I didn’t start Cooking Comically as a money making venture. I started it because I saw an audience enjoying something that I would’ve done anyway. I do this because I’m passionate about comics and food and combining the two has proven to be one of best things to ever happen to me. Just knowing that there are people reading and enjoying what I do blows my mind every time I think about it. And as it turns out there are certain people and organizations that want to help me make this idea the best it can possibly be. American Express, unbelievably, has turned out to be one of those organizations. They very kindly invited me to be a part of their #PassionProject series and after speaking with the people involved and seeing the others that they had included I was very happy and flattered to be a part of it. .
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, children of… well not all ages, that’s not really appropriate, what, with all the swearing and knives and booze going on around here but, look, I’ve got an announcement. First, I would just like to say that I hope you enjoyed the April Fool’s recipe. Judging from the reactions I think it ended up seeming a little more plausible than I intended, but that’s fine. I assure you nothing about the style of the strip is actually changing. Secondly, and this is definitely NOT a joke (amazingly)…
It is 192 pages of reasonably priced comic-recipe goodness. There are 35 recipes total, the majority of which are completely new and will not be available on this here web space. And not only that, but you also save a healthy chunk of change (at certain places) by picking it up early. So now if you want to throw your wallet at the screen, something will actually happen. That’s a thing. (At least I’m pretty sure these places accept wallets…) Anyway it is still a little ways out from being released, but seeing as how you’re a good and smart person that thinks just a little under 6 months ahead, I trust that deep down in your heart of hearts you know what must be done.
I just wanted to acknowledge that there has been some turbulence in the up-time of the site as of late. Unfortunately this has been out of my hands and in my hosting provider’s. DreamHost (who I have used for years and years without trouble) decided to change up the server hardware that my site is hosted on without warning and this caused a couple of days of intermittent service a little while ago. Then after all that was finally said and done the mandatory auto-upgrade of WordPress that DreamHost does crippled my ability to edit the site for a day. Then the rollback/restore that fixed that ended up jacking up the site’s file structure so I had to shuffle some things around and reupload some images. I wanted to apologize for the shoddiness and assure you that I’m working on moving towards a more stable system. Thanks for your patience guys. There are new recipes in the works and another exciting development brewing that I’ll be able to tell you about shortly. Stay tuned. .
-Tyler .
After highschool I planned to go to art school, but I ended up in the Navy. After the Navy I planned to go to school again, but I ended up traveling the world on my own for a bit. When I came back I planned to save up some money and travel even more, but I ended up going to school. I planned on transferring and then I made a silly comic about chili and put it on the internet. If there’s one thing about my life that I can always count on, it is that I never end up where I plan. And really, that’s been the very best part about it. I can never know what’s going to happen next. And what follows here is probably one of the craziest detours I’m like to take.
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Yep. Today’s the day, folks. I’ve known for a little more than a week, but now I finally get to tell you.
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It is my sincerest pleasure to announce that Perigee Books will be publishing the very first Cooking Comically cookbook in the Fall of next year. That’s happening. Officially.
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If you told me a year ago that I would be publishing a book I would’ve thought “Ok that’s weird, but vaguely plausible…” But, if you told me it was going to be a cookbook, I would’ve assumed you were on some kind of hard drugs (as opposed to a time traveler who bounces around telling people random facts about their future). But here we are.
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Thank you to everyone who has been reading and cooking and sharing. It’s been amazing and I expect it will continue to be so. The website will continue on as it has (with some eventual improvements) and in the background I will be working my hardest to produce a book that is worthy of the people that make this endeavor possible. That’s you, by the way. I know next fall is a long ways off, but designing, fabricating and distributing a book is an unavoidably long process. I hope you’ll stick with me.
