You know what’s all the rage? Food blogging. Wait… right?
This week marks the 10th year that I’ve showed up in this humble space as Joy the Baker. Ten full-on years. Can you believe it?
Here’s what I knew in 2008 when I started Joy the Baker: nothing. More accurately, I knew how to teach myself to navigate the kitchen with a recipe, and I knew I wanted to share that with no one / everyone (aka the Internet).
I knew I wanted to be a baker as evidenced by the fact that, at the time, I was one- working in one of those aggressively lit kitchens where your eyelashes fuse shut if you’re wearing mascara and open the giant deck oven too quickly.
In 2008 I knew that I was a rubbish wedding cake decorator (still am). I knew I wanted to share recipes and stories around food. I knew that there was a space on the internet where, for very little money you could create food and stories and shout into a void with the low, but present chance that someone might shout back. Aka, you could completely disrupt the small world of food magazine based food writing if you just kept at it. So here we are.
In ten years we’ve shared five kitchens: All The Kitchens We’ve Lived In. I’ve been in between 5 and 7 romantic relationships though as some point I decided to spared you most of those silly details. You’ve moved with me from California to Louisiana. I’ve written three cookbooks and you’ve come out for three book tours. There’s TRON, the largest cat this side of the Mississippi. And there have been countless incredible opportunities and friendships that have emerged from this space that just blow me away.
Ten years and it’s all just process. Everything and still.
Here are 10 things I’ve hustled together after ten years as a food blogger:
• Good grief…. be authentic. That means: be yourself, don’t use the word ‘branding’ in a sentence about yourself, and in general- try to use less sentences about yourself. I’m so much more comfortable when I’m just myself and talking about cats and Real Housewives and butter ratios.
• Always learn something new. Listen, I figure if I want to learn how to shove banana pudding into a freshly fried doughnut, you might want to learn too! I’ve recently mastered bagels and I’ll show you what I know soon. Important: Banana Cream Pie Doughnuts.
• Keep it loose, keep it tight. Things are always changing. I wake up at least once a week and wonder if blog life is over and it’s time for me to open a B&B or start bagging groceries at Whole Foods because if so, NO PROBLEM LET’S GO! Creating a career on the Internet is slippery and the key to holding on is not holding on too tight.
• Quality over quantity. Guess how much garbage there is in the world? Plenty. No need to add to it. Let’s just save everyone some time.
• Have some respect for peoples’ time, money and energy. I think a lot about what it takes when you decide you’re going to try a recipe for the first time. Getting to the grocery, finding all of the ingredients you need, fishing your debit card out of the tight slot in your wallet, measuring and chopping, mixing and stirring, wondering if you’re even doing it right…. and then viola! You’re done and maybe a little sweaty, hopefully proud and not disappointed, for better or worse. I hope this space is a tool for you. I respect your efforts.
• You can’t photoshop your way to a good recipe. Listen… if the mini chocolate chips in the cake batter settled to the bottom of the baked cake layers in a chocolate chip cake, sure you can photoshop them to look evenly dispersed- but what good will that do anyone? Well, it’ll make your photograph really popular on Pinterest. What it won’t do is give the person making your recipe a clear idea of how their recipe will turn out because their chocolate chips will sink to the bottom of the pan too and they’ll think they did something wrong and they didn’t…. but they don’t know that and you do.
Pro tip: dust your chocolate chips in flour before folding them into the batter.
• Do what you want to do creatively, even if it feels silly. See: Drake on Cake.
• There is no straight line to a dream. Sometimes, in all honesty, you don’t even know what your dream is until you’re halfway down a road. Persistence. There’s a lot to be said for just keeping on with a thing: persistence.
• Don’t believe the hype or the nastiness. There is plenty of both if you pay enough attention. I keep my eye on the prize and the prize is actually the process.
• Be kind, not nice. Kind people have nice qualities with (very important) clear boundaries. When what you love also becomes your business, kindness is more effective than niceness. In other words, don’t come for me…ya feel me?
• First post: Mis-En-Place.
• Most popular post: Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread.
• My favorite posts are most often unsolicited advice: The 7 Rules of Compliment Club. And I’ll throw these Double Chocolate Sunflower Cupcakes on the list because gosh I still love a sunflower (the perfume included).
