The strange world of good manners in blogging and a batch of savoury scones


Just recently I complained to another blogger about the lack of comments on my own blog, and she told me that the number of these tends to increase the more you yourself leave comments on other blogs. I found that really surprising, because I tend to leave a rather hefty amount of comments on plenty of other blogs, but if you check mine out, there's very little feedback that I get. I stated that to her, and she was the one being surprised by my experience, because, and as she pointed out, it's a question of politeness, isn't it? Going back to that blogger's own blog and leaving a comment there, it's only good manners. So I thought, as well. It's what I do, even if the blog in question is not the kind of blog I usually read or comment on. If the blogger stopped by on my blog and left a comment, even when it is so noticeable that the person in question didn't even read a word and is only fishing for visits and statistics, I do reciprocate and leave a comment on that blog.


Of course there was also mention of bloggers who usually have over a hundred comments on their blogs, they just don't have the time to reply and visit every single one of them, and that's understandable. But the fact is there is only a couple of blogs who get close to that number of comments that I usually read and comment on. All the rest have about the same quantity of comments, and it's doable. In fact, I sometimes see they comment on other blogs, but never on mine. And, quite frankly, it makes me wonder. It makes me question why's that. Because it can't really be a question of time, if there's time to comment on other blogs I guess they could include mine. And good manners don't seem to cut it, as well, even if I leave comment after comment on their blogs, they don't seem to consider it in bad taste not to visit mine back. So I do have to end up thinking that it's got to do with the blog per se. With my blog. Maybe it's about me, as a person, perhaps they cannot stand the person behind this blog and they refuse to waste their time coming here and leaving a comment. As I have said many, many times I am not a likeable human being. I'm honest, and realistic, I'm polite, yeah, but I am what I am, and most people will not like that. It's a well known fact.


Or maybe it's the blog itself. Maybe they tried to visit once, twice, leaving one or two comments, but find everything here so boring, so annoying, so uninteresting they don't even bother anymore. I do complain and rant a lot, or else am writing about music and books and fashion and human nature, instead of focusing on what this blog should be about: food. I write far too long posts, and no one has the time to read long shit anymore, what with all the demands of modern life. So maybe they opt to visit blogs that have smaller posts, less verbose, that speak of food and ingredients instead of blabbing on about life in general. I mean, who cares about other peoples' lives, their state of mind, their thoughts or even their troubles? No one go time for that anymore. We want fast and we want speedy, society says. I never give out fast nor speedy, so that is actually my bad. Plus, I write in english and that might turn out to be a huge no-no for most of the blogs I visit and leave comments on. See, those are mostly portuguese, and perhaps the authors find it daunting to have to read a loooong post in english. Of course, nowadays most people simply comment without even having read a word of what's written. So I'm still wondering about the lack of comments.


It could be the photography,  grant you that. Most of the blogs I visit that are food related - I also visit some fashion blogs, yeah. - are so much better than mine when it comes to the quality of their images. I mean, next to them, my photos are like trash, my food styling is ridiculous, and there's not much beauty in them. Food tends to not look very appetising, I do know, when it comes to my photographic skills. So maybe that's what pushes those bloggers away, they don't leave a comment because they don't even visit what they consider to be an ugly looking blog. I always try to improve this part of my work here, but I lack the talent, obviously. And maybe the recipes do not help, either. I mean, I like the food I pop in here, of course I do, it's what I normally eat and cook around the house, but maybe it's not good enough for others. Too simple, too random, too common, never an unexpected ingredient, no food knowledge whatsoever, no sense for pairings and for cooking with things that are considered to be the IT ingredients nowadays. My food is too different, and not in a good way. Or maybe it's simply because popping here for a visit and leaving a comment means wasting precious time, and they don't get anything back for that time waste. My blog will not generate visits to their own blogs, could that be it? I wonder, and will keep wondering.


But seeing that, in the end it is my blog, and I cook what I enjoy eating, I tend to go back to the things that make me happiest in the kitchen and at my table. Like savoury scones. I'm a sucker for savoury scones, you have no idea. I love to get stuff like cheese, sweet corn, sundried tomatoes, olives, chouriço, into them. I also love to pack them full of dry or fresh herbs, trying out for combos that are safely vouched for worldwide, like oregano and sundried tomatoes, or olives and dry coriander, cheese and rosemary. And then there might be times when I will go for unusual pairings or maybe they're only unusual for me. This time round I was only going to cook one set of scones, but I ended up making yet another batch. On half of them, I added parmigianno, oregano and sundried tomato. The other batch had parmigianno as well and loads - I do mean loads! - of chinese garlic. I had never used chinese garlic before, and I believe I had only ever tried it as part of some chinese takeaway dish or other, but when I went to the chinese supermarket recently, I couldn't resist bringing home some, and it was perfection on these scones. I do mean perfection. I suppose it must taste a lot like wild garlic, so if you don't find chinese garlic, well, I guess wild garlic will do nicely, thank you.


