The real reward in blogging for me

I love to support new bloggers. When I see a new blog that does not have any followers, I will not think twice at becoming the first. When I stumble onto a blog with good contents and yet there is no comment on their posts, I always leave mine. My reasoning is simple. I remember I was breathlessly joyful when I received the first comment on my post and the first person signed up to "follow" my posts. I was so delighted.

When someone visits my blog, and takes time to leave a comment, I will try my best to reply. When I see a new follower, I will check if they have a blog and if they do, I will always pay them a visit and leave my comment so they know I appreciate their interest and will return it. I want visitors to my blog to know I appreciate them. You see,  friendship is a two way street.

I would be lying to you if I said that I didn’t care if there was traffic to my blog. When I first started the blog, I did feel that way, but I feel differently now. Now that I know what a joy it is to meet new people, and share ideas, and give and receive expressions of genuine care and concern, I have learned just how powerful the social side of the internet can be. As I wrote my blog I began to read articles about how to attract more traffic. One of these seemed to be straight forward and had some common sense advice. I would like to share with you, the tips that I have shared with Luan Ee of Extra Virgin Chef whom, I met her in person last month in Singapore. 

10 Simple Tips To Get 250,000 Page Views Per Month

by Niall Harbison

After reading all the tips in the article, here are my answers to their tips:

1. QPC Comment: I did not pay a professional to design my blog. Mine is a personal blog so it is not professionally designed. My son designed it for me and I am still very pleased with it.

2. QPC Comment: It is true, I get a lot of visitors through facebook. Each time I put up a new post in my blog, I will also post the link on my facebook page. 

3. QPC Comment: I am not sure if this is true because I have no way of finding out but I still tweet the link  of a new post to my blog.

4. QPC comment: Check! I do read many of the great posts that give me great advic. I use catchy titles and I write regular, twice a week. I also guest post on other blogs if invited.

5. QPC comment:  I love sharing because sharing gives me joy. If what I shared gives joy to my readers and something I write inspires them, that is my reward. So yes, of course, what I share is always free.

6. QPC comment: I love to meet my blogger friends if I have a chance. I love making new friends. I just made another new friend, Luan Ee.

7. QPC comment: Pictures speak a thousand words so I share pictures and videos in my blog. I think it is more interesting than just words.

8. QPC comment: I believe in RSS subscription too.

9. QPC comment: I agree that it is good to build a "community" but I did not intentionally do that.  I just took an approach of just being myself and being sincere. After all, at the time I thought the only readers would be my Quay Lo and a few close friends and family. I always try to make sure that I let my friends and family know I appreciate their love and support.

10. QPC comment: QPC is a personal blog and does not directly sell anything so this tip does not apply to me (thank goodness). Each of you, and your friendship, is payment enough for me. LOL, you are payment in full many times over.

My new friend, Luan Ee bought me lunch at Food for Thought in the Bontanic Gardens. The place was simple but cosy. The food there were delicious.

We had a long chat and I got to know a great story behind the big change in Luan Ee's life. If you want to know more, hop over to her blog. You might be inspired by her story to take that frightening BIG step that you have been procrastining, which, could change your life. Before that, you might want to check out the recipe for an easy to make but "to die for" and addictive homemade snack. I wanted make some of these for Luan Ee but I was very tired the day before I left for Singapore so I did not get to it. Luan Ee, see first eat later. I promise to bring some for you when I see you again next time. 

Pecan Brittle

Using Pre-mix

Get this magic mix called Bienetta. A packet of 600 gms cost RM25.00 (I think). I got mine from Pastry Pro.

Ingredients:

150 gm Bienetta

150 gm broken pecan

Method:

Mix above items thoroughly and spread thin layer (about 3 to 4 cm) on the parchment paper and bake in a preheated oven at 170 degress C for 13 minutes of till it is golden brown.

From Scratch:

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

1/4 cup or 32gm (all purpose) flour

1/3 cup or 67m sugar

2 tbsp oil

1 cup or 85gm broken pecans

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celcius (350 Fahrenheit). Spread the above mixture thinly (about 3 - 4 cm) across parchment paper.

Bake on mid shelf for 16 minutes. The sides usually turn brown first. Cover the sides with aluminium foil, close the oven door and turn off the heat. Just leave the pecan brittle in the oven. Alternatively, you can break off the brown edges or cover it with strips of aluminum paper (shiny side out) and put the rest back into the oven, turn off the oven heat, and leave the pecan brittle in the oven.

The brittle should break easily. If not, it is not dry enough. Cut the brittle while it is still hot.


Note: This taste better than the almond crisps that I have made earlier. The only set back is, pecan is very expensive here in KL. Looks like I can only make this for special occasion.

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