Dear readers. I wonder how many of you still exist.
I am so sorry for my extended absence. I honestly feel quite supremely terrible for abandoning this blog without any explanation. Even knowing that my blog is just one of millions that fade away every day, I still feel I owe an apology to the empty space out there for dropping off the grid.
I can't believe it's only been a year since I started this blog – it feels like a hundred years (and at least ten years since my last post). It may seem like eons ago, but I still remember how insanely ecstatic I was about creating a new space to share my exploration of Greek vegetarian cooking. The blog gave me a real purpose and enormous enjoyment cooking, photographing and writing about every recipe. It was also really nice to tell you some of the stories about my Greek background, and my connection and love for the island of Limnos.
I’ve truly been amazed by the support both the blog and Facebook page have received – it’s wonderful to know so many people around the world love not only Greek food, but Greek Vegetarian food.
But in recent months, for a variety of reasons, my desire to blog has waned. To be quite honest, I’m actually not very good at blogging. I like to cook but I’m definitely no chef, so it takes me half the day to prepare a dish. I’m an okay photographer but I’m very slow at that too – it takes me another half day to style the shot, photograph and edit the images.
However the one thing I really struggle with, is writing. I love to write, but it can take me FOR EVER to write and edit a post for the blog. And my posts are by no means perfect. I am such a slow writer you could read War and Peace in the time it takes me to write my opening paragraph.
Needless to say, putting a post together for this blog is always an epic task for me.
But I didn’t mind at first. I had all the time in the world when I first started this blog – I’d just lost my full-time job and was itching for something to do to fill my days while I looked for work. My time was completely consumed with blogging and reading other people’s blogs. Every minute of every day I was obsessed with the world of blogging.
Being a vegetarian and living with a guy who’s not is hard enough, but when Tony made the radical but necessary decision (for health reasons) to go on a life-long low-carb diet a year ago, it didn’t give us much choice but to fend for ourselves when it came to meal times.
Our eating choices are so polarised you’d think we were from different planets. As you can imagine, motivation levels to cook and eat together are pretty low, which is a real shame as cooking together was something we both really enjoyed in the past.
So with no one to cook for but myself and the blog, I didn't really have any compelling reasons to get experimental in the kitchen. Spending half a day cooking something that I wouldn't normally cook for myself wasn't doing it for me anymore. And to be honest, the meals I do usually cook for myself really aren’t all that blog-worthy.
And then work got out of control.
When word got around that I was looking for freelance work I started getting a few jobs here and there, but before too long, a few jobs exploded into full-time work again. Even while we were on holiday in Greece last year I had work coming out of my ears which was great, but left me without much leisure time and eventually no time at all to spend on a blog that I was already falling out of love with.
But this is not good bye.
The passion for my blog may have subsided but there’ll always be a flame in my heart for cooking, photography and everything Greek. I know that at some stage my work will lessen and there will be days when I’ll be wanting to come back to the blog with my tail between my legs. I'm sure that flame will reignite from time to time and I’ll be burning to write another post for the blog. Even if there’s no one left to read my posts, it’s nice to know the blog will always be here waiting for me to come back to it one day.
So the Greek Vegetarian blog isn't going anywhere, it’s just that I won’t be updating it all that often. The recipes will always be here, as will the photos and stories of Limnos. And I truly hope that there is enough content here that will still be of interest to anyone that might come across these pages.
I don't know when I'll be back. I might try for a Greek Easter post since I completely neglected to cover that monumental event last year. Or perhaps I'll rope Tony into doing Meat Free Week again and write about that. But until then, I just want to thank you all for reading my posts and especially for all your wonderful comments.
This is not good bye – it is only "Ta leme argotera".
In the meantime, I hope we can still be friends :)
Lisa xxx