LEVEL UP! Skill Up Skillet is 1 year old: A Look Back

Can you believe it? Today is the first anniversary of Skill Up Skillet’s first post. Geeks, we’ve come so far together in a mere 365 days. Skill Up Skillet was created to share new and interesting recipes based off of video games, anime, movies, and geek culture. However, because I’ve always hated cookbooks I was determined to be candid about my culinary adventures. (Spoiler alert: Sometimes ‘candid’ is synonymous with ‘brutally honest’.)

For those loyal readers who have been with us since the beginning, thank you. For our newer readers, welcome! I’m so freaking stoked to have you all here.

Just in case no one’s told you today, you are THE BEST person in the world. Seriously, you’re my favorite.

Fun fact: I hate the color pink.

Each of you gets me one step closer to world domination. Well, not exactly world domination per se, but close enough. Slowly but surely, we’re getting there. For the visually inclined, I’ve compiled this handy infographic:

I own America. Muahahaha.

I still can’t get over it. Today let’s discuss progress, recipes, bests, worsts, and plans for the future. And, of course, stay tuned for the giveaway results. Can you handle it?

(Honey badger don’t care; let’s go.)

Yes, you read that graph right: Skill Up Skillet now has over 1,000 total followers! Somehow we managed to whiz past that particular milestone in the last couple of weeks. I can’t say it enough:

Thank you. All of you. Without you, none of this would ever be possible. May your hearth blaze brightly and your bellies be full of mead!

Without further ado, let’s dispense with the lists!

The Best of Skill Up Skillet – Top Ten

1. Dragon Ball Senzu Bean Gummies – 561 views

   

   I HATE ALL OF YOU.

2. Omelette Du Fromage: A Dexter’s Lab Recipe – 386 views

   

   90’s kids nostalgia, man.

3. Doctor Who Adipose Marshmallows – 364 views

   

   Simple? Yes. Delicious? Yes. Chock full of personality? Damn right.

4. Nightmare Before Christmas Sugar Cookies – 330 views

   

   My first foray into royal icing. Thank you for your support!

5. Portal Slushies – 237 views

   

   It’s nice to be among people who just ‘get it’, y’know?

6. The Lord of the Rings Lembas Bread – 234 views

   

   Not only a fan request, but in the Top Ten?? Yes, it’s really that good.

7. Legend of Zelda Health Potion – 233 views

   

   My compliments to Arcade Block for helping this post take off. ❤

8. Nightmare Before Christmas: Sally’s Blueberry Scones – 194 views

   

   Probably the underdog of the group. These are fantastic.

9. Minecraft TNT Block Cake – 180 views

   

   CHEAP PYROTECHNICS AND CAKE WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

10. Tetris Rice Krispies – 152 views

    

    Pretty tasty for something that almost ended badly.

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COMMENTARY: Right. For some reason, you guys really like senzu beans. These get Googled all the time. However, anyone who wants to see me remaster this recipe is clearly on drugs. Overall, you guys have pretty good taste. And if the TNT cake hadn’t made the list, I probably would be rage quitting. 15. Hours. Of. Fondant.

For Whatever Reason, You Hated (Bottom 5):

1. Zoidberg Meatloaf – 20 views

   

   But why not poor Zoidberg?

2. Minecraft Coal Cookies – 26 views

   

   One year later, Nerdy Nummies made a similar variation; the video is quickly approaching 1 million views. I don’t even…

3. Chocolate Dipped Pineapple Pikachus – 30 views

   

   Okay, okay… I can’t blame you. My mom gave me a freaking pineapple for Christmas.

4. Banana Caramel Golden Snitches – 31 views

   

   It’s because I didn’t make fucking cake pops, isn’t it.

5. Donkey Kong Banana Bread – 31 views 

Well. Fine, then. Still the best banana bread I’ve ever had.

COMMENTARY: Yeah… can’t tell I’m still salty about two of those recipes at all, right? This time we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I do have some pretty strong opinions about my cooking, after all…

• Which recipe was your favorite? Why?

