Philia from The Sweetphi Blog is here today with some of her favorite tips and recipes! OMG I haven’t been able to stop staring at her Triple Chocolate Oreo Cookies ALL morning! I’m so hungry and I just ate! They look soooo good! Be sure to check out all her other favorite recipes and visit her site and social media and say “hello”!
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Hi there! My name is Phi and I am so honored to be interviewed here on the fabulous Snappy Gourmet!! I live in the Milwaukee, WI with my husband (taste tester extraordinaire) and adorable dog. I love traveling but also love exploring local farms and featuring local ingredients (and all the fun food related things I come across). Also, I just so happen to be a cheese lover, so I couldn’t have picked a better place than Wisconsin to live – hello dairy land :)
Can you tell me a little bit about your blog?
I have a food blog called The Sweetphi blog where I share simple, sweet & savory recipes and love to share how delicious food doesn’t have to have a bazillion ingredients or take hours to make in order for it to be great!
I’ve always loved to cook and bake for friends and family and experiment in the kitchen, but it wasn’t until the urging of one of my friends that I started my blog. I was looking for a creative outlet and loved the idea of sharing recipes and forming community through food-something I absolutely love!
Since my nicknames have always been Phi (Philia is my full name, pronounced like ‘fee – lee – ah’) or Sweetphi (I even had ‘sweetphi’ as my license plate name in NC…too bad where I live now they only allow 7 letters on vanity plates, ‘swetphi’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it lol) I started a free wordpress blog. The blog was just straight up BAD! I would just make something and then write ‘I made this, you should try it’ and then would post a recipe with a horrible photo that was dark, I’m not even sure if you’d be able to tell what it was! But it’s all a learning process, right?
I was slowly plugging along on the blog without rhyme or reason, and then moved to Milwaukee, WI and met my husband. We had one of those beautiful conversations where we were talking about hopes and dreams for the coming year, and I mentioned that I wanted to work on improving my blog. He is so supportive, and after the conversation I decided to really ‘give it a go’ and have been working very hard on improving it this past year (I moved my blog over from wordpress.com to .org, gave it a little facelift and have been working on improving it ever since.) So even though I’ve had a blog for 3 years, I’d only consider my blog 1 year old!
What do you like most about blogging? What do you NOT like about blogging?
I’d say what I like most about blogging is having a little creative space on the internet I can call my own. It is such a fantastic experience to work on improving it, and now I get so excited and energized just thinking about what is all happening and all that I’m learning on a daily basis…and the FOOD, let’s not forget that! I have created and cooked food I never in a million years would have thought I could create because of my blog!
I wouldn’t say there’s anything I don’t like about blogging per say, I would say that sometimes it feels like a challenge to get everything done, and the blog ‘to-do’ list just keeps on growing, so the feeling of not finishing something you want to is not the best….but the good outweighs the bad :)
What would be one tip you would give to someone who was thinking about starting a blog?”
JUST DO IT! I know it sounds cliche-but if you like food and photography and want to share it with the world, definitely go for it, it is soooo much fun and so rewarding to work on a blog that you have created, but keep in mind it takes a ton of time, so it’s always nice to think of it as a marathon, not a sprint, and if that is something that you think sounds interesting and fun, you should start a blog!
What are some of your favorite recipes you’ve created?
5 Ingredient Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken and Spaghetti
Peanut Butter Snickers Brownies
Where do you get ideas for your new recipes?
Everywhere – talking with friends, going to the local farmers market and just staring at all the beautiful ingredients, restaurants, tv shows, pictures…I always have a little list with me and am adding to it all the time when I think of something I want to make!
Where do you see you and your blog 5 years from now?
Good question! In 5 years I’d love to see it having grown substantially (isn’t that the dream for everyone’s blogs ? haha) and would love to work more closely different companies on spreading the word about good food and ingredients…and I’d love to have the e-cookbook I’m working on finished and have there be a few more done and available for sale :)
Speed round….first thing that pops into your head!
Favorite cookbook (other than your own if you have one):
Anything Martha Stewart – her books are fabulous
Favorite food:
Right now I’d say Mexican – but it really changes daily lol
Chocolate or vanilla:
Eeek, good question….Chocolate? no, Vanilla? Can I say swirl? lol
Ketchup or mustard:
MUSTARD all the way…It’s sad to admit I have something like 6 different kinds of mustard in my fridge right now lol
Coffee or tea:
Another eeek moment…I love coffee but have been trying to drink less and so I’ve been drinking tea lately
Favorite vegetable:
Green beans
Typical breakfast:
Piece of whole grain toast with a slice of cheese
Favorite seasoning or herb:
Mediterranean Sea Salt
Special thanks to Philia!! Be sure to visit The Sweetphi Blog! You can also check Philia out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
(Photos have been posted with permission. All photos are property of The Sweetphi Blog)
Phi @ The Sweetphi Blog says
Thank you so much for the interview Lisa, it was so much fun to answer these questions :)
Lisa Huff says
Thank you for letting me interview you! :)