Thank you for being here! Thank you for buying my cookbooks and sharing the recipes that you make on Instagram. I mean that most sincerely. I’m really so grateful for you and I’m thankful for this space.
Finally, thank you for being here even though the typos are sometimes ridiculous. Nevertheless, she persisted- you and me both.
xo Joy
141 Responses
This is awesome. 10 years of unlimited joy and fun with you. You are my true inspiration for my day starts with reading your adventure, observation, recipes, and humor. It makes me fresh and gives a different perceptive for my regular day. You rock and always will.
congrats joy! i’ve been following you for years, and as long as you keep posting, i’ll keep reading! :)
Hey, I’m just a new fan of you accidentally :)
You are doing very good job. There is nothing better than a 10-year milestone!
Enjoy your Joy!!
That’s amazing you’ve stuck with it so long! I’ve been fitfully (and more consistently lately) blogging about food and home/garden related topics for several years now, and your post is actually so encouraging to me! I really love what you said about “the prize being the process”. I sometimes get distracted by worrying about followers and page views, but that’s not really why I’m here. Obviously it would be great if people would notice what I have to say, but I can’t force that so I might as well continue to create content I am proud of. Thanks for the encouragement!
You are amazing Joy~
I love following your site, learning new things and enjoying your Sunday reading lists. My 12 year old daughter and I have bonded over many a JTB recipe….You are a class act lady!
Oh wow! Congratulations on the 10-years mark! I have always been a big fan of the blog and go back to your cinnamon rolls recipe all the time! I recently started my blogging journey and this post is giving me hope that I too can do this if I push on. Here’s to many more years on the blogosphere!
Happy happy Joy Joy!!! Here’s to 10 more and 10 more and ….you get me.
Wow, a decade of writing words that just emanate loveliness. Been an avid reader for about 5 of those years and can’t wait to see where this wee space goes!
Joy, Joy, Joy! Your parents obviously could see into the future all the joy that you were to bring to people! Huge fan! I’m not sure of the exact date that I started following you, but it’s been a long time. I’m especially thankful for the eye-opening Let It Be Sunday articles. You have introduced me to more insanely wonderful things that I just wonder weekly how did she get turned on to this stuff? Love your style, your humour, your everything. May you continue to have as much joy as you bring to the rest if the world. Thank you for your inspiration and fun!
Thank your for a lovely decade Joy! I’m with you every week. Can’t belive I still havent done the Cinnamon pull apart, I’ve looked at it so many times… all the hugs from Malmö, Lisa
I’ve come to your blog every week for several years. My favorites to read are your Sunday posts. I was in New Orleans 18 months ago and I thought “hey I should meet Joy and have coffee!” But then remembered you don’t know me. Thank you for opening your world to me and making it feel like I’m reading a blog of a good friend.
So much to say, my friend. But I’m glad you’re you and that you found this space, because otherwise I might not have you in my life, and that would be very sad indeed. I don’t know anyone who works harder or smarter and still finds that sliver of space where you take yourself seriously, but not too seriously. Here’s to 10 more years and everything that’s to come. And thank you for the food – most sincerely. I find myself eating things I swore I would never touch. :) Love you.
Joy,
I discovered your blog and podcast in the winter of 2010 when I was living happily alone and it was too cold to do anything but bake. I’ve been following you ever since and still miss that amazing podcast. Lots of blogs have come and gone during that time but you and yours are always here.
I’ve been a reader since the beginning, and without fail your Sunday posts still give me such pleasure. Congrats and thank you!
I kept staring at the cake wondering how the pineapple was cut/ who cut the pineapple… I was thinking about how long you were planning on doing this for the 10 year anniversary when the sheer genius of it all hit me- it’s a PINEAPPLEUPSIDEDOWNCAKE! IT LITERALLY STARTED ON THE BOTTEM!!!!!
You are an OG blogger! I can’t tell you the times I’ve been in your archives and clicked on links to the blogs that inspired certain recipes, and they don’t exist anymore. Persistence is a real thing! I’m so so glad you’re still doing this. More than that – *doin it and doin it and doin it well* Cheers!
Happy anniversary! Thank you for giving me the best things to read on Sundays and for inspiring my cooking with you own. I love your authenticity (Drake on Cake) and loved the compliment club post (i’ve joined). Keep at it friend.
