When I read about Sndbox Summer Camp from @anomadsoul and @guyfawkes4-20. I knew I wanted to be part of it. Mostly because it was promised to be a challenge to get us out of our comfort zones. on March 1st I kept refreshing their pages to see what the quests would be. As you all know the quest was not posted until some days later. And as luck would have it a quest on my number one love food was in there. So here goes my task number one.

A simple story of my journey to where I am at the moment. It has not been a simple journey but it has been fun all the way. I enjoy seeing the smile or those grunting noises people make when they taste a delicious meal. It is priceless. and magical. And for that, I would keep cooking.

Pre- steemit

The early days

I grew up in a family of five siblings, my three older siblings are in a totally different age group. So when I was learning to walk they were joining high school. Learning how to cook and using me as a test subject for their hobbies. I remember watching as my mother taught them how to make different traditional foods, or how to clean and dust better. I was dying to grow up by the time I was six. By then my parents hadn’t adopted my younger brother yet. I was the last born and thus I got away with everything. I remember one time boiling all the milk we had and adding a whole can of chocolate – I had to make hot chocolate for my playmates – my mother went crazy, and the chocolate wasn’t too bad. This was the beginning of my cooking journey at 8 years old, my mother started teaching me the simple tricks of cooking. She called it training me to be a better mum. I learned a lot from her.

For the longest time, I did not consider myself a great food person, a foodie or even a good cook. I knew I loved food, but it never really occurred to me how much I loved to make it until I was in the campus. Coming from a boarding high school I had two options, prepare my own meals or eat in the school cafeteria. The food at the cafeteria was far from what I was willing to subject my body to. This is where experimentation and creation of new recipes started. I was ready to experiment with the readily available, affordable ingredients. I made a few variations of porridges, pancakes, cereal mixes for breakfast and my friends could not have enough of it. I graduated to brunch on Saturdays where I could research on a few ideas online, where I did not find the exact ingredients I could replace with what was similar and still my friends were amazed. I tweaked some of my mother’s traditional recipes and the outcome was almost always better. I was then labeled ‘chef’ with people flocking to our quarters for food when they heard we were cooking. I remember all the cook-offs and the pancake making competition each that allowed me to learn a different trick from each of the challenger.

At home, I became the go-to person when it came to the preparation of any meat. I had previously made my uncle and auntie a pot fried beef served with ugali and some traditional vegetables and they could not shut up about it. Now every event held by family members I had people asking to go and replicate the meat dish. “Or could you make it with chicken?”, “What about pork?” and “that Kambuzi can it also be made to that?” were some of the questions I would get and I did not disappoint. I am still the point person for these events. My younger brother decided to join culinary school out of me making him cook with me all the time. He says he fell in love with it.

See me below with my friend Maria from Russia making some koeksisters. We had gotten the recipe from her friend in South Africa.

For a first run, I believe we We nailed it.

Steemit

I discovered steemit while researching Zero cash. I was already sharing pictures and small posts on Facebook. I figured why not earn while doing it. Another thing the stories I read about steemit were all very uplifting. I watched a few videos online of how people felt that steemit was a family and somewhere where they kept growing their knowledge and experience. I still could not believe how I hadn’t heard about it before. I had before scribbled a few short stories, a few recipes and written some advice letters. Maybe, on steemit I could reach more people. I signed up and downloaded the white paper to read as I waited for the approval to come through.

My first few posts

I was not as successful in my first few posts as some people usually are. I believe that if I had joined purely for money I would have given up that first month. But I was on fire. This was a family I was building up. Foundation needed patience – advice from several posts I read on the first month on steemit- and I was going to be the queen of patience. To not give up I had two of my friends sign up. @sirkim and @trusit. One of them gave up but we kept on encouraging each other with @sirkim. So far I have had more friends join in. Some are on average active than others. We keep motivating each other and hope to get better results.

The $100+ post and a jump to 49 in reputation

Then on one Saturday I made my famous African donuts and thought to put them on steemit. This is my signature snack dish. This was a very well informed decision. The post was curated by @curie I got 84 votes from the regular maximum 10. With total rewards of $115, my patience had paid off. My good work had been recognized. I had the proof. I danced for almost half an hour. I know it seems lame but I was happy. Happy that I was adding value and it was recognized.

But that was just a single post. Of course, my foundation building was not done. I didn’t still have the reach I needed. I felt appreciated, but I still did not feel like I belonged. I went on to research more about communities available to join. The @jeanwandimi created the Kenya steemit group. We came up with a discord server, at the beginning we were a group of only five. We shared Ideas, had physical meet-ups and researched on other communities online we could belong to.

Our second meet up in Nairobi I was the photographer. @jeanwandimi, @slyviam @cmbugua and @stbrian deep in discussions sharing ideas

Around this time we found several groups and tried them out. What I believe is you have to somehow share some values with people you associate with. One group that has really contributed to my growth is steemitbloggers run by @jaynie the account is @steemitbloggers. Joining this community was a referral from @jeanwandimi. It was a different kind of group. I have been kept on my toes by this community, challenged to pull up my socks, Create valuable content but, most importantly I have been able to create friendships and I feel I belong. I have learned so much about different topics and I have also contributed to my posts.

I also joined @air-clinic, a health center on steemit. Now, these guys rock. Get any diagnosis here and @nairadaddy is one of the doctors here. My sister is also one of their virtual doctors though she is not active at the moment on steemit.

Why I blog about food.

Cooking is one of my hobbies. I would say the best one when I am stressed, I cook, and when happy I cook. There is not a situation I wouldn’t find something to prepare. I feel relaxed in the kitchen.

One of my biggest motivation for making food is to create simple dishes for those who say they cannot cook to follow. I also try to make them healthy even for those trying to lose or not gain weight.

As I said before, I have always enjoyed the reaction people have to tasting good food.

My food posts have pushed me to try more dishes over time. I am creating more recipes and eating different foods often now that before. So that is a plus on my personal side. So in a bid to produce more valuable content I am also becoming better at preparing food.

I got sick last year and as a result, I stopped exercising. I added 10kgs and this year I am working them off. Losing weight now since I am older is a lot harder. I, however, believe diet is what is going to make a difference in all that.

Recently I started running #simplefoodcontest

I felt that other people also have ideas on how to cook different simple foods. Whenever I travel the option is to eat frozen food, eat out or cook if a kitchen is available. While eating out is a wonderful experience that I go for, I hated most of the frozen foods I have tried. So why not give people ideas on how to make simple dishes and stay healthy at the same time.

This contest will run weekly, though sometimes I might get too busy due to unavoidable situations, I hope to keep it going forever. I am learning a lot from those who participate and I would not want this to stop. Their food recipes give me ideas for my simple foods and I am loving it all the way.

I do not blog only about food however

I have a topic on memories, finances (from my experiences of being broke and attaining financial stability) and I hope to start blogging about my day job in IT soon.

Where I am and where I am aiming to be.

I believe giving myself a pat on my back is not going overboard, though I would ensure that it is just a small pat. I have come a long way in the last 200 days I have been on steemit. Every day is a different experience. My followers have grown as is with the posts I have made. My earnings are also growing as well my SP.

Writing and editing my own posts is one achievement I feel very proud about. It is not easy. This has been the reason I am yet to put up some posts. I am also doing more research to verify my facts and I have ended up learning a lot in that time. In short, I have only good things to speak of so far.

I am however looking for mentors. I am looking for a group to work with together to make this experience even better to learn more, produce better quality and most importantly make more out of it.

In a simple graphical representation. I believe that this journey has just begun. Through hard work and commitment, the following can be achieved.