Day Three Hundred and Sixty Five - Happy 1st Birthday Fromagical!

Fromagical turns ONE today, how exciting! Let's pull out the bubbly and the decadent cheese and celebrate this monumental occasion! Looking back to that first week of posts and my goals, I got to thinking about Fromagical at the beginning of its second year.

Will I stop writing as I said I would -- do the Julie Powell experiment for a year and see where it has led but close that chapter after one year?

Nope! I love the daily routine of writing about cheese, wine, beer, food, life and more. It provides me with the constant opportunity to share my knowledge bringing people closer together while continuing to learn and expanding my horizons, so folks, Fromagical is going nowhere. It's just growing older. Things get better with vintage, don't they?

I've heard that it takes at least a year for a blog to take off and now that I am at my year point, I am writing to you, my devoted Fromagical readers, asking you for the first time to please help spread the Fromagical word to new ears and eyes. My goal for year two is to greatly expand my Fromagical audience, grow the blog's following, and maybe hopefully turn it into a book one day -- of fabulously fantastic fromage fun!

So I'm sure the burning question is how will the blog change in its second year?

We will institute new traditions. Year One traditions of Marriage Mondays and Grilled Cheese Fridays will now become monthly guest appearances. MM's will appear the first week of the month and GCF's the last Friday of the month. Fast easy fresh dinners and cheese spy stories will still make their guest appearances from time to time.


So what will this year's traditions bring?

1. A rotating weekly column : How to splurge vs. How to save? One week we will have a spotlight on a prudent and affordable cheese and the next week something truly decadent and extravagant! This column will appear on Thursdays starting tomorrow.

2. State / Country Spotlight (SCS) : Each month, we will have a spotlight focus on one state and one country. On a weekly basis we will learn about a different cheese/cheesemaker from one US state and one international country. Then at the end of the month, we will tackle a new state and a new country and begin our investigations. This tradition is geared towards educating my readers about the different cheeses being produced in specific geographical regions, learning about how important terroir truly is or isn't. I will provide a suggested pairing for each national and international cheese as well. This column will appear on Tuesdays starting next week.

Thank you dear readers for your support in my inaugural year of Fromagical, I look forward to many more fabulous posts, weeks, years, classes, questions, dialogs, cheeses, wines, beers, and meals to come! Interested in learning about the cheeses from a particular country? Let me know and I will make sure it happens. Have I not covered a topic you'd like to know more about? Please feel free to send me feedback, recommendations, thoughts on this exciting day!