I know the title of this was “10 things I’ve learned in ten years as a food blogger” but all ten are pretty applicable in everyday life – thanks for sharing! I’m so happy to have discovered you this week!
Happy 10 years! Thank you for having this wonderful space on the internet – it is such a happy place for me to go :) I think my favorite posts are your various birthday posts. They always strike such a chord. Here’s to more to come in 2018!
Happy Anniversary!!! I’ve loved you since day one and still love you today! And I still say that none of this food blogging business would have been possible without you. You rock it! You inspired us ALL <3
And wow–that comment about being kind not nice BLEW ME AWAY <3
Keep it loose. Keep it tight. My new life motto right there! And Drake on a Cake is Life. I already have one picked out to recreate for my boyfriend’s birthday.
Joy you are a true inspiration! I have loved your blog for many years, have your cookbooks and would love to come out to the Bakehouse sometime soon!! Congratulations on ten years!! What an accomplishment!
Kudos on 10 years! Also thanks for all the recipes and real talk. You keep it real, which can’t be said about a lot on the ‘net.
Joy!! 10 years!! Woooo!!! I’ve been reading along for 8 of them, and you are amazing!
I love your blog and I’m glad I found it all those years ago, I’m not sure how many tbh. I like that you post when you post and your content is always no less than perfect. I’m still waiting to get my hands on a copy of one of your books, but I live on the other side of the continent, oops.
Happy blogging anniversary, to many more!!
Love you Joy! Appreciate how you’ve stayed true to yourself over all these years, and it’s why we (and soo many other people) keep coming back for more. xo
Joy! I can’t believe it’s been 10 years already. I’ve been here nearly the entire time reading along :) Your orange/pistachio/dark chocolate cinnamon rolls and peanut butter bacon cookies and single lady cake are ALL still go-tos for me, as I told you in Chicago last spring! Thanks so much for everything you do. We’ll all be here for the next 10!
As someone whose blog is only a bit over a year old, this was a wonderful read. I do so feel that there’s too much photogenic-but-bad stuff out there, and that it’s so much more valuable to just cook and share well. Among all the hype created by social media, it’s good to feel like someone found success by being true to the process, the recipes, and herself. Cheers!
Happy tenth anniversary! You are inspiring!
You and Tron would run the BEST B&B. Thanks for being you, Joy! We’ve loved all the amazing recipes, laughs, and thought provoking articles along the way.
Happy 10 years! Amen to you can’t photoshop a recipe. Food blogging has definitely shifted to what looks best on Pinterest and not how good it actually tastes. Sigh.
Just saying, I would stay at a Joy B&B in a heartbeat
I think I’ve been following you from sometime very close to the beginning. I make your Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread nearly every week. I love the way you express your point of view about things baking and non-baking. I love that you’ve always been so authentic, and kind. So basically following your own advice. Congratulations on 10 years and please keep going.
Be kind. Not nice.
FUCK YES! This is my new life motto. Thank you for it.
not sure what I would do without you ! thank you for putting yourself out there and teaching me how to make the best choc chip cookies everrrrrr
Got you, girl!
<3 <3 <3
Thank you for your blogging and your cooking :-)
This post is everything. You are an inspiration, honest and kind. THANK YOU for taking a leap of faith a decade ago to give us this space, your ideas and creativity. I sincerely thank you for being awesome.
Joy, thank you for sharing with us all this time! I started reading your blog regularly a few years ago, and it was one of the ones that inspired me to start mine. I loved (still do) that there are people on the internet who spread love and hope and kind and funny and smart words, and also delicious banana bread recipes. I wanted to be one of them. So thank you!
Congratulations, Joy! You are a breath of fresh air, even after 10 years!
Happy 10th birthday! Here’s to many more!
Happy anniversary! I’ve read for a long, long, long time and consult your recipes often (dutch babies 4eva). Thank you for all your share with us.
Yay Joy! Here’s to ten more years. I love reading your blog, and your recipes are a staple in my kitchen. Thank you for sharing your recipes with us!
10 years! I must have been on board since close to the beginning, since I remember reading your site during downtime at a job I only worked at from 2007-2009. Crazy! Especially during the podcast years, it’s felt like you were part of my circle of friends. Thanks for creating this community and sharing yourself with us!