So here's the recipe for you guys, I hope you give it a try and enjoy it!!

  • 1 cup whole oat flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 60 gr butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 90 ml milk
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • half a dozen sundried tomatoes, chopped
  • a bunch of chinese garlic - a big bunck, if you please
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano cheese
Beat the eggs with the milk and add the butter. On a bowl, pour the flour, the baking powder, the salt and the cheese. Mix together. Then add the egg, butter and milk, incorporating everything together. Divide into two batches. To one add the chopped sundried tomatoes and the oregano, to the other add the chinese garlic. Mix well into the batter. Pour over a floured surface and roll into a cilinder shape. Cut equal sized chunks from the cilinder to form the scones. Do this first on one batch of socnes, then the other, don't mix the two batches together. Place each scone onto a trey lined with baking parchement, leaving a bit of space between them so they can rise, though they do not rise that much. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180º for about 40 minutes, but seeing that each oven is different, do keep an eye on them. Enjoy piping hot with some herb butter or let them cool enough to dip into some yogurt dips.



Comments

  1. Alho chinês??
    Notava mais movimento no meu blog quando eu própria lia e comentava mais, mas agora como ando a mil 24/7 e negligencio o blog, é normal ele ter morrido um bocado. Mas volta e meia há dias em que tenho centenas de visitas diárias. A minha única conclusão lógica é que só pode ser um erro x)

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    1. pah, eu tb noto aí umas semanas em q tenho tipo 400 visitas p dia, mas nas outras é tipo 4, 5 visitas p dia - daí q tb ache q há um erro nesses numeros mais elevados. Mas a verdade é q eu deixo mm mtos comentários em vários blogs, e nunca recebo comentários de volta. Lá eu achar q é uma questão de cortesia devolver a visita e o comentário n quer dizer q o seja mm, e num mundo tão busy busy como o de hoje, de certo q há mto blogger q só se dá ao trabalho de visitar e comentar em blogs q sabe há partida vão gerar tráfego no seu. É a realidade de hoje.

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  2. Maybe there's sth wrong with the program you use to leave comments? I think you hanged it, didn't you? For instance right now I have no way to register to leave a comment. I had to use my old google blog. Sometimes when it's difficult people just pass and leave without leaving a comment. I am not so good with leaving comments lately. I'm sorry for this, I'll try to be better. I just travelled too much lately and have a problem with catching up with work and blog. But hopefully I'll manage one day. The scones look delicious!

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    1. Maybe you have a point there, I recently tweaked with the design and the layout and perhaps did something to the comments. I also don't use google+ and I can see that it's not allowing comments from google+ users, but I have allowed now for all comments, even anonymous, so I hope it works.

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    2. It does work! yupi :)

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    3. YAY!!!!! I'm glad it does, let's see if it helps.

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  3. Ah it's Marta from What should I eat for breakfast today :D

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  4. i don't think people are like, i don't want to comment on HER blog (; commenting is fun and i think it's a good way to connect with people in a proactive way, but dang it takes forever. i get 20ish comments on my weekly post, and regularly comment on other blogs, and that already takes 5-6 hours (i'm usually procrastinating anyways lol). i also think it depends on the kind of blogger; there are some people who just won't comment on another blog no matter how many comments or viewers or stats they have.

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  5. I have often commented on other people's blog and rarely do I have anyone comment on mine. If I like the content then I will take the time to say so and let the author know. Although I do think it has to do with manners if one comments or not, I think it is also a time issue. No one seems to have the time anymore to read a long post and think about what has been said. I also think it sad when I write a comment, sometimes asking a question, and there is no reply. That said, there are a few very nice bloggers out there who answer comments and emails I send.

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    1. Yes, I find it very daunting that people don't have the time, or say they don't. There's a lot of very busy people out there who always manage to find the time to reply and to pay a visit back, so I do feel it's a question of NOT wanting to find the time, really...

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  6. Boa Noite!
    Esta receita vou fazer no proximo brunch cá de casa ;) Obrigada pela partilha.
    https://baptis-sweetlife.blogspot.no/
    by Sweet Life

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