Do I address the fact that it has been three years since I last posted to my blog? Act as if there has been no blatant abandonment on my end? Act like a sibling who borrows your clothing?
My absence comes from living a life and working a job that took up every minute of my time! For the past four years, I've been living and working in New York and if anyone knows New York, you live to work and you work to live. Anytime you have off, you take for yourself-sleeping, eating and drinking, hanging with friends, taking train rides out of the city, and drinking beer in the many bars in your neighbourhood. Or, if you're like me, finding that one bar in your neighbourhood, close to your friends and home so you can always walk home after a night out!
When I first moved to New York, I really tried to blog recipes but I became totally enamoured with the city and meeting new people. I wanted to spend my days off exploring the city, trying new foods, absorbing all New York had to offer. Also, I didn't have all my blogging gear and I wasn't at all happy with the photos I was taking. I didn't want to post something that I wasn't in love with. If you know me, when it comes to something I'm interested in, I can be quite a perfectionist!
After my first year, I moved apartment. There was no window in the kitchen. So, for the three years I lived there, blogging wasn't a possibility for me. I couldn't take good photos in a windowless kitchen without natural light and I wasn't going to post something I didn't believe looked good. I loved that apartment and so as I settled into my new home and got busier at work, blogging took a back seat in my life.
But I'm back! And back to Ireland with all my blogging gear and a kitchen with multiple windows! And I can tell you that I have eaten some AH-MAZ-ING food the last four years. You could say that my three year break from blogging was all in the name of recipe research for future blog posts!
I didn't realise until writing this recipe this morning, that the last recipe I posted was on August 17th 2015. Exactly three years ago. To. The. Date. Three years exactly! Wow. This was not planned. The world works in mysterious ways!
I'm getting back into it with a light easy recipe that is great for the family, uses lots of vegetables and can easily be halved, doubled or customised to suit your taste buds. Zucchini Boats were something I ate when I was working. I worked long days -and having this vegetable- rich dish waiting for me when I got home, made up for the lunch I sometimes missed.
I hope you like it and thanks to all those that still use the blog and have reached out over the last few years to see if I'd be coming back to Holly's Pantry. This one is for you!
Holly, x