OMG- Be KIND not nice. I’m going to print that out and hang it in my office. Congrats on 10 years, and thank you for the recipes and “unsolicited advice”.
Joy, your blog has been a part of my life for years now, and in this strange, one-way manner, you as well. Whenever I see that there’s a new post, it cheers me up and gives me something to look forward to. Thank you so much for that. I’ve made many many of your recipes, they’ve made me and my friends happy every single time and now I can’t imagine my life without brown butter. But what I’ve enjoyed even more are your thoughts and words. You’ve made me think about how to be a better person countless times and I absolutely love your genuine style of writing and humor. You truly bring inspiration and joy (haha) into my life almost every day. I wish you all the best on this exciting journey of yours and I really hope I can make it to one of your classes sometime in the future. Love, Timea
Oh man, I can’t believe it’s been TEN years already, Joy! I’ve been following you pretty much since the very beginning, and while I LOVE your recipes (really really love them), it’s your personality, your writing that’s been bringing me back here year after year. You’re, quite frankly, amazing.
So thank you – for being you, for being an inspiration and for your words.
Here’s to ten years more!
Wow! I have been blogging now for 3 years and I always wake up thinking “Is blogging done?” LOL especially now in the new stages. I like that you’re not too obsessive about the typos also! Thank you for sharing your wonderful food and blog and I wish you 10 more years!
Thank you so much for the past decade! I discovered your blog right as you were beginning, and it was just as I discovered the entire world of online food blogs. I still check in with you weekly and fondly remember SO many recipes I explored over the years with you. Thanks again! Happy baking!
I’ve been reading your blog as long as I can remember, and I’ve made those perfect Brown Butter Chocolate Chip cookies every holiday season. They never fail to impress! Thanks for all the heart you have put into sharing your passion with us!
HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THE COMPLIMENT CLUB?
Your writing has always been my favorite, maj.
You keep me coming back for more. Love you most!
“ I keep my eye on the prize and the prize is actually the process”. So much yes to this! You are such an amazing human and I’m so honored to have been witnessing through your blog how much you grew as a baker and bad-ass creative woman
Can I just say…. six days out of seven I open my iPad and click on the nyt first thing. Except Sunday. On Sunday, your blog is the first thing I read because I can get lost in your Sunday post for an hour.
I love baking along with you but sundays… they are my special joy time.
Thank you for a fun filled 10 years!
HAPPY 10 YEARS!! I didn’t follow you from the very beginning, but I was there even before your first cookbook and now you have three!! Amazing work, Joy! Keep it up!
You are awesome! Thank you. I have followed you for 5 years and you never disappoint.
Happy ten years Joy, you are one of my favourite voices on the internet- thanks for not only putting out awesome recipes but for writing in a way that feels authentic and fun. I don’t ever really comment but I have been reading every single one of your posts for many years now. I love what you do and although you definitely shouldn’t stop blogging you should open a b&b, this Aussie gal would 100% stay there when i manage to visit New Orleans in the future :) Thanks for doing what you do and doing it so well.
Congrats on 10 years!! Love your posts. Your blog is one of my favs. Thank you!!
Thanks for being you, Joy! TBH, yours is one of two good blogs that I still regularly read because you’ve stayed true to yourself while most of the others try too hard and lose that authenticness that drew me in. I’ve so enjoyed following along on your journey. Congrats on 10 years of awesome!
The first post I ever read was Herbes de Provence French Fries where you talked about stranger anxiety and missing your friend’s play and it was the first genuinely authentic article I think I had ever read on the internet and I was hooked! Thank you for what you have done here Joy! Your corner if the internet has consistently been kind and genuine and courageous and so many people have been helped by you!
Congratulations on 10 years, Joy! Your blog is wonderful. Easy to follow recipes accompanied by beautiful photographs. In my opinion, you strike just the right balance between sharing personal information/stories/opinions and recipes. I think a food blogger must share SOME of her/his personal life with their readers, or why even have a blog? Might as well just be recipes (and there are already plenty of those!). My favourite recipe on any food blog is right here. It was the Friday fish and chips dinner. I should have commented then that I thought it was the best recipe on any food blog ever. Cheers and here’s to many more Joy the Baker decades!
