It is hard to believe that I’ve been writing this blog for 20 years! Time does fly when you’re having fun!
I started TJRecipes in 2002 as a place for the Demo Recipes Ruth and I were creating at Trader Joe’s #632 in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
Exact timelines are a bit fuzzy, but in 2001, I had taken a job at TJs for grins and giggles after our move east until I found a real job in Nutrition and Dietetics. Somewhere along the line, they started a Demo program – a moveable cart where a guy named “Chef Rick” would hand out samples of food. Meanwhile, I had found a job as a Nutrition Services Director for a Senior Facility in Philadelphia and had quit. My 2 mile commute turned into a 20 mile commute, I hated the company I was working for, and 3 weeks later, I quit. Back to Trader Joe’s – and that 2 mile ride.
Chef Rick didn’t work out and our Captain picked Ruth to be the new Demo Diva and expand the program. She told him she wanted me to work with her to do it. The only rule we had was “To make me money.” We had complete autonomy to do whatever we wanted!
We both got our County Health Department certifications – I took what was known as The Challenge Test where, I just walked in and took the test. Being that I had been working in Nutrition and Dietetics for a dozen years and had worked in and opened hotels for a dozen years in Food and Beverage before that, I aced it. Ruth needed to take the course and missed just one question. Our Health Department Inspector loved us! We were able to cook raw chicken, grill meats outdoors, things that normally wouldn’t be permitted using a hot plate, a microwave, and an easy-bake oven. He trusted us and we never let him down. The only thing we couldn’t do was heavy frying – we didn’t have a vent/hood system.
Demo took off! Two rather boisterous over-the-top personalities giving away food and cooking advice was a bit of a novelty at first, but folks really liked the dishes we were creating and appreciated our approachability. We started making recipe slips for the folks to take home – printing them on different colored paper to differentiate them.
Soon, people were coming in asking for a copy of “that thing you made last week…” or calling the store for a recipe we had made. We installed a recipe board with back recipes, but we needed something that people could access from home and not drive the folks in the office crazy.
Just a few months after starting Demo, TJRecipes was born!
It was a labor of love. I did it on my own time, at home. I started it off using Microsoft FrontPage – a pretty simple program – it sure beat hand-coding!
My brother was Chief Engineer at Macromedia in San Francisco and was able to get me the complete Macromedia Suite – Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks… It was great! And then the complete Adobe Suite when they were bought out by them. I still use it, today, and will never be even remotely proficient in the score of programs I have access to! But I digress… I had web design experience from working at UCSF and had made several sites for friends, so creating a recipe website was fun and a challenge.
This was before WordPress – every recipe was created and uploaded onto the site individually, with links all done by hand… (I did make templates, though – I’m not a total masochist!)
Customers loved it! They could download and print recipes from the comfort of their own homes. It was years before smartphones…
Things went swimmingly for several years – and then – in 2005 – I got a call from the corporate office. I had to take the site down. I could not run a rogue website with their name, logo, etcetera…
At this point, the site was extremely popular, the TJ corporate website did not have recipes on it, and our customers loved our site. I decided I was NOT going to take it down – merely rebrand it. Tim and Victor’s Totally Joyous Recipes was born! (I am NOT stubborn and pigheaded! I am NOT stubborn and pigheaded! I am NOT…)
I scrubbed the site of all reference to Trader Joe’s and removed all logos, etc. I started adding other recipes and cookbooks and The Weekly Recipe section became Quick Meals in Minutes. I understood their point – they just didn’t understand mine.
And I started a blog to really separate it from work…
While the recipe site was all done in html, the blog – still a fairly new concept in 2005 – needed to be easier to do. I found a program called Nucleus and started writing. Slowly. A few months later I found out about WordPress and combined the blog and the recipe site.
I had no idea what I was going to write but I had a vision of it being an one-stop shopping place for recipes, nutritional information, health and wellness… at one point, I started sounding like a pompous ass – a bit too know-it-all. I tried making it a bit more personal, but it still seemed forced. I wanted it to be educational, but that’s when I really sounded like a pompous ass. It was time to refocus.
Cooking comes naturally to me – and it can sometimes be difficult to realize not everyone has the same skillsets. I have trouble drawing a straight line with a ruler, but a 19-step recipe is merely 19 steps.
Finally, I decided I would just be myself and write stories. Storytelling comes as naturally to me as cooking and baking. It was time to just let them flow and not worry about it.
I decided from Day One that I was not going to run ads or try to make money from it. I actually hate most food blogs with a million ads and inane writing styles.
I also hate recipes that micromanage every step – more often than not trying to get you to buy an absolutely needless piece of kitchen clutter. I just do not need to be told I need a 3″ silicone spatula to get the batter out of the 3 1/2 quart glass/stainless/whatever bowl that I must use to properly make the recipe.. Batter goes in pan by whatever means you have.
I really do go on the assumption that just about anyone reading this can boil water and follow some fairly basic instructions. Recipes are mere guidelines – they shouldn’t be chiseled in stone unless you’re cooking in a restaurant and need to make the exact same thing the exact same way every time. Otherwise, go for it and have fun.
My philosophy is the worst thing that can happen is I throw it all out and call for pizza.
I also believe that food and cooking is about sharing.
And that’s where the blog is – 20 years after starting it and 23 years after starting a simple recipe site so our customers could easily look up a recipe at home.
Our earliest command was “…to make me money.” And we did.
This was a sign in front of the store at one point. Gee – no pressure about what to serve!
17 years putting little pieces of food on little paper plates. And close to 65 years of playing with food – because, when looking back through those rose-colored glasses – that’s exactly what it’s been.
I somehow survived those million degree kitchens, egotistical chefs, moronic customers, and inept staff – and have a venue to wax poetically about it all – along with a recipe or two with a picture when I remember to take one.
Blog posts are, nowadays, almost an afterthought. I don’t go into the kitchen thinking I’m going to make something to write about. I go in to make something. When I do blog, it’s usually because I liked it and thought about sharing.
There’s no more sounding like a pompous ass – at least I hope not!
There are currently 2675 recipes in the various cookbook collections and another 2730 blog posts – most with a recipe and a picture or two. With more to come, I’m sure…
And to take a look at some of those recipes from those thrilling days of yesteryear, they’re right here at Quick Meals In Minutes.
Fun Food for Fun People, indeed!
And here’s to another 20 years!
2002 – One of the first incarnations. I had links to Health and Wellness, Organics, Food Safety… you name it!
2005 – One of the first incarnations of Tim & Victor’s Totally Joyous Recipes – with many more to come!
2005 – One of the first incarnations of Tim & Victor’s Totally Joyous Recipes – with many more to come! And the last time our Demo Recipes are listed as “The Weekly Recipe”.
2008 – While I usually strive to keep the site politics-free, I had an Obama/Biden poster on the site with a link to donate. A customer complained to the corporate office – another phone call to remove the site. I refused. It was my personal site with no reference to Trader Joe’s. The Weekly Recipe became Quick Meals in Minutes.
2008 – The new theme has lots of bells and whistles – and it’s easy to switch things up. Getting tags and categories finally organized!
2013 – The theme I’ve been using is not going to be updated much longer. Here’s a Winter Last Hurrah…
2016 – Yet, another redo – this time using Slider Revolution to bring the blog front and center.
2019 – I finally found the theme I will be using ’till the end of time – or until they stop supporting it. I have changed the look many times since installing it – and will probably be tweaking and switching it up as long as my fingers can type. It’s a harmless hobby!
