Eight Of my Favourite Things

OMG as the teens would say - today my little food blog turns eight! Eight! How on earth did that happen? What originally started as a way to find an easier way to share recipes with family and friends, I started realising that people were actually looking at my blog and now here I am, eight years later still writing up recipes but now with pictures and actual text and joining in all sorts of blogging challenges for all sorts of foods with people all over the world! I love finding new recipes and making them, I think that remains my main reason to keep on blogging! I've also had such amazing opportunities along the way and met some great people, and mainly ate some amazing food!

So much has changed for me personally during my eight years of blogging, I've moved house erm four times, changed jobs five times, went through a nasty bout of depression, went back to college, cancelled an engagement, fell in love with someone new, got pretty unwell, developed chronic pain, lost loved ones and also lost but gained new friends - some through my love of food and blogging! The food blogging community has grown so fast during this time I have struggled to keep up sometimes but we are all individuals and I think the more the merrier! Stumbling across a like minded person always makes me feel that little bit less alone too!

Blogging has become a real hobby to the point pretty much everyone knows I am a food blogger now, and I love learning new recipes from the fellow food blogging community and whilst I am not overly happy with my blog design, and a million times a year I think of changing it I just can't quite do it. I have bought several domains over the years and then pulled the plug I just can't seem to commit to it, I suppose I am quite sentimental and I am not too good with change but this might just be the year it happens...!

I spent all week trying to decide how to celebrate as such, spurred on by the lovely Camilla who blogs at Fab Food 4 All - who turned 3 this week too! In the end I went the '8' theme and took it from there really! In eight years I've managed a slightly scary 591 blog posts, scaling down to my favourites was very hard, especially as some of the older, and loved recipes have some ghastly photo's long before my DSLR (that I still don't really quite know how to master!) and put it out to vote to my boyfriend in the end combined with new skills I have also learned along the way!

So that was four of my favourite new skills I learned in the eight years- working with different dough's including wholemeal flours, baking with soured cream (its amazing, weirdly!) and surprisingly time consuming but delicate macarons, which added a whole new meaning to the term having patience!

My final four took a bit more thought - what four things have inspired me or kept me going during my blogging journey? It was actually the hardest part of this post!

First, well technically fifth is definitely one of the main blogging challenges I participate in - The Monday Meal plan hosted by At Home with Mrs M - which happily feeds my planning geek side when faced with doubtful looks from colleagues who discovered I did this recently... meal planning keeps me sane, cuts food waste and even occasionally prompts me to write an accurate shopping list!

Next up is most definitely a recipe we have fondly in our hearts - a gorgeous Banana Bundt from the fabulous blog Asian in America - it plays host to those sad, neglected bananas and gives you a lush, bananary cake that works well from breakfast through to pudding! The blog host is such a lovely lady too and finding her blog was a good day and recipes like these keep me inspired!

So onto number 7 - decisions decisions! I decided to keep it simple - afterall what is the most important meal of the day? Breakfast of course! I am not a cereal kinda gal... and this is the boss of breakfast! This was a combined meal of my favourite foods from my favourite people! Garlic and soya sauce fried rice - taught by one of my best friends who is from the Phillipines, runny fried eggs as they are my boyfriends favourite and one of my favourite veggies - the superfood Avocado, the toasted sesame seeds simply completed the breakfast feast!

Last but by no means least - if I hadn't of stumbled into blogging, discovered new communities, not just food related but also of life - and after all food to me is my life - its brought me joy when its been in abundance, challenging when less so, and I love constantly discovering and learning new things and I want to thank every one who has inspired me, taught me to love again, stuck by me through the less than great times - I know I've not been the easiest of persons to be with - but I am sure I made it through because of every single one of you! Its a big old world out there - thanks for being part of it. I can't choose just one image to finalise this post and these are all my favourite things:

Cheers to another eight years!

Anne 

x

Meal Planning Monday and Embracing Happiness

Since posting the last recipe, last Tuesday I had planned to write another up for you but the evenings ran away with us and with getting ready for Mother's Day, it seemed there was little internet time! I am also trying to not go the internet as much, as I think its far too easy to sit and play on my phone or iPad and not actually communicating with those around me, which is both a little bit rude and not always very productive either!

We don't really get enough time on earth and having human contact is a basic necessity, not a luxury for happier living. So I am trying to be a little more conscious of my loved ones and also shake of the blues that have hung around my moods, for far too long really, though I suspect one of my meds is also part of the cause, something I am slowly adjusting... I think I am also rather pessimistic which doesn't help! One of the tools I am using to try and erode the pessimism is something called Embrace Happy - you can read more about it here on Karins' fabulous website! Every day (well mostly!) I list 3 things that have made me happy - big and small things. I will keep you updated accordingly! Also a big shout out to the wonderful Embrace Happy facebook group - you have all pulled me through the less happier times!

So yesterday was Mother's Day - I am fortunate to have a loving, supportive mum who I cherish, and also a close aunt who is second mummy! Sadly though both my mum and 2nd mum no longer have their mums with us, both who I also miss dearly and we made our way to the crematorium yesterday to pay our respects with prayers and pretty flowers. Nan L loved freesias, and whilst I had left it a bit last minute I managed to luckily find a bouquet with some pink freesias in! We also said prayers for my boyfriends gran, who we also sadly lost earlier this year. 

However it wasn't at all a sad day - okay there was minor sniffles but I remembered everything we cherished about our lost loved ones, and also was thoroughly reminded how lucky I am to still have loved ones in my life - our flat is tiny but we squeezed 7 in our lounge yesterday and we had roast lamb with all the trimmings, then tiramisu, chocolate orange gateaux, a box of ferrero rocher and my home made Sticky orange, almond and honey cake - oh and we started with a mountain of cheesy nachos, cocktail sausages baked in honey and sesame seeds-which were devoured super fast too! It was a joy to host a houseful, even though it was a juggle between chairs, footstall's and the floor but I wouldn't change a thing - yes nothing matched, and we had to wash one plate up before a later guest could eat but material things don't matter - the love in the room cannot be bought, and that's why it was perfect. Nothings better than a room full of genuine laughter!

Sticky Orange, almond and Honey Cake

We stuck mostly to last weeks plan and had some really great dishes - the sweet potato bean bake thingy came out as one of the surprise highlights!

So this week, cooking is going to be challenging - unfortunately whilst rushing around yesterday getting the food ready yesterday... I also managed to badly slice my index finger, so typing is extra fun at the moment, yet alone preparing food for the next few weeks! I have put together a rough plan, which is a bit more simple as my lovely boyfriend will be doing the majority of it!

Garlic Sausage noodles 

Pork & Aubergine fajitas, rice n beans 

Veggie burgers, Cavolo nero and sweet potato wedges

Sweet chilli grilled Salmon, bubble n squeak 

Bacon and Butternut squash Mac n Cheese