We have less than seven weeks left in 2016. I cannot believe how fast time flies, and I feel like each year is shorter by a month! With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I wanted to take this moment to tell you (my wonderful readers, family, and friends) how much I appreciate you.
…I am thankful for this amazing opportunity to share Japanese cuisine and culture with you, and in return, I get to connect with so many of you from around the world.
…To many of you who I have gotten to know at a personal level, your support and friendship means the world to me. Because of you, Just One Cookbook has evolved from just a food blog into a diverse community, where we share our passion for experiencing other cultures and cooking (and eating!) delicious food.
…To so many of you who help spread the word about JOC, whether it’s through social media or word-of-mouth, this space would not be where it is today without your kindness and curiosity.
…Having readers like you make it all worth while. You have brought so much inspiration, so much joy, and so much meaning to my work. I am beyond grateful for your encouragement and support. So THANK YOU for being on this journey with me.♥
Introducing JOC Team
I also want to thank my wonderful team!
This past summer, I realized that I needed help in different areas of the blog, so I could free up my time to focus on testing recipes and creating content, and most importantly, to connect with all of you through emails, blog comments, and social media. (And to finally sleep for six hours!)
So Mr. JOC and I put together an awesome team. Please welcome Reese, K, and Richard:
Even though their work is behind the scenes, they are all helping to improve your experience on the blog and growing the JOC community every day! Please read more about them in my About page.
Looking for a Way to Give Thanks?
If you are looking for a way to give gratitude, please join with me in support of the Nozomi Project.
The Nozomi Project is a social enterprise in Ishinomaki, Japan, where women make beautiful accessories from broken pottery left by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. Even though five years have past, the area is still recovering from this tragedy and needs your help to rebuild their community.
We can support the Nozomi Project by:
- Purchase their beautiful accessories (visit the site to browse).
- Wear them often.
- And sharing with others about the jewelry and the Nozomi Project.
After I published this post last year, the Nozomi Project broke a record in sales, all because of your generous support! The JOC community is bigger than last year, so even with a small contribution from many of you, we can break the sales record again, and make a huge difference in the lives of women in Ishinomaki.
Gorgeous jewelry made by the Nozomi Project ladies.
Christmas Ornaments Worldwide Giveaway
Many JOC readers became a fan and great supporter of the Nozomi Project. The Nozomi Project is very thankful for your continued support. As token of their gratitude, they picked 3 beautiful Christmas ornaments for Just One Cookbook readers and I’m hosting a worldwide giveaway on behalf the Nozomi Project.
Please click here for your chance to enter to win! They have so many beautiful christmas ornaments on their website, so click here to check it out!
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lovely pieces – and repurposed broken china
beautiful stuff!
Wow you have a full team! Amazing!
I like Nozomis page.
Thats one of the finest tributes to a proud culture and the traumatic events that took thousands of innocent lives.
I’m very happy to hear how JOC has evolved over the years and I’m happy for you what it has brought to you!
JOC is probably one of the most visited websites for me: I come here to learn about Japanese Cuisine and culture; discover always another valuable part of my interest about food; trigger new inspiration for my own creativity in my kitchen; and hear about another part on our globe and such important projects, such as Nozomi. Not a single second has been lost when I came to JOC.
You’re a true inspiration for many. You have been one of the many drivers motivating me more on my cooking hobby and, with the inspiration of others like Reese & Mark, Seonkyoung Longest and Cookie & Kate, consideration of taking this further. Fate has not been well with its timing and thus far I’ve been incapable of starting my foodblog that I wanted to start a month ago, but it’s all about a matter of time. I realise that won’t really be anytime soon as I’ll be away from my home in York, UK, for many months from the start of next year – it’s going to be tough not having frequent time for my hobbies during this period, but whenever I can I will enjoy these moments I can with them.
Glad to hear about the strong team of JOC. I particular like hearing that Reese is part of it. I still jump to Season with Spices website for other recipe ideas and learn new recipes. I’m glad they still have the blog open with the description on many spices there and recipes. When I should make another recipe from Season with Spices, I’ll tag JOC to that post so Reese (and Mark) hear how much I love their work…
…great that you have so much support now to open time for you. That makes me wonder if I could ever help JOC with anything in the future – I’d definitely be open to support you because JOC stands as one of the best places on the web!
I wonder whether you could share this with your readers as I think that many would be interested: edX is a website that provides online courses for a diverse number of courses. Their courses are for free, but they do offer accreditation with recognised certifications if you pay for a certificate. They provide many opportunities in enhancing ones curriculum further. The reason why I’m bringing this up is there are some course that your readers, maybe you as well, would be interested: Science and cooking (https://www.edx.org/course/science-cooking-haute-cuisine-soft-harvardx-spu27-1x) is, according to the course description, a fun course that brings the science into cooking, including recipe practice with your kitchen as the laboratory. I have done four edX courses before and they are taught by true professions that teach one very well. This starts in mid-January and I think would be a lot of fun. I’ll register for the course (even though I’ll be away, I still have weekends in my kitchen at the time) because thinking differently about cooking in science (well, I’m a scientist in a completely different area, but what the hey!) would be interesting to learn how to bring the best out of food. edX also have other food and nutrition courses (https://www.edx.org/course/?course=all&subject=Food%20%26%20Nutrition).
If there was a JOC community forum I would’ve posted it on there. This is probably one thing that is missing in JOC, which is this community forum. I remember you thought about having this on your website, and I truly encourage you to pursue that. On that way JOC readers can communicate with each other in what they love so much in connection to JOC.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family, the JOC team and the JOC community!
Hi Leo! Thank you for your continued support. Your comments always cheer me up and thank you so much for your kind words.
I’m so happy to hear that JOC has been a part of your life/cooking and I’m truly honored. Thank you for spending your precious time on my site! I enjoy sharing contents here and connecting with readers like you. 🙂
I have been friends with Reese and Mark for a long time (from the first year of blogging). I’m so happy that Reese is on board and we can work together. 🙂 Don’t worry, I will deliver your message to her. 🙂
Thank you for letting me know about edX! I’ll share it on my FB page now.
And yes, I’m still interested in community page. I’ve already talked to the web developer/designer and I need some budget for it…. 🙂
And thanks so much for your kind offer to help us! You’re always very sweet. 🙂 Thank you for the wishes as well! Please stay in touch with us. 🙂
I discovered your blog during a japanese recipe’s search.
Immediately, i sign up your blog.
Thank you for your kindness and your delicious recipes. 🙂
Thank you so much for reading my blog Gagaie! 🙂
the gift it`s perfect… god job in this people..
Beautiful jewelry!
Beautiful jewelry.
This Japanese jewelery will be a beautiful add to my multicultural christmas tree 🙂
Hi Kasia! They make beautiful jewelry and ornaments (and more!). Hope you enjoy browsing their site. 🙂
I really enjoy your website and love reading the recipes, just to get ideas. Very helpful, thank you.
Judy
Hi Judy! Thank you so much for your kind words! 🙂