Hi, Hello, and How Are You?

It’s been a minute since I’ve sat down to write something that I know I’ll actually be sharing for other people to read. For the past couple years, it’s been me creating secret projects, only to get so scared of rejection I don’t revisit them after feedback. Since my desserts cookbook came out in 2017, I’ve been stashing away recipes that have become staples from my early twenties single life, to date night, to pregnancy, to raising a toddler. The goal was traditional: get a second cookbook deal. With that came a lot of complicated steps. Mostly proving how I intend to make the publisher money on this book. Who do I know, who will promote this book, what are my social media stats? It became overwhelming to think about when my main reality is being a stay at home mom to my wonderful daughter. Suddenly this feedback stung so much more than it used to prior to motherhood. Am I failure? I felt this question swirling around my head for months.

But, then, I think the punk ethos finally came back to me. The one that guided and fueled me so much as a teenager. Why am I letting these recipes sit in a file until I suddenly have the time to prove myself and re-do something I already did ten years ago. I don’t want to set up a bake sale table (unless it’s for my daughter) and do pop-ups, just so I can come back to a publisher with some proven stats. I don’t even have time to shower most days, let alone re-live what I already did in my teens and early twenties.

So I asked myself what’s holding me back from sharing my recipes? Is the traditional second cookbook route worth not sharing these recipes for at least two more years? The answer is no. I’m tired of needing a paywall for people to read and put my recipes to work. I want people to start adding my recipes to their rotation, like they’ve done with my first book.

Here is Recipes for Life. What started out as a cookbook proposal is now an ongoing series of recipes for all stages of life. Recipes that got me through my early twenties, date nights, pregnancy cravings, and feeding a toddler. Recipes that are so near and dear to my heart, that I want them for life. Recipes I will pass down to my daughter so she will have them for life. Perhaps more than ever, sharing these recipes are giving me life to a part of myself I don’t get to visit often anymore.

Just a breakdown of how my website works: I will be adding recipes to my Recipes section of the website. I will be adding essays, things I find pretty, etc. to my Life section. For example, this one is under the Life section :)

Also! I’ve added a newsletter sign up at the bottom of my website that you can sign up for. I’m going to keep the format loose. Maybe some weeks it’ll be a blurb about motherhood, a recipe I’m working on, or if a TikTok fashion trend works into my mom lifestyle.

Thank you for sticking with me all this time. And if you’re new, welcome. This is Recipes for Life by Clara Cakes aka Clara Polito-Robinson.

Xoxo,

Clara