My advice to would-be cookthrough bloggers

So you want to start a cookthrough blog...
I've been asked my advice by several people lately who are interested in starting their own CTB. Let me preface this by saying that I absolutely love TJOTJOC and it's been an absolutely terrific hobby. My goal is to learn how to cook and it's totally working!

My advice to would-be CTBloggers:

1. Don't start with a book like Gourmet or TJOC. Start with a cookbook that has 200-300 recipes. You will have time to grow a readership and if you like having a CTB, you can pick a bigger cookbook when you are done! As much as I love TJOTJOC, it's kind of depressing that I'm probably not even 15% done and I've been working on it for 2.5 years. If I could go back in time, I would probably still pick TJOC, but it would be with my eyes more open. Also, if you pick a well-known cookbook, you have built-in readers! There are lots of cookbooks out there that I'm astounded nobody is cooking through.

2. Pick a book in which you truly think you will like the vast majority of the recipes. If you don't like baking, stay away from books that have a lot of baked goods in them. Seems obvious, right?

3. Hedge your bets against a new edition coming out in the middle of your CTB. It's harder for people to follow along if they have a different edition of the cookbook. It's a big fear of mine!

4. Realize that the CTB is going to take over your life. In a good way. I can talk about TJOC for hours. I think about it when I'm in the grocery store, farmer's market, and kitchen stores.

5. Make sure you can stick to blogging. And cooking. At least for now. Life gets really busy.

6. Realize the odds of you getting a book deal out of the CTB is very, very low. Julie Powell was a lucky women.

7. Know that it gets expensive at times. The punch and glogg I made for New Year's Eve cost about a $150 in alcohol. And TJOC is a relatively inexpensive cookbook! I've been putting off the truly expensive recipes.

That's all I can think of for now but I'm sure I will update this post. I know other CTBloggers read this blog--what is your advice? Am I jaded? Does anyone have any other questions?

Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions!

**If you have a question you would like to know the answer to, email me at thejoyofthejoyofcooking (at) hotmail (dot) com***


So how much weight have you gained since starting?
None! My personal opinion is that since the food in Joy is so filling (full fat, etc) that you don't eat TONS of it. It also makes great leftovers which means NO fast food!

I bet this has been really expensive, right?
No, the food in Joy is pretty simple. Once you start cooking a lot of recipes out of it, the same ingredients are used over and over, so it's not very expensive. And more cooking=less eating out=less expensive.


I think I read your blog but then I seem to miss entries. What's up?
I date the blogs when I actually made the food. Sometimes it's a couple of weeks ago--so the blogs show up as old but are actually new. It's not a problem in most blog readers! I also have a bad habit of writing several blogs at once, so if you only read the most recent blog, you might miss others.

Do you have contests?
I do and I hope to have more!

I am fully intending on stealing your pictures for my blog/presentation/whatever. Is that okay?
No. It's fine if you credit my website for the picture. If you don't, it's wrong.

I heard you went to Japan. Did you blog about it?
Heck yeah, I blogged about it! Look under keyword "Japan".

When do you think you'll finish all the recipes?
About fifty years from now. I'll probably be cooking the final Joy recipes for my grandchildren.

What edition of TJOC are you using?
I'm using the 2006 edition. I truly hope to finish this before the publish the next version!

What do you consider "vegetarian" versus "vegan"?
I go the ova-lacto route when I think of vegetarian--no meat (red or otherwise) or fish but eggs and milk products are okay. Vegan means no animal products.