Super blogger sunday: DK from Chef in You

This week's featured blogger is DK of Chef in You..She started with a blog Culinary bazaar and later moved on to her own domain. The recipes are easy to access with special focus on recipes that recipe less time to prepare, vegan recipes, baking and healthy recipes. Read on for some interesting tips on baking and photography..

EC: Tell us something about yourself

DK: I am among those working woman, who consider providing their family with a variety of healthy and delicious meals, as their sole responsibility. I believe in my mom's saying - "It is better to know and not use rather than not knowing at all." That has inculcated the need to learn as much as I can.

Blogging is another channel which helps me to learn more in this gastronomical world with each passing day. The more I blog, the more I learn, more I get exposed to some immensely talented people who simply inspire me to push myself harder.

I find that I have a burning necessity to involve myself in pursuits that are creative and foreign to me at the same time. So a poem then, some art work later and food writing now... the journey continues. My Blog Chef In You is now 6 months old-earlier blog Culinary bazaar was 8 months old :) Yes balancing one’s interest and practical life gets quite tough now and then. I simply prioritize my needs and do things accordingly.

EC: Who and what inspired you to start food blogging ??

DK: I have always been in and out of kitchen from v early days of my life, doing bits and pieces and therefore no stranger to cooking. But after marriage, I realized that I had a foodie for a husband who only furthered my interest in this direction. 10 yrs ago it would have made me go to a library in search of recipes but now it’s the internet world. This naturally led me to looking at recipes on the web and it was inevitable that I landed on many people’s blogs. Seeing that I thought why not? And with that my blogging journey started.

EC: You started with a blog and moved on to your own domain..what do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of having a own domain as compared to a blog

DK: The reason for me moving to my own domain is for a completely different reason than most. I had a blogger name called as Culinary Bazaar which also happened to be the domain name of a Chef. 8 months or so, into my blogging, this person contacted me about having similar names and insisted that I change the name of my blog. That put me in dilemma – I was thinking of the trouble I would have to go through changing my blogging name etc and instead used that opportunity to move to my own domain.

The main advantage I would say is customization. You can do whatever changes you want in your own domain whereas it’s near impossible to make everything work to your whims and fancies in a free blogging platform.

The primary disadvantage is that, as far as storing data and maintaining the site goes, a free blogging platform takes care of all that for you, while we would have to take care of all that headache for our own domain.

EC: How much technical knowledge does one need for successful blogging, especially in case of own domain ?

DK: It mostly depends on how far one wants to go. The basic setup is not too technical - the work involved can be about the same as finding a few good recipes for difficult foods on the web.:) We all been there and done that, haven’t we? But it rapidly gets very technical the more you want to customize and change. Sometimes it gets so technical that you feel the feature is probably not as good as you thought it was ;)

EC: The pictures on your blog are so beautiful..Give us some tips for good photography

DK: Thank you for the compliment :) I am still taking baby steps (or not, if you ask my husband!) in the world of photography. My husband is into photography and every now and then when he catches me taking pictures of my food, he keeps asking me to change lots of settings in the camera (it should be evident from this that the knowledge is still safe with him :)). But when he is not there (or even when he is), the only thing I know from my side is which part of the house to go to, to photograph specific types of food because lighting is very essential for a good photograph. Without it, it’s impossible to take an appetizing picture. The presentation of the food is also essential. I don’t believe in processing pictures a lot, since I want the food to look real – like how it does in real life and not like those Hollywood wannabes with so much plastic surgery that though they look beautiful, they cease to be real J.

EC: You have baking a lot of goodies too..any tips related to baking

DK: The first main tip I would give while starting out is

- START. Its fine if first few recipes don’t turn out alright. Waiting for one perfect recipe will probably never happen!

- Start with something simple. A simple cookie, a muffin or basic cake would be a great way to start. It helps to add confidence.

- Decide what branch interests you. Is it Cakes? Pastries ?..... Or breads? Once decided go deeper into what are the essentials required to make a great looking product. Internet has wealth of information but it could get quite confusing with such a vast amount of it available. Classifying the interest will help to make your learning better and also channelize properly.

EC: Have your recipes been copied anywhere without your permission..How would you deal with plagiarism ??

DK: Not any that I know of. I have been asked permission several times to use my content. And few others who didn’t ask me either linked to my site or used my pictures which had my copyright information on it. As long as the reader gets to know where the content is coming from, I am not fussed about anyone using my content. If they use it without any credit or if they clip my copyright information from the picture and post it, then it’s not acceptable to me. I have not faced such a situation till date (and hopefully never in future too *fingers crossed*)

EC: Your favourite vegetarian recipe

DK: That’s the most difficult question you can ask me.:) I forced myself to select Khaman Dhokla with at least 30 other recipes sulking at me for not selecting them. But at the moment, that was the one that came into my mind. It’s utterly simple to make and an absolute entertainer managing to win everyone’s hearts every single time.