StrawberryPlum Celebrates 1 Year!

One year ago, Matt and I went for a Sunday afternoon fall drive.  When we got home, I set the table and started making dinner.  I got out a duck breast, Italian plums, a few sprigs of rosemary, and my camera.

“Uh, Sarah?  Whatcha doin’?”

“I’m starting a food blog,” I announced.  It’s probably worth mentioning I just barely knew what this meant.

“Um, right…need any help?”

“Nope.”

So Matt went downstairs to watch football and I went about making dinner, snapping a few pictures along the way.  When it was ready, we sat down and Matt gave me a “whoa this looks good” look and disappeared for a minute, returning with a nice bottle of wine.

The next day I sat in a gas station, waiting for an oil change, and penned out my first post.  I went home, pecked it out on the keyboard, and strawberryplum was launched.

And now it’s been going on for a year.  1 year and over 100 recipes.  1 year of late-night typing, 1 year of teetering on a kitchen chair while taking pictures of food.  1 year of tech woes, 1 year of learning lots of new things.  1 year of good eating.

So let’s pause for a moment and look back on the year, celebrate a milestone, and remember a few highlights.

We’ll start with your favorites.  These are the recipes that have been viewed the most:

1.) Almond Butter, Dark Chocolate & Coconut Cookies

What can I say?  Y’all have great taste.  These are among my favorites of the past year and it’s probably the recipe I’ve remade the most since I originally posted it.

2.) Salmon Tartare with Avocado Olives & Tarragon

I was worried when I posted this, thinking maybe my readers wouldn’t like raw fish as much as I do.  I was wrong.  This (delicious) tartare pops up almost daily in my “popular” posts report.

3.) Baked Risotto with Chicken, Lemon & Scallions

This is a recipe I really didn’t think would get much attention; it’s just chicken and rice.  But wait!  The rice is actually risotto, it’s insanely easy to make, and total comfort food.  Plus, there’s only 1 pan to clean.  What was I thinking?  Who wouldn’t be into that?

4.) Asparagus, Fontina & Speck Panini 

I made this during a horrible late-April snowstorm when nothing else could make me happy.  I’m glad it made you happy, too!  This ooey, gooey sandwich was featured on the Huffington Post, the Kitchn, and FoodPornDaily.

5.)  Lamb Bolognese Sauce with Pea & Mint

This is just the kind of thing we all love to have simmering on the stove on a rainy (or snowy) Spring day and is perfect with homemade pasta or gnocchi.

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Now it’s my turn to share my own favorites!  Let’s break it down.

The most fun I had writing a post was probably when I was just barely out of the gate and riffed on an amazing steak tartare I’d had in Rome.  Looking back, the pictures were terrible, but it’s fun to be able to chart improvement.

I like to bake savory treats every bit as much as I like sweets.  If I had to pick a favorite of the last year…

…I couldn’t.  I’d probably call a tie between the Black Pepper, Rosemary & Golden Raisin Biscotti and the Tomato Tart with Caramelized Onions, Olives & Fontina…

…but then I’d be forgetting the Butternut Squash Galette and the Sweet Corn Biscuits.  Oh, geez.

Perhaps you’ve noticed, I do try to balance all the butter with a few salads along the way.  I like making big batches that keep for a few days so I can dip into those when I come home hungry, instead of eating leftover bundt cake for dinner.  I think I could eat the Beet & Carrot Salad that I made last week every day for the rest of my life and be quite content.

And, if not, my Kale, Radicchio & Wheat Berry Salad would be a decent back-up plan.

I don’t know if breakfast could get better than Orange, Anise & Sesame Crepes spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar, but, of course, I’ll let you know if it ever does.

The dish that actually has a teeny-tiny piece of me looking forward to the dead of winter is my Braised Pork Shoulder with Fennel, Oranges & Olives.  So good, just so good.

And we better end on a sweet note.  How about Strawberry Soup and remembering a little girl who couldn’t hold back on berry-eating?

 

Thanks for being here and helping me celebrate.  I hope you stick around and see what year 2 brings.  Happy cooking!

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