What an amazing milestone!! I first started reading your blog in the summer of 2011 and because I’m one of those weird people who needs to start things from the beginning, I binge read (feels like that’s a term) your blog from the start then and have been a dedicated follower since. Thank you for all these amazing recipes that allow me to trick people into being my friend through delicious treats!!
TEN YEARS!! For real! What a wonderful 10 years it’s been, so glad to have you in our lives! xxoo
Joy! I think I’ve been following you since maybe my sophomore year of college (2010ish?), and you’ve never steered me wrong. I’ve loved getting to read your posts and seeing all the amazing things you’re doing with your life. Your lists on Sundays have given me some great articles to distract from the things I definitely avoid doing in my daily life and I’m so grateful for it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
You are awesome Joy!
Congrats on the milestone. I feel like I’ve been reading the whole time. Love what you share.
Mazel Tov on 10 years. I’m a 61 year old fan of yours, and have enjoyed your posts, particularly today’s with the numerous hyperlinks to some of your milestone posts. Best wishes!!!
Joy, I really enjoy your blog – especially now that you live in New Orleans (I’ve really enjoyed your writing and posts after the move, I don’t know if you felt a change at all). I followed your “My Favorite Places to Dine Alone in New Orleans” when I visited last year and LOVED it (can’t wait to return to Sylvain on my next trip)!
Congratulations – it takes a lot of work, and dedication, to keep a blog going, especially when it feels like no one’s reading. It’s a pleasure, but it’s also work. Your photography is obviously lovely, but what keeps me coming back is your writing.
10 years! I know I’ve been following along for a good 6 at least, since right before your first cookbook came out, which I have not had one recipe fail me in that book. Keep up the good work, can’t wait to see what else you send our way. Also your smoked gouda brussel sprouts are my new favorite dish to bring to Thanksgiving! Thank you for sharing your passion with us.
I’ve been binging this British cop show called New Tricks (it’s a woman run team consisting of 3 retirees solving cold cases; aka fabulous) and the Brits have a phrase they use constantly asking if they’ve “had any joy” on the case. Apparently “joy” means success or result, which just seems appropriate for today. Congratulations on 10 years of joy! (You can read about the phrase here: https://britishisms.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/no-joy/)
Hi Joy!
I’ve never commented on your blog before, but just want to say that I love it!
I’ve been reading your blog for many years and has always been one of my favorites. You are a constant inspiration and I appreciate a lot whenever you post/link political/critical thinking posts and adress difficult themes as well.
You keep doing you and congratulations for 10 years of blogging!!
PS. I have done several of your recipes and each and everytime they have been flawless!
Ugh, love all of this. It’s been so fun and inspiring to follow along with you all these years, and here’s to (at least) 10 more! You’re doing great. :)
A hearty congratulations for a job very well done! And thank you for being generous with your blogging advice. Who better to hear it from than the expert?
Thank you for being here.
You’re a hero, I love it. :)
Congrats on making it work and keeping it real for a whole decade! I think I’ve been around for at least 9 of those 10 years :-) I love your recipes (vegan pumpkin bread, single lady pancakes, spicy vegetarian tortilla soup, and orange chocolate scones are long-time faves), but even if I never cooked a thing off your blog I’d still read it for the honesty and fun that you bring. And for pictures of Tron. You’re a gem!
Thank YOU, Joy! Your blog, and your voice, have been a major source of inspiration and comfort during my grad school tenure. You are a peach of a human being. Thank you for being the signal amidst the noise.
(PS – more TRON cat pics please?)
thank you Joy!! You are always an inspiration :)
Many years ago, around this time of the year, you asked your readers to post their new year’s resolutions/wishes for the new year and I wrote that my wish was to have you comment a post on my own tiny blog. The next day, you wrote the most encouraging comment on my blog. My blog is, after almost 10 years, still in the very quiet corner of the internet (nothing I regret) and I’ve stopped reading many “big” blogs but your honest, funny and humble posts are ones that I still look forward to every single week! Thanks for ten great years and hopefully to many more!