Hey guys. I just thought I would throw out a quick update for anyone who may have missed it on facebook/twitter. The book proposal is officially done. Not only that, but on Thursday this week it was sent out to various publishers and editors who will review it, discuss it, decide on it, etc. In a few weeks time I should have something to report on the fate of a Cooking Comically Cookbook. I know it’s something that a lot of people want and a publisher’s help would be welcome, but one way or another I’ll find a way to get it out to you. As a small celebration, here are 2 concept covers that I did for the proposal. One here. The other here. Wallpaper of the second one here. Edit: I should stress that these are in no way final designs.
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On another topic… I’ve now been approached by a number of advertising services and so far I’ve turned them all down. It’s not that I’m against advertising–I do think it can be an effective business model– I just have some strong opinions on the subject. I want more control over what is displayed on the site than I think many people are willing to give me. I demand the final say in who advertises, the size of the ad, the type of ad, and what the ad is for. There will be no pop-ups (fucking obviously, this isn’t 1997), no commercial site takeovers, and no sound nor video in ads here. When ads do come to this site I will insist upon them being simple, effective, tasteful and, as best as I can determine, relevant to the interests of my readers. If you think you can provide that for me, then my email is in the about section, you have my ear.
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One last thing. Who’s interested in shirts/aprons?
Hey guys, I just wanted to get the word out that the subscription link has been updated as I have moved the feed over to Feedburner. Current subscribers shouldn’t need to change anything, but now Chrome users can also subscribe using any of the readers listed in the link or by downloading Google’s extension. Sorry it took so long to get that sorted. Your patience is ever appreciated.
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Also a new recipe is en route. I’m about to change your breakfast forever. Again.
A few hours ago a reader (thank you Ryan) emailed me to let me know that Google has placed a “This site may be compromised” warning beneath the site’s name when it comes up in search results. Turns out they were right. I discovered that someone, unbeknownst to be, was able to slip three .php files into the site’s main directory a few days ago. It looked to me like these files were supposed to add sketchy drug advertisements onto the frontpage. Thankfully they didn’t work, but Google still picked up on them and flagged the site. I’ve removed these files and changed passwords and all that jazz. So that’s the end of Hack Attempt #1. Everything’s back to the usual and I’ve submitted a revision request to Google to get them to remove the warning. Hopefully that’ll go through in the next few days.
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So as you may have picked up on I know enough about HTML, CSS and WordPress to make a very basic site function, but it is not my forté. So, I’m probably going to look into bringing an extra person on board temporarily (there’s no way I could afford an actual employee right now) to help me get the site up to the standards that it should be at.
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Anyway, sorry for the brief downtime today while I sorted that mess out. New foods are coming soon.
As some of you may have noticed, yesterday Cooking Comically went dark with the thousands (or more) of other sites taking part in the January 18th blackout in protest of SOPA/PIPA. Hopefully a strong enough message was sent, but speaking honestly it probably isn’t enough. If you do anything today, make it this:
Make no mistake, this is monumentally important to the future of a free internet (and this site in particular). And bills like these will keep coming until the world protests loudly enough.
Just wanted to let you guys know that I’ve updated the About section. It’s treated more like an FAQ now and it includes the information about donations that a few of you have requested.
That one singular picture of Log Cabin syrup in the pancake recipe has provoked more outrage, criticism and “fail”s than probably anything I’ve ever done. And that’s pretty funny. I guess I just never realized that maple syrup had fanboys.
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As the recipe makes its rounds on the internet I get sporadic influxes of comments and emails etc. and I’ve gotten so much flack for that syrup that I figured I’d go ahead and put this out there: I don’t care what kind of syrup you use. I don’t care if you use syrup at all. Whether you want to slather your pancakes with honey mustard or tap the finest, mapleiest syrup straight out of a tree, I don’t care. As long you think it tastes good, that’s all that matters. And I happen to like “fake” syrup (and its price tag). It’s what I grew up with. So why do you care? I get that you don’t like it and that’s fine. But, I’ve never said that anyone has to use exactly the same brand of ingredients that I do. That would be ridiculous. It never once mentions “Log Cabin” in text anywhere on the recipe. It’s just in that one picture because it’s what I personally used. I’m not trying to sell it. So when someone writes “God, I can’t believe he used Log Cabin. FAIL” it comes off, to me, like a desperate grab for some false sense of superiority. Like, “haha look how dumb and uninformed that guy is compared to me and my real syrup.” Come on. Syrup? Really? That’s going to be your measuring stick for the character of a person? The only thing pettier than that is a singer named Tom.
