Celebrating 5 years...

I can't believe it's been five years!

Indeed what a great ride it's been!  I created my food blog which I appropriately called Impromptu Diva.  As most impulsive decisions go, a change had to be made and I came up with Skip to Malou... And yeah highlighting my name Malou is like shouting to the world that I am Filipina. “Ma- what?” they would ask… so I would tell them my standard reply: “It’s Malou, like skip to my Lou,” and that helps them with their pronunciation. They would say May-Lou!  Hmm I thought Skip to Malou is a catchy name, so why not name my blog SKIP TO MALOU?  

And oh yeah it's been five years... and I can't be happier where I am at now. My culinary journey has taken me to places I never would have imagined.  

Starting this blog has led  me to reach a much wider audience.  I have broadened my reach further thru teaching cooking classes and guestings on TV and in articles in magazines. For the past year, I've run a very successful pop up restaurant featuring Filipino comfort food.  Also, I've started a cooking channel on Youtube, which incidentally has more than two million hits!  And along the way, the greatest gift this journey brings is meeting wonderful people... and that includes YOU!  You who would spend time reading my blog... You who would remind me that I have not written in awhile... YOU who would leave comments .. yes YOU who fuel me when my gas is low.  THANK YOU dear readers!

Also, I can't thank enough my husband, who throughout this 5 year journey of mine has remained supportive (and sane, hehe).  He has been my editor, my official taster, my menu planner and my videographer.  He's always there to listen to my stories upon stories about the blog... and about the blog... and yes, more about the blog. haha.  Thank you Christian!

Thank you to my three wonderful children.  They've been my inspiration behind so many blog posts.  They are in fact the reason why I started the blog.  Thank you Heather, Isabelle and Joey.  You made  my role as a MOM so enjoyable and fruitful... I can't help but to share it with others.

Lastly, my family and friends and my kapaMEALya... for constantly supporting me throughout the journey.   For brainstorming with me... For giving me inspiration, for mapping out my SKIP TO MALOU plans and goals.  I thank you all.  You know who you are!

From the get go, I started sharing recipes with a focus on Filipino food.  Why not? Filipino food is the food of my childhood and the food of my soul.  Food pundits say that Filipino food is the next big thing. So it's an exciting time for Filipino food proponents like myself.  Ultimately, my goal is to help transition Filipino food from an ethnic curiosity to a fledgling mainstream cuisine.

And to celebrate my fifth year anniversary, I am changing my logo.  While it's true that SKIP TO MALOU was derived from my name, I also would like to say that I am now from the LOU, hence the arch, and the star at the bottom is from the flag of my home country.  Thank you Nancy Ilagan Neal of NBMI Design for executing  the idea.  And thank you Maxene and Oliver for all the help.

And here's a new episode with my STL KapaMEALya on YOUTUBE  to celebrate the occasion   For this episode and the previous one were directed by Ina.   And Ina, I can't thank you enough for this and for all the wonderful support.

Click on the photo below and I hope you enjoy another episode on HOW TO MAKE KARE KARE!  Enjoy!