Congrats on making it to ten years! I’ve been a fan probably for about 6-7 and I’ve loved your blog from the first time I read it. After recently visiting New Orleans I had one of those daydreams where I thought, “Hmmm maybe I’ll move to nola too. Joy did it!”
ten years! WHAAA that decade flew by. i feel like i joined the JTB bandwagon in 2009. keep creating, keep making. it suits you well. xo
I’ve been following you for years and love your authenticity. Love the bit about the chocolate chips and the tip to coat them in flour…never thought of that. We foodbloggers have to keep it real as in burnt onions and all, ha ha. I published a recipe for cauliflower soup with burnt onions in it because in my real-life world of busy-mom/food-blog life, I burnt the onions and we still ate it and it was delicious. https://www.homeecathome.com/the-home-economist/creamy-cauliflower-soup
Happy Blogaversary! I enjoy your blog and my family and neighbors love your cobbler bars.
Happy 10 Years! A few weeks ago I was in the grocery with my fiance and he asked me to make something for lunch. I don’t even remember what it was, but he realized I didn’t have a recipe for it and said, “Oh! I didn’t mean for you to Joy the Baker make me ___!” That’s when I realized I check your site first before I make ANYTHING. (And the fact that my fiance has realized it, well, that speaks well of him.) I trust your recipes, but mostly, I love your words. As most people have said, your Sunday posts are my favorites. I, too, click through to everything you post, check out the podcasts (I’m going to MFM in a few weeks and am SO FREAKING EXCITED), and save your posts until last. You write so well, with such feeling and matter-of-factness, and I just love it. Congrats on this community you’ve put together here in the void.
I have loved your blog and books (still need to get the latest) for a very long time and love all your new adventures! This past year alone i have gifted your books a few times because adore them. I love planning my baking from your recipe index! Here here to many more years!
~ XO Amanda from TX
Congratulations! Can’t imagine what it would be like without Joy the Baker. I have learned so much from you, both culinary and philosophically! I love all three cookbooks, but if I could only choose one recipe to make, it would be the blueberry pancakes from the first book. I must make those three out of four Sundays. Keep doing what you are doing! Look forward to reading your posts!
Congrats on 10, Joy! I was one of the (I assume many) people who found your blog because of the Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart bread. I make your orange and dark chocolate scones regularly and I’m pretty sure all of my success with biscuits and scones is entirely your influence. Between you and Smitten Kitchen I’ve pretty much left all other food blogs behind because I know I can always count on your recipes. Thanks for being your authentic self.
Joy, you and your blog are an utter delight. Your recipes are delicious, your Let It Be Sunday posts are required reading, and I always look forward to your IG stories after a long day. Thank you and here is to the next ten years!
thank you <3
You’re actually just my favorite. Cheers to 10 years of you being a consistent presence in my life through college, post-college boss lady jobs, grad school, more boss lady moves, 4 cities, etc. etc. You’re the greatest!
I just love this and love following your journey! It’s truly an inspiration to this home cook and aspiring baker. Continuing sharing your authentic self!
I so needed this! I’ve been at my blog for almost 4 years now, and so far it’s been a bumpy (yet exciting) road of ups and downs. Thanks for the reminder to keep on keeping on. :)
Congrats on 10 years! Thank you for being here!
Congratulations Joy! Your voice has been a beautiful addition to my life for a decade. Thank you!
Wow! Ten years! What an incredible accomplishment. Congratulations! Your authentic voice is what has kept me coming back year after year…you’re funny and wise. I wish you all the best in the next ten years!
Thanks for being here! Love the recipes, nola suggestions and sunday links!!
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years, but it has. I have read every recipe post you have ever posted and I have read all your cookbooks from front to back as if they are juicy novels. In some ways, they are – your stories/headnotes are the best! I love this list because after almost 9 years myself, I wonder where this life as a blogger will lead. Not holding on too tightly is such sage advice. Congrats Joy on your 10 years! You are and always have been such an inspiration to me.
I love your Drake on Cake, it always makes me giggle! I may not always agree with you with some articles you post, but I respect you whatever your thoughts are and I enjoy reading your blog. You have also shared some wonderful recipes, of course! Here’s to another 10 years, Joy!
Happy Decade Blog-Birthday, Joy! So grateful for the words, the laughter, and the delicious recipes. Please keep the stories, thoughts, and sharing going – you’re an inspiration!
You’re truly the queen inside and out! xo
You’ve been with me since my first kitchen on my own and the 7 kitchens I’ve had since. Thank you for everything. Im emotional.
