Hey Sis, Try This
Once upon a time there was a blog.
It all started (over a cocktail probably) five years ago…
I had just moved to Austin, Texas with my, at that time, family of three + dog, excited for adventure in a new state but a little stunned by the loneliness a new home can bring. My sister, living in rural Wisconsin, finishing a graduate degree, also found herself at the beginning of a new adventure in marriage, and probably a little lonely herself out there amongst the cows.
Conversations via text and occasional phone calls often centered on food. We shared favorite blogs, the recipes found there, and ways to get noticed on Instagram. “We really should start a blog” was a phrase we repeated over and over. We weren’t the first people to say it. It was the early 2010s after all.
Maybe it was the bourbon (or the gin.) Maybe it was the restlessness. Maybe there was some nostalgia lurking for the old days when we would share a meal together at a physical table instead of across phone lines. Whatever it was, on the Christmas of 2013, I opened up a present from my sister with the picture of a logo.
She had purchased the naming rights to a blog.
Hey Sis Try This, it was called.
And I was here for it.
So that next January with nothing but our computer screens, our DSLR cameras, and lots of passion for food, we launched the first post to our shared blog. Test the recipes, shoot the photos, write the posts, share in the giddiness of a shared passion. We weren’t sure what we were doing but we knew we wanted to do it.
And we did. For as long as time would allow. Time, however, is a commodity. And sometimes we find that commodity must be spent on other projects. Like the four children between us that came into this world to join the one since the blog’s birth. Or the dental school. Or the other writing pursuits.
This space is no stranger to my feelings on the ever changing pursuit of a passion. How something you love to do doesn’t disappear when the attention to it does. Instead it waits for you. Until you are ready. Until the time is right.
So while it waits, it needed a home. It only made sense that home should be here on Raise & Shine.
There is an aching in my heart when I read back through these posts. Because they don’t just tell the story of food. They tell the story of two women - sisters, moms, wives, friends, students, writers, artists. The growth of these women is what this space is all about. Raising and Shining, with a heavy emphasis on shining because good food will always make you smile.
If the Hey Sis Try This site is new to you, welcome! I invite you to look through the blog for some of our favorite recipes. The most recent post I did on my sisters birthday almost two years ago I feel captures the true essence of what this venture of food and sharing is all about (I suppose good writing does improve with age!) Maybe you like to start from the beginning, especially with the Christmas season approaching. Or perhaps, seeing as Thanksgiving is next week, you want to start here for inspiration.
If Hey Sis is not new to you, welcome back! Thank you for your cheers and requests to bring this blog back to life. As food stories surface, I promise to continue to give them life in this space.
“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
I can see no better way to close out this post than with wisdom from a beloved mentor of both of ours, Julia Child, who demonstrated that no matter what your age and background, it is never too late to go after what you love.
Especially if what you love is butter.