1. Why did you start food blogging?
I’ve always loved sharing my kitchen chronicles as I would call them in my IG stories, with my family and friends on my personal page. It was always such a fun thing to do. In addition, I would always help my mum out in the kitchen – to be honest, I never knew I was soaking up so much from her during those times. I never had the intentions to ever start a food blog. However, as time progressed and I started to cook more frequently many encouraged me to take it further and do more. After years of saying no, and “I will never have a separate IG page for food”, I had to bite my tongue because the joke was on me! In March 2020, I started The Seasoned Skillet. I can truly say it was one of the best decisions made. This short story has taught me two things; nothing happens before it’s time, and your greatest blessings are on the opposite side of fear.
2. Is The Seasoned Skillet your full-time job?
I like to say The Seasoned Skillet is one of my two full-time jobs. I do currently work as an analyst, and I love everything about what I do. It helps to pay our bills, allows me to run The Seasoned Skillet smoothly, as well as enables me to enjoy the little luxuries of life that I love so much – i.e. eating out with friends, travelling, purchasing things from Amazon (lol). However, I will say, the options are endless when it comes to the possibilities in this industry – only time will tell!
3. How often do you cook at home for yourself/family?
My husband and I do not have any children yet, so it’s just the two of us. I do the bulk of my cooking for The Seasoned Skillet on the weekend, as my weekdays are dedicated to my full-time job. However, during the week both the husband and I take turns. I still do the majority – on average around 4 times per week. The other days we eat leftovers, or order in (especially on Friday Date Nights).
4. Do you eat all the food you take photos of?
So, I have this really weird trait – I rarely eat a full serving of whatever I prepare for The Seasoned Skillet. Reason being, I spend so much time preparing (handling, flipping, cooking, stirring, taking pictures, recording videos etc.) that by the time it’s ready to be consumed – I AM OVER IT! However, I hate seeing food wasted. Majority of the time, my husband, my cousins family, or any friends/family that around at the time comes by for a takeaway meal (always looking for taste-testers). Anything else gets eaten the day after, which helps me test how the recipes holds up a day later, or being refrigerated, frozen etc.
5. How long does it take you to get the perfect shot?
For me, the reason capturing the “perfect shot” may take long is if the composition, balance, lighting or in more understandable terms the overall staging of the subject (the food) is off. Staging/styling is the “longest” part, once that’s sorted and capture is easy! On average, I may take anywhere from 5 mins to 45 mins.
6. How do you make money food blogging?
Food bloggers primarily get paid via ads, affiliate links, and sponsored posts. If you have an ebook, cookbook, merchandise etc. these are also other streams of income. For my sponsored posts, you will always see a disclaimer and the opinions are of my own. It’s cliche to say, but working with brands I don’t love and enjoy wouldn’t translate well so I choose not to.
