Tuesday 2 January 2018

Reflections on 2017

How did we find our way into another year when I still have so much to do in 2017!  It was quite a year of change for me but with some fun  times.  In March I took up a new job that was at first 3 days a week and then stretched to 4 days a week.  I had to give up singing group and body balance but did a lot of bike riding to and from work each day.  We welcomed a new cat, Shadow into our home.  I painted a mural on the back fence, put down astro turf, started a worm farm and planted some vegies.

It was a year of hard work and illness.  More medical appointments and less social occasions.  The hot water system broke, my computer hard drive died, and even my bike was overdue for a service by the end of the year.  It was good to get a break on our holiday to the Grampians. 

Dinners had lots of simple food: stirfries, pasta, coleslaw.  I bought very few eggs and experimented with more vegan baking, including muffins and doughnuts.  On the blog, I was pleased to reach my 10 year anniversary.  I was less happy that bookmarking site Delicious closed, which meant the loss of years of bookmarked recipes and inspiration.  However I still found inspiration from those around me both online and offline.

In the wider world life was even more odd and unexpected.  Wee had the dual citizenship scandals and the legalisation of same sex marriage in Australia, the crazy world of terrorist attacks, Donald Trump and Theresa May