Happy 10 years. I don’t know how long I’ve been reading, but it was before the podcast (I loved the podcast). Thanks for 10 years of your voice and your recipes. You’re a keeper!
I adore your blog and have been following from the beginning. I am KETO so sadly can not eat most of your amazing foods but you are so insightful & inspiring none-the-less. I posted on facebook & credited you with your quote “Be kind, not nice. Kind people have nice qualities with (very important) clear boundaries.” because I found that to be SUCH a wise and thoughtful statement. Keep being YOU….I really dig ya. :) xo
I consistently love what you do. Thank you for being authentic, relatable, creative and always positive. Your recipes are considered 100% trustworthy in my book, and I appreciate your humor too. (Yesterday’s Insta stories about The Countess LuAnn and her video which I had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT made my day!) In sum, congratulations on 10 years and thanks for allowing us to see into your delicious life.
Congrats, Joy. 10 years. An accomplishment, indeed. In the government, you would have officially jumped up to earning 16 hours of leave a month, at a private business, you’ve probably just scored a sweet engraved pen, and here? Well, here you’ll earn a bevy of comments and the sweet sweet knowledge of knowing you took a risk and damn, it’s paying off. :P
What a refreshing post this is! Especially on the authenticity, and the kindness > niceness front. We’ve all received some hellish comments that barely even deserve the kind part, haha!
well said Joy. Congrats on 10 years!
I think I’ve been here since 2009… loved watching you explore your writing and your site. Thanks for sharing some of yourself (and tron) here!
Love your blog and your overall life “tone”. It’s refreshing, calming and exciting! Thank you for your hard work!
You are the first food blogger I ever started following. I admire how you’ve kept an authentic voice over a decade. It helps that you are a gifted writer. Thank you for persisting and growing and sharing it all with us.
Faithful follower. I have always loved your work. Keep on keeping on. Thanks for all the learning and the fact that you share your life with us. We are all the better for it.
I’ve been a reader since the beginning. How has a decade passed?!? Congratulations on this milestone. It’s been terrific (and delicious) fun to ride along with you.
Thank you for all that you do, seriously. The inspiration, the conversation and teaching me how to bake/cook – seriously life changing. Thank you!!
Happy anniversary from a forever fan!
All of what you just said is the very reason I read you faithfully, every post. Sorry I don’t comment, I know I should, I just don’t. I still love reading your Sunday posts and admire all you do. Happy Anniversary!
xo,
Karen
Thank you for all of the inspiration over the years!
Your blog was the first blog I found when I realized that I was head over heels in love with baking in 2009. It’s seen me through some of my darkest days, reading your words and looking at your pictures. Thank you for always being a bright spot on the internet when I desperately needed it, I don’t think you can ever know how much it meant, or just how much I need it.
Cheers to 10 years you badass boss lady! xoxo
I love the typos! Makes it feel even more like you’re a good friend sending off a quick email about your day. A friend with killer recipes, tons of useful pro tips, great reading suggestions, and a truly kind (and often nice!) soul.
Joy, thanks for the blog. Very wise thoughts in this post. All of it applies to any job/career/dream. I am alot older that you and was nodding my head in agreement while reading. I hope you are always doing what you want to do.
I started following you when I was in high school and now I’m an “adult” trying to figure out life. It’s so nice to know that there are times you are still figuring things out with me. On days I want to bake something, but isn’t sure for what – I take a stroll through your index and look at things I haven’t given a try yet. You were the very first food blog I started following along, I bought your first book right when it came out and gasped when I found it in the bookstore. You have been an inspiration to me for the last 8ish years – a muse if you would like :) Thank you for always being so straightforward and honest about your life and recipes. We love and appreciate you! <3
Cheers to more years to come!
Wise words that work for all of us, not just bloggers. I am sure I found your website when searching for a recipe for my mom and me to try out. It must have been just before your move to NOLA. Even though I haven’t tried too many of your recipes, I keep coming back. Your ‘Let it be Sunday’ posts are spot on. And I’ll read the articles you link to even if the title would not normally spur me to read it. You’re expanding my world! And that Tron is a cutie!
Ten years of “JOY”! I love your books, blogs, instagrams and love my Sunday mornings were I get to read your perspective on current events. Congratulations and keep up the Joy!