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Over the last year we’ve gotten many kudos, a handful of pseudo-award nominations (which are appreciated all the same!), and even a bit of international attention. I even whipped up a page of Special Features to showcase my favorites. Why not take a peek? Come on, there’s even a Skill Up Shroom reading a newspaper to keep you company! I’ll wait right here.

…

Hum-de-dum-de-dum…

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You’re back? Great! Was that not incredible? Sometimes it’s the little things, y’know?

We’ve gone through quite a lot of changes in our first year as well! Some highlights:

• Connecting with several other geeky food blogs and creating a directory of More Geek Eats, because there’s way too much geek for one blog to handle. More of us means more recipes for you, amiright?
• I created the Feed Your Fandom menu on the left so you can easily search for a recipe based on your interests. Of course, you can always search by skill level at the top for a bit of randomization.
• Speaking of which, you do know about the recipe difficulty rating system, yes? No? Go educate yourself; won’t take but a moment.
• It’s snowing. On the blog. Because apparently I’m not allowed to have snow in real life. Le sad.

Right, moving on to new business, then. Let’s discuss the future.

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The Future of Skill Up Skillet

Some ‘vintage’ eye candy for you.

 

Unfortunately, it is with a heavy heart that I must announce that, due to financial issues, Skill Up Skillet will be cutting back on recipe posts to twice monthly. Due to the Healthcare Act from Hell (my term, thanks) we were forced to get health insurance that we can’t afford to use, but can’t drop without being fined. Heavily. Please let’s not use this as an excuse to talk about politics; this blog was created to escape from such unpleasant things. With that said:

Recipe posts will be published every second and fourth Thursday of the month after the new year.

Believe me, I am even more crushed about this announcement than you’ll ever know. I’m sorry.

Q: Will Skill Up Skillet go dark on skip weeks?

A: Not if I can help it. I have a few ideas, ranging from Geek Meet days to allow fellow geek bloggers to share links to their content, My Favorite (Fandom) Foods articles to share ideas, that kind of thing. I might even consider guest posts! More on that at a future date.

This will not be the end!

Q: I miss weekly recipes already! Is there anything I can do to help?

A: Devastated about fewer recipe posts? So am I. However, if anyone with a spare buck or two would be interesting in making a donation to keep the recipes coming on a weekly basis, donations are accepted via PayPal. You can donate once or as many times as you want by clicking the ‘Donate’ button on the right side of the page under ‘Skill Up Skillet’s Kitchen Fund’. As a small token of my appreciation, the recipe you helped fund will be dedicated to you.

Please understand: Skill Up Skillet is a free blog.  I will never charge you anything to access this site. You are under no obligation to make a donation. Thank you for your understanding.

God, that was dreadful. Let’s do our best to end this post on a happy note, yeah?

The Giveaway has Ended!

Why is there no cord in the picture? Is it an aesthetic thing?

With a total of 111 entries the Blogversary Giveaway was a complete success! Our randomly selected winner of the Death Star Waffle Maker is:

Katherine H.

Katherine, an email notification has been sent to you from the official Skill Up Skillet account skillupskillet@gmail.com. Please contact me back within 48 hours to claim your prize. If you do not respond within 48 hours I will be forced to select another winner. (Please don’t make me be that jerk; thanks!)

Thanks everyone for your participation! I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: I couldn’t do it without you. Sadly, this will be the first and last giveaway for a long while. Though, I think we can manage another giveaway to celebrate, what, 5000 followers? 5000 followers sounds good. We can do it!

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Do you have a friend who enjoys video games, geek culture, or just dabbling in the kitchen? Tell them about us! We love new followers and making fresh connections. For your convenience we have a page dedicated to all of our social media accounts: Follow us! Like us! Pin us! Send us a Tweet! We love hearing from you and do our best to respond to as many of you as possible.

Most importantly, let us know how we’re doing!  What did you think of the Best/Worst of’s? Which recipes surprised you? What’s your favorite recipe? Your least favorite? Have a recipe suggestion? Pop it all in the comments section below, or send me a message on my About page!

Catch you later today with a great waffle recipe. Thanks for sticking around with us. Here’s to another year of geeky greatness!

Cheers,

Leisel

Remember, cooking IRL doesn’t have to be a Feat of Strength!