As amateurish as I come across, iFat is not my first blog.
I’ve been on the interwebs in a number of iterations. One of my first blogs was titled…..wait for it…the Isaac Chronicles. I posted daily and wrote about me and made awful pop culture references. Yes, not much has unchanged except I now post food photos along with prose about me and awful pop culture references.
The Chronicles of Isaac was filled with cringe inducing content and is buried in the archives.
The Chronicles of Hilda on the other hand? No cringe inducing content at all. Succinct, yet descriptive content with amazing photos, Hilda is without a doubt one of the best food and travel chroniclers in the game.
iFat: I love hearing origin stories, how’d you get into food blogging?
Hilda: I’ve actually had my blog for almost three years now! I had always wanted to start a blog when I was in uni because I loved blogs like Grab Your Fork, Not Quite Nigella, A Table for Two and Chocolatesuze. When I finished uni I had just been made redundant and finally decided to just take the plunge. It’s actually where the name came from too. My friends joked I should make the blog name “the chronicles of unemployment” but I thought that might be a bad omen for job prospects haha since then I’ve just kept the blog as a productive hobby.
iFat: Not going to lie, I might steal the Chronicles of Unemployment if I ever get fired. It’d just be a blog featuring tales of how I binge watched an entire season of Seinfeld in a week whilst eating 14 cans of Pringles.
Hilda: Luckily I wasn’t unemployed for long but the name kind of stuck so I just went with it!
iFat: You chronicled your trip to Japan earlier in the year, what was that like?
Hilda: Oh my! I have barely scratched the surface with that trip! So bad to openly admit but I have a huge backlog with entries from my Japan trip. I’m actually saving a special story for my 100th blog post which happened in Japan. It’s the second time I’ve been to Japan and it’s honestly one of my favourite countries to travel around. There’s a plethora of things to do and see as well as the best food ever! I can’t say a bad thing about anything I ate in Japan. Ever since the trip I’ve been craving to go back. Japanese food is definitely my favourite. I have such an admiration for Japanese food for so many reasons. Everything has a reason, from the way it’s prepped, cooked, handled and even presented. My favourite experiences in Japan food-wise included having a traditional kaiseki dinner and purchasing a Japanese knife from the Tsukiji fish markets in Tokyo.
iFat: How does the Japanese food here compare?
Hilda: We are pretty lucky in that we have some great japanese food options in Sydney but I think you need to know where to look. In Japan, almost anything you eat is tantilisingly exciting and delicious. Definitely a food lovers’ paradise
iFat: Can I put you on the spot? What was the most memorable meal of your trip?
Hilda: Memorable? Definitely the ramen I had at Ginza Kagari in Tokyo. I landed that morning in Tokyo when a freak snowstorm had hit the city. I was still wearing my plane clothes so not appropriately dressed for subzero temperatures and blanketing snow. I decided I had to go to this one specific ramen place, found the little hole in the wall and waited for an hour in the freezing snow with nothing but an umbrella. It was definitely a memorable experience I wouldn’t necessarily want to relive but thank the heavens the ramen was the best I had ever had.
iFat: Random tangent: I experienced snow for the first time this year when I went to New York this year. I thought an umbrella would help….nope.
Hilda: It helps… a little. Protects the face but that’s better than not protecting the face at all, right?
iFat: I found that the winds accompanying the snow guided the snowflakes right at my mouth and nose…snowverated stuff. Heh. Anywho, I’ve noticed that you’re quite the globetrotter, what’s next for the Chronicles of Hilda?
Hilda: I’m actually revamping the blog soon! I’ll be the first to admit I have definitely neglected the layout and aesthetics of my blog and I’m working with a friend on a new layout which will hopefully be launched before the year ends.
iFat: Ready for the lightning round?
Hilda: Of course!
iFat: Which Hogwarts house would the sorting hat put you in?
Hilda: Gryffindor!
iFat: Favourite guilty pleasure song?
Hilda: J. Cole – Work Out
iFat: What’s your go-to trivia fact?
Hilda: I’m actually awful at general trivia but give me entertainment trashy news and I’d be great. One for you though. Cats never meow to each other
iFat: Whoa…..I had no idea. I’m stealing that too.
Hilda: Haha! Yes, meowing isn’t the way cats communicate to each other. So they only meow to humans. Now I sound like a crazy cat lady…
iFat: I would totally read the Chronicles of a Crazy Cat Lady.
Hilda: Me too
iFat: Favourite iFat post?
Hilda: You literally just posted about Breadfern in Redfern and i really loved the food puns
iFat: Were you mad about not being offered a cameo in the movie Chronicle considering you were the inspiration for the title?
Hilda: I did throw a diva tantrum when I found out… No, no, of course not! My movie is coming out soon haha
iFat: Can…can I be in the movie?
Hilda: I’m pretty sure all food bloggers will be!
iFat: Sydney Food Bloggers: The Movie coming out in 2015. It’ll be like the Avengers except way more delicious.
Hilda: I’d watch that
iFat: I’d download the torrent….and cut!
Aww definitely making me miss Japan. And so lovely to be mentioned in such fine fooding company!
Someday down the line, I hope someone says “yeah, I got into blogging because of iFat.”
That’s the dream.