As much as I love Christmas itself and all its jollity, these days, the days in between Christmas and New Year which I almost always try to take as holiday, are probably my favourite days of the year. After all, it's Friday lunchtime (I think) and I'm still in my pyjamas, watching an old Hitchcock movie on television and eating pancakes. How can anyone not love days like this?
I have found the blog pretty tough going at times this year but I am beyond glad that I persevered and I can look back on 2012 with a definite sense of pride in what I've built here. Thanks to the wonders of pinterest/foodgawker, my top two posts for this year were both actually posted in November 2011 (which suggests that maybe I should have upped my game in 2012) but I've been through my stats and dug out what were the 12 most popular posts that I wrote this year...
spicy macaroni cheese // flourless almond butter cookies // homemade mascarponehoney tea loaf // cocoa nib and sea salt fudge // lemon and strawberry cookies
buckwheat flour brownies // chocolate and curry cupcakes // hazelnut butter chocolate chip cookiesinside out cookie dough truffles // dark chocolate and olive oil cookies // cashew butter cookies
I always think that it's strange (and almost impossible to predict) which posts are going to be popular. It is, quite clearly, not about having great pictures or saying anything particularly profound. There is probably some kind of magic formula somewhere but I think I'd rather just spend my days cooking what I want to eat and writing about whatever pops into my head than trying to work it out. On that note, I've also put together a list of my favourite 12 posts of the year.
It's funny, so many of these posts remind me of inconsequential moments that would otherwise go undocumented like making plate after plate of buckwheat gnocchi to try and perfect the recipe while watching the first matches of Euro 2012 on a Friday evening. Or the pasta with lemon and parsley and parmesan that I ate on the first hot weekend of the year with the sun streaming into our flat. Or sneaking bites of those hazelnut butter rice crispy treats during a training event at work.
chocolate and salted caramel bundt cake // homemade orecchiette // pistachio and olive oil muffinsyoghurt and pistachio cake // brown sugar cupcakes // buckwheat gnocchi
hazelnut butter rice crispy treats // raspberry and olive oil cake // pasta with lemon, parsley and parmesanmadeira cake // olive oil and walnut brownies // rhubarb and buttermilk loaf
With Christmas over, thoughts inevitably turn to the new year. 2012 turned out to be such a mixed bag that I have absolutely no idea what 2013 has in store. There will be good times though, I'm pretty sure of that.
So, happy new year to all of you and I hope that 2013 brings you all that happiness that you could want.