Dear gentle reader, I have some amazing news: my smoked duck carbonara recipe has just been cited in Express UK!! š„³
OMG!
This is such an incredible milestone after I’ve poured hundreds, possibly thousands, of hours into this website.
Cook with Ipohbunny began as a hobby project during the COVID19 lockdown, when I had time to kill.
Navigating WordPress was (and still is) brutal, but it was the only platform I knew, so this luddite carried on.
A couple of years later, I met my good friend and former collaborator Alan Lim KL , who pointed out, “Why don’t you install Google Ads? At least can cover your hosting cost mah.”
He was right. I started making a little money. Nothing life-changing, but at least the website was no longer a cost centre bleeding money every month.
Then, late last year, Australia-based food personality Jackie M happened.
She sent me a DM after reading my website. Would I like to join her on a culinary tour in collaboration with Tourism Perak? She felt I was right for the job because, as a former food and travel reporter, I would bring “journalistic rigour” to the table.
OMG, of course, Jackie!!
The impact was significant.
From a few cents a day, I now make enough to treat myself to some nice meals every month.
You know what’s funny?
Everything started happening when I stopped obsessing over numbers and focused on doing work I genuinely enjoyed.
I did this for years without generating any revenue.
I spent many nights learning the ropes of managing a website with my limited technical knowledge (and yes, sometimes cursing the cms and the service provider lol).
But still I carried on. Because I can’t imagine a day without doing something related to food or writing.
Thank you, Ewan Gleadon for citing my little blog. May this be the start of more to come š
Alexandra Wong is a Malaysian food writer, recipe developer and the author behind Cook With Ipohbunny. She shares practical family recipes, restaurant recreations and home-cooking tips inspired by Malaysian Chinese cuisine.