I wake up every Sunday and snuggle in bed with my iphone reading your blog. I explore all the podcasts and articles that you have pointed us to – thank you so much. I’m a full time Care partner and your Sunday Blog carry’s me and lightens my stress.
Wow! Congrats! This makes me feel old…but also very grateful I’ve followed along for most of this journey. Love your observations, adventures, humor, and recipes. Here’s to more of all those good things in the years to come.
Hi Joy, I’ve followed your wonderful blog for the last 9 years and proudly own all of your books. So many recipes I’ve tried in my kitchen, I can’t count them all. What I like the most – they all turned out so well, no failure! None! :) Til today your blog is the only one I follow, just because you make such an authentic impression in doing what you love. And you seem to be such a nice person :-).
Congratulations on 10 years and cheers on 10 more to come! xo
You are an inspiration AND one of my best recipe resources (cauliflower soup is one recent example). Thank you. As a fellow (4-year) blogger, I’m taking your advice to heart!
I don’t think I’ve ever commented on your blog, but I love it so and have for years. I went to a signing for your 1st cookbook at a Barnes & Noble in southern CA and it was so exciting!! I’m so happy that your blog is still thriving, you’ve made the coziest home in New Orleans, and are publishing up a storm. You deserve all of the success you’ve worked so hard for and it really is inspiring. Maybe you should have a celebratory episode of the JTB podcast? :D You and your maj remind me of me and my best friend and that podcast was like a big bear hug (from someone you actually wanted one from). Thank you for all that you do and here’s to many more years of your wonderfully refreshing “brand” of humor, kindness, talent, and a bazillion Tron photos. xo
I first happened upon your blog a LONG time ago – probably close to the 10 years actually! I can’t believe it has been so long. You are amazing and I love your style! Keep on doing exactly what you’ve been doing!
I found your blog through my friend Shawnte in the summer of 2009, and I am so, so happy that she shoved those chocolate vegan avocado cupcakes into my mouth because you’ve been an amazing role model to me and internet-friend, and I’m just so happy “Joy the Baker” is in my life. Cheers to you and all of your successes, Joy! XO
Love. And love your very first post too. Thank you.
Warmly (actually cold – lol) Jessica from Jersey ;-)
I first started following you in 2011. You have been a delight to read and watch. Your recipes that I have made work as advertised. Love the photos to guide my steps. Also, my wife adores pictures of TRON, and still advocates for him to have his own blog/Instagram in case you ever become a crazy cat lady. ;-)
Thanks for being you and being here, Greg
I agree with Adrianne about the kind remark. Excellent. I’ve enjoyed your blog and outlook on life. Even though I am not that into baking, I do pick up tips (I’m more of a savory cook). Thank you, for being you. Cheers to another 10!
Joy, I just love your writing. Never once do we wonder if you are being authentic and that is just so great! Happy anniversary and here is to 10 more years from your faithful readers! Xoxo ?
Be kind, not nice are great words to live by period. I read something along the lines of “Let’s strive to be kind women not nice girls” somewhere (maybe it was here??) and I keep that in the forefront.
Happy 10 years anniversary! I truly enjoy the voice you bring to the world. X
Hi Joy,
I have subscribed to many many blogs over the years but get rid of the ones that don’t contribute to enhancing, education, increasing my knowledge, and enjoyment of cooking. Yours is a keeper. Keep working, you are on the right track.
Been with you from the start, love at first read, tomato cobbler still my fav recipe.
Hi Joy, I started reading your blog a couple years in and keep reading because I love it a lot! I know I can trust your recipes, your writing is fun, most everything is delicious, and Tron is the coolest sidekick. Thanks for making the internet a happy place.
Happy blogging anniversary!! I’m so glad you started 10 years ago! Thank you!
Joy! Happy 10 years. Thank you for brightening my days, filling my belly and thinking up all the things I might want to eat. When I started my public (and not on the internet but unbeknownst to anyone) blog, my first post included a pic with your doughnuts! You’re the reason I own a doughnut tin (I used to live in an Australian country town with no good doughnuts). Just wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you dear Joy, for being here! You are still a huge einrichten for the blogger world and I appreciate that what you learned made you to that expert you are definitely.
With love, Rena
http://www.dressedwithsoul.com