the “bolinhos de bacalhau” and must say you should have too. 60 more years to this awsome blog!

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  31. All best wishes on your 6 year mark. I enjoy your posts and stop by often. would love to explore Portuguese cooking – I’m an adventurous cook too.

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  32. Congratulations, Sally! I met you back in my bread days, and must admit, I was forever trying to understand where you found all the time and energy to blog knowing your dedication to your research work.

    Your cake just called me and asked me to bring my fork. I’m hoping you don’t mind if I do a bit of taste testing… 😉

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  33. Congratulations on 6 marvelous years. I know how many strong friendships you’ve made from around the globe. You’ve not sat at our table but I know if you did, it would be like dining with someone I’ve known all my life.

    The celebration cake that you and smartypants made is gorgeous. You’re definitely an outstanding duo. 🙂

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  35. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Bewitching Kitchen…. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! Can’t wait to go find the cake recipe post, and love, love, love the photo of you and your sweet pups!! ❤

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  38. Happy Birthday Bewitching Kitchen and good on you, Sally! The “cake” made me salivate and the sunset walk with the dogs made me tear up — way too much physiology going on here!

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  40. Happy Anniversary. Six years of fun blogging. The sunset photo is so pretty. Portuguese food does not receive much press. There are some very nice dishes. Given their access to the ocean, seafood is such a delight there.

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  43. Hello Sally,
    Happy, happy anniversary!
    Yours is the one cooking blog I read faithfully although I am a kitchen lurker in the pantry and rarely comment.

    An avid bread baker, I always looked forward to your yeasts adventures. And I confess to a sweet tooth, tempted by your anniversary chocolate cake of ultimate decadence as well as all your other dessert posts.

    I relish reading about your exploits in the lab, your perseverance in kitchen challenged apartments, your canine companion, your loving home life, your adventures making recipes from others’ blogs that lead me to more deliciousness. I will even admit that although I don’t share your passion for regimented exercise, you do inspire me to stretch and get outdoors more to burn off the calories consumed as a result of being bewitched!

    So thank you so very much for adding delight to my life in so many unexpected ways.

    And a Portugese cookbook would be yet another new delight to experience. Although I may own more cookbooks than I have time to count, I have no times dedicated to the fine cuisine of Portugal. I only know of a Portugese sweet bread. I would love to dive into the cuisine of your heritage.

    Cheers galore,
    Anne here in the hot Northwest

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  46. Hello Sally. Happy Anniversary & Congratulations for completing 6 wonderful years of blogging. I am a new follower and find your blog really cool. Keep up the good work. Cheers.

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  47. Love love coming here often to check out what’s new, and if there isn’t I just browse, either recipes I still have to try or just your stories. Love both. 🙂

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  48. Sally –Hurray! Congratulations! Your blog always makes me smile — I’ve enriched my recipe file because of you — and your selections excite my senses! Your energy and creativity are extraordinary!

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  49. I stand in total awe at your cake! And your delightful, skillful writing style, as always. Thanks for all the energy you put into your blog. And happy anniversary!
    Kathy McMorrow

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  50. Congrats Sally on your six years of blogging. I discovered you a few years back through Celia’s Fig Jam and Lime Cordial blog and have loved receiving your blog updates ever since. I love that you share your life as well as your recipes with us. A lot of food bloggers won’t use their real names and have silly pseudonyms for themselves and their friends. But you, like Celia, are totally natural and I like that we get to know you, Phil and the dogs through your blog, as well as your beautiful recipes. I love Portuguese food, but don’t get to eat it very often, so it would be lovely to have such a beautiful Portuguese cookbook. All the very best for your continued success.

    Kindest regards, Robyn.

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  51. Congratulations, Sally, and happy blog anniversary! Bewitching Kitchen is one of the first food blogs I subscribed to, and it’s still one of my favorites. I “met” you several years ago at the Cook’s Talk forum, although I’ve since given up posting there. Likewise, I’m a lurker here at your blog and rarely comment, but I do enjoy reading about your adventures as well as your recipes. Here’s to many more years of good food and wagging tails in the Bewitching Kitchen! (P.S. I don’t need to be entered in your giveaway.)

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