Happy Birthday, Spache the Spatula!

This month, my blog turns 3! October 2nd is the exact day, but better late than never! Three years ago, as a junior at the University of Washington, I decided to start keeping track of the food I made, and the recipes that I discovered. I’ve said many times that it was the access to beautiful and fresh ingredients out here in Seattle that prompted my blogging. While this is true, it was, more specifically, these Salted Caramel Cupcakes (yes, these are some of the very first photos of my food ever taken).

It’s not that these are the very best Salted Caramel Cupcakes that I have ever eaten, or even made, it’s just that these were the first things that I created on my own that I was truly proud of. I recall making the little caramels to top the cupcakes, and being so thrilled that I had made candy! Of course now I look at them and think, Well, I probably should have cooked the caramel a bit longer so they would hold up better, or That cake looks slightly over-cooked. But you know what? Their imperfections are exactly the reason that I’m still here, blogging away, sharing recipes with you each week, always striving to improve my baking and cooking skills.

This blog has been a lot of things to me throughout the years: a stress-reliever, a stress-giver, a distraction, a creative outlet, a meeting place, and a memory-reviver, among other things. It has allowed me to come to the realization that I want my career to be in the food industry, and more specifically, as a bakery owner. But, above all else, it has been, and still is, a journey—one that I don’t plan on bringing to an end anytime soon :).

(P.S.— I have an amazing recipe coming up that uses the salted caramel frosting from these cupcakes!)