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Now, I make jokes about chili packets or bisquik, but I’ve used both before and a lot. I don’t have anything against them. Not really. People can’t always afford to buy tons of ingredients or shop at a local organic grocery store. I understand that very well because I am one of those people. My last trip to the local Whole Foods cost me more than double what it would at a regular store. I just can’t do that all the time and I’m never going to expect you to. Make no mistake, I don’t do fine dining or cuisine. I’m not a chef and my recipes will NEVER require anything that you cannot find at an average American grocery store (because that’s what I have access to). You’re going to see me use low-rent ingredients and it’ll be on you to upgrade if you so choose. But, even at the base level I will never make a comic from a recipe that I don’t stand by. And I stand by my pancakes. I think they’re delicious no matter what kind of syrup you use. So, do me and everyone around you a kindness: Grow up, realize that other people like things that you don’t, and get over it.
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To the rest of you: Thank you so much for the kind comments and actual constructive criticism. I love you.
I know you don’t come here to listen to me yap so I’ll try to keep this short. You come here for the recipe comics and there hasn’t been a new one posted in a while. I know this sucks, but I do have reasons. Some of those reasons are boring and I won’t bother you with them. Some of them are rather exciting and I will bother you with them.
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So, here’s the skinny. A little while after I started making these I was contacted by a literary agent. Said agent has represented successful comic books and cook books in past. After shooting emails back and forth and a couple of phone conversations and a little reference checking on my part, I have the retainer paperwork in hand and I have begun work on a book proposal which will be pitched to editors and publishers. So, to all the folks who have been asking for/suggesting that I do a book: I’m well on top of it.
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This does NOT mean I will discontinue the blog. On the contrary, I will have to keep it up in a more regular fashion. Bring on that fiber. However, if a book deal happens I will have to double my efforts and at least half of what I do will have to be saved for print.
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So, yes, there has been a delay in my posting. But, no, this is not over. Not by a long shot.
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Lastly, I wanted to say thank you to you all. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. It’s been a wild ride so far and it is only getting better.
Many Chrome users have noted that the subscribe button “doesn’t work.” As I understand it, Chrome has no way to handle rss feeds on its own and will require an extension which can be found here. I’m working on a better solution, but this will be the fix until I can get that implemented. Apologies all around.
Work on the site is ongoing. I just wanted to mention that I do know that the subscribe button does not work in Chrome. I’m trying to figure out a work around on that. Bear with me for just a bit longer.
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PS I should also mention that the next recipe is currently underway. I will try to have it posted around Sunday and keep up some semblance of a regular posting schedule after that.
As the recipe makes its rounds on the internet I get sporadic influxes of comments and emails etc. and I’ve gotten so much flack for that syrup that I figured I’d go ahead and put this out there: I don’t care what kind of syrup you use. I don’t care if you use syrup at all. Whether you want to slather your pancakes with honey mustard or tap the finest, mapleiest syrup straight out of a tree, I don’t care. As long you think it tastes good, that’s all that matters. And I happen to like “fake” syrup (and its price tag). It’s what I grew up with. So why do you care? I get that you don’t like it and that’s fine. But, I’ve never said that anyone has to use exactly the same brand of ingredients that I do. That would be ridiculous. It never once mentions “Log Cabin” in text anywhere on the recipe. It’s just in that one picture because it’s what I personally used. I’m not trying to sell it. So when someone writes “God, I can’t believe he used Log Cabin. FAIL” it comes off, to me, like a desperate grab for some false sense of superiority. Like, “haha look how dumb and uninformed that guy is compared to me and my real syrup.” Come on. Syrup? Really? That’s going to be your measuring stick for the character of a person? The only thing pettier than that is a singer named Tom.
