Reflections on 2015: most popular, blog overview etc

I meant to start this 2015 reflections post with a collage of favourite photos but it was too overwhelming and time consuming so instead here is my green giraffe pancake that I am thinking of using as a new avatar on my blog this year!

Whew!  2015 was a busy year with lots of change.

Dolly and Frozen receded into the background of Sylvia's life, to be replaced with the likes of Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.  Sylvia kept us busy with her netball, basketball, tennis, swimming, gymnastics and ukulele lessons.  She is now reading chapter books and anything she can.

We went on holidays to Ocean Grove and Echuca, saw more movies this year, enjoyed lots of days out, and had fun at lots of E's ukulele gigs.

I had a new part time work, continued volunteer work, took up body balance classes, took part in a book club and occasionally attended a singing group.  Which meant I didn't have as much blogging energy as I would like.  With photos, I was frustrated by Apple changing the photo editing software and excited to experiment with a light box.

2016 was also the year of aquafaba, nutella doughnuts and vegan degustations.

My two special people!

Where Green Gourmet Giraffe was featured:
Thanks to everyone who has featured Green Gourmet Giraffe on their blog from event organisers to columnists to ordinary bloggers sharing my recipes to those on social media.  Everyone except the people who shared a pre-blogging photo under the title of cake fail!  Moving along swiftly!  Here are a few of the places online you could find links to GGG:

• Almond and coconut flour pancakes in 20 Low Carb Almond Flour Pancakes on Paleo Grubs 
• Baby.co.uk (thanks Jac) featured me in 15 Scottish recipes for Burns Night, 20 edibld gifts to save you money this Christmas, 25 Quick lunches for Busy Mums.
• Chocolate cranberry scones in Scones that could really use a drink on BuzzFeed
• Chocolate salami in 40+ of the Best Recipes that Use Chocolate on A Worthy Life
• Orange and carrot mmoothie in 13 Bright + Healthy Winter Produce Smoothies on Brit+Co  
• Peppermint-filled chocolates in February 14th is National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day – Best 35 Recipes on The Food Explorere
• Pumpkin, pecan and poppy seed scones in The Top 6 Extraordinary Health Benefits Of Poppy Seeds (+ 6 Easy, Nutritious Recipes) on Bembu
• Sticky toffee pudding in 10 wonderful ways with parsnips in Readers Digest
• Also had posts featured in Elle (Netherlands), Wheat free meat free round ups, Coburg Love My Suburb Facebook Page,

One of my favourite books of the year at Green Refectory in Brunswick where I discovered what might be the best vegan sausage rolls on sale in Melbourne!

Best of 2015
So here are some of my favourites of 2015.  Bear in mind that it was very hard to decide in most of these categories.

• Favourite Film: The Imitation Game
• Favourite Children's Film: Minions
• Favourite Overseas TV: Humans (UK)
• FAvourite Australian TV: Please Like Me
• Favourite Children's TV: Hank Zipster and Curious George
• Favourite Book: All the Light We Cannot See
• Favourite Young Adult Book: Bright Young Things
• Favourite Children's Books: Lob, Seven Little Australians and The Naughtiest Girl books
• Favourite Cafe meal: Moroccan deli-cacy
• Fabourite Restaurant meal: Bar Idda
• Favourite Gig: Blur

CERES organic market.  A place I have visited quite a lot this year.

What I was eating in 2015
I know it looks like a long list but this is only a fraction of the food I ate and posted this year:

• Most regular recipes: Mee Goreng, Pizza, Chocolate muesli, Tofu bacon, Vegan omelette, Banana oat pancakes, Celia's overnight sourdough bread 
• Amazing aquafaba: Meringues, Mozzarella, Marshmallow frosted cupcakes, Chocolate banana swiss roll
• Fun food: Lego biscuits, Jelly bean flower cupcakes, Rainbow cupcakes, Frozen castle birthday cake, Watermelon monster, Spiderweb pizza, Gingerbread houses 
• Mmmm chocolate: Nutella rice bubble slice, Chocolate pancakes, Coconut and chocolate chunk cake, No bake chocolate oat slice, Hedgehog
• Pleasing pastry: Apricot and almond tart, Vegan quiche with tofu and besan, Treacle tart, Cheese, onion and potato pasties, Beetroot and caramelised onion galette
• Healthy food: Chocolate bliss balls, Vegan salmon pate, Caramel chocolate chunk muffins, Carrot almond sauce, Pumpkin, almond and quinoa soup
• All hail kale: Kale scones, Kale pizza, Tomato and kale soup with pistachios, Kale cheesecake surprise choc mint cupcakes
• Celebration food: Cashew cheese stuffed dates, Ombre potato and cheese torte, Stuffed nut roast, Salted caramel popcorn, Caramel chocolate cheesecakes
• Great flavour combinations: Pumpkin, pecan and poppyseed scones, Strawberry and smoky chickpea salad, Honey parsnip cake

We have been quite taken with Minions this year.  Though our cat Zinc is not impressed!

Statistics and overview
There has been a little tinkering with my blog over the year but not as much as I would wish.  I continue to try and take some good photos but FoodGawker and I continue to often disagree on what makes a good photos though I have learnt to try and lighten my photos in the photo editing more.  I continue to participate in blog events (where bloggers share posts) and find these a great way to connect with other bloggers.  Here are a few numbers:

• Number of posts this year was down to 160, though I am happy with this averaging 3 posts per week.
• On aussiefoodbloggers.com.au/, I was no 64 in Australia and no 9 in Victoria.
• Foodgawker shared 35 of my posts, and rejected more than I thought reasonable!
• I now have 294 FaceBook likes.
• I have shared 23 cafe reviews on Zomato (formerly UrbanSpoon).

12 most popular posts of 2015
According to Google Analytics

1. Celia's overnight sourdough bread - step by step photos
2. Japanese curry
3. Whole roasted cauliflower with tomato broth
4. Vegan meringues - made with aqua faba (chickpea brine)
5. Jeanette's coconut and date slice
6. Living Candida-Free, Asian Napa Cabbage Salad and recipe testing
7. Vegan quiche with tofu and besan
8. Apple rose tarts, a woven paper box and random moments
9. Lime and coconut cake, glazed tofu and mistaken identity
10. Frozen castle birthday cake - step by step
11. Pea, quinoa and feta fritters and random bicycle moments
12. Stuffed nut roast for Christmas in July dinner party

A sneak peak of our New Year's Eve trifle.

Happy New Year
Thanks to family and friends for sharing so much good food this year, for comparing recipe notes and giving feedback on recipes.  A special mention to E for being great company, being willing to try lots of new food and for all those dishes; and to Sylvia for making my meals interesting and reminding me that plain vegetables are yummy.

I am fortunate to have met up with bloggers online at picnics and restaurants this year.  It has been great fun and I am so delighted to spend time with such interesting and generous friends.  Most of my blog interactions however are online and I thank you for reading my blog, for commenting or emailing, and making my blog a friendly place where I love to hang out.  I also thank those other bloggers who keep me inspired with great recipes, beautiful photos and honest writing.  I look forward to reading more of it this year.

I wish you a great 2016 filled with good food, good company and good cheer.  It seems that this year will give me less energy for blogging but I have much to share and plan to continue posting here as much as possible.  I hope that the new year will bring more healthy bowl food, more aquafaba experiments, more blogger meet ups, and a few spectacular cakes!

Onwards and upwards!