To blog or not to blog...

Overheard in a Santa Monica restaurant: a distraught man was telling his dinner companion that not a single comment had been left on his latest blog post.

Then I read an article on the New York Times website (before the recent paywall) saying the blog is dead and has been for years. Couple that with snide comments from some (alright, many) people who think those of us with blogs have enormous egos and deserve derision for thinking that anyone gives a shit about what we think or do.

I know several journalists who write for websites and get paid for it. They become quite huffy if anyone calls them bloggers.

In my defense, I started writing a blog when my book was published (June 2005 – yikes!). I was advised by other authors and my literary agent that everyone blogs and you simply must have a website. The idea being that readers will be so amused by your blog they will buy your book(s).

Not so much. My few followers have bought the book already, but I persevere nonetheless. Not from a place of arrogance, but a love of writing and the faint hope I might amuse a friend, family member or complete stranger who is bored at work and has stumbled upon my blog by accident.

My good friend and web mistress, Diane, who actually has hundreds of people follow her blog, advised me that blog posts should be no longer than 400 to 500 words (my first few ran to 1500 words), have a photo and be about something. In Diane’s case, she writes about book binding and other creative pursuits. So I decided to include recipes in mine, as I love cooking and hope to publish a recipe book one day. It has been fairly easy to accept that my life isn’t funny or interesting enough on its own.

To this end, please see below the recipe for Prince William’s Groom’s Cake to be served at his wedding to Catherine Middleton. I made it to celebrate my woman-child’s 30^th birthday this month and it was very well received. And yes, I will be setting my alarm to get up for the royal nuptials.

Chocolate Crunch Cake

Ingredients:

4ozs/110 g butter or margarine

10ozs/300 g chocolate (milk or dark, according to preference)

140zs/400g tin condensed milk

Large packet Rich Tea or Digestive biscuits or half and half.

15 glace cherries (Chopped)

2ozs chopped nuts

2ozs raisins

Recipe:

1. In a large bowl, crush the biscuits.
2. Stir in the cherries, raisins and nuts.
3. In a pan, melt the butter, condensed milk and half the chocolate.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture over the biscuit mixture. Stir well until all the crushed biscuits are coated.
5. Line a tin with parchment paper and pour in the mixture.
6. Melt the rest of the chocolate and pour over the cake mixture.
7. Freeze for at least two hours or until needed. Remove from the tin, leave at room temperature for two hours before cutting into slices and serving.