A Peek Into The Past – Best of the year 2011

This is one of the posts that I always look forward to writing year after year.A post that fills me with nostalgia as I travel down the recipes recollecting the wonderful time I spent creating and serving the dishes.

This post is a little lengthy since I want to share with you all the glorious things that happened around my blog this year……

I started the New year as always with a sweet dish –Microwave Dates Fudge, which was also featured as a part of the Indus Ladies free E-book published for Diwali.

I celebrated my 700th post in January with a Giveaway -$75 gift certificate from CSN stores and this yummy Rose flavored Agar agar pudding

Then I started an event series – Herbs and flowers in my platter which is almost a year old now….

I enjoyed doing the blogging marathon started by Srivalli and met loads of bloggers who became my friends and now we are more like a family…

This year was quite lucky for me.I had some fabulous wins !I won the book Sukham Ayu for the dish –Gujarati dal in the February edition of Indian Cooking Challenge.

Blog junta choose my post – Kala Channa and Spinach Gravy as editors choice , blog junta of the month – April under the veteran blogger category.

I also won the goodie bag giveaway @ Vani’s Mysoorean blog that was a part of her 5th blogging anniversary.

My blog reached the much awaited 1 lakh visitor hit on March 17th and has now crossed 2.4 lakh hits!!

March 2011 was a very exciting month for me. I received a mystery ingredient from Archana for the Arusuvai Friendship Chain. I prepared Mangodi Ki Khadi with the ‘mystery’ ingredient…

No. of posts this year has reduced a bit this year. 200+ posts when compared to last years 356 posts,the reason being travel and other domestic issues.
No. of events @ Seduce Your Tastebuds – 4.

Now comes the most interesting part of this post- the favorite posts / recipes…

Chettinad Potato Roast got the highest number of comments for the month of January. My favorite post for the month is this exotic Dragon Fruit Salad.I fell in love with is exotic fruit after I tasted it in the orient and it has remained one of my favorite fruit ever since.

February saw me churning out loads of Chaats and Batata Vada and Vada Pav got the maximum comments and my favorite post is the restaurant recreation of Paneer Butter Masala. I made this rich and creamy side dish at home instead of getting it from the restaurant and the taste was awesome.Everyone at home loved it.

Lil Angels favorite Pretty Pink Poori got the top comments for the month of March and as for my favorite post,it is the Vegetable Pasta Soup which happens to be another dish that Lil Angel enjoys.

Though this post – Tips for a better blog post did not get the highest number of comments for the month of April, it was the most viewed post and it remained in the top post category for quite a few months. Low Calorie Bread Thayir Vadai is my favorite post for this month and it also happens to be my favorite snack.Guilt free vadai can prepared and relished in minutes!

The month was May was really hectic with a lot of traveling. In spite of that I managed to squeeze in some posts.Dragon fruit-Banana smoothie got the highest number of comments and delicious Chinese style Potato Vegetable is my favorite post.This dish goes well with Noodles or can be savored as it is.

I cooked a lot of dishes with Oats in June and Oats Chutney was rewarded with a lot of comments. My personal favorite is the recollection of the dinner we had at a restaurant in my town [in China] named Tacos.

The spinach chutney that I tried out from the book I won -Sukham Ayu was tied with the highest number of comments for the month of July along with Chinese Spicy Potato Shreds. This post also happens to be our family favorite.This stir fry is the one I recreated at home after tasting it in our favorite restaurant.

As for August, the Fruity breakfast crunch was highly appreciated and we loved the Uggani and Mirapakaya Bajji which I prepared from Srivalli’s blog.An awesome combo…

In September, Cucumber Raita was voted the best recipe by my readers judging by the number of comments that it got. However I liked the Gingered Carrot Soup which I prepared for Taste And Create.

Sugarless Dates Ladoo was the star of October and Eggless Cherry Biscuits were a hit at home.My folks loves it so much that I have been getting repeated requests to bake them often.

A simple tutorial on How To Blanch Almonds In the Microwave stole the show in November and this Minty Lemon Rasam has become my favorite appetizer..

Rice served with minty lemon rasam , brinjal roast , Curry leaves chutney

Blogging took a back seat in December and so far Eggless Yellow Sponge cake was well appreciated and is also the one I like…

Hope you liked traveling with me to the posts that were favored by us and also those that were our family….

This recap goes to Srivalli’s Best of the year 2011 event….

By the way,if you are wondering how long it took me to write this post, think no further as I am about to reveal it right now.I took 1 whole year to pen this!!Yes folks, I started writing this as soon as I finished writing about 2010 .I used to update this post as and when something goes on in my blog that was worth writing about.This, in a way, helped me to save time. I would have sat and thought and thought endlessly and missed some entries if I were to write it at the end of the year….

Till we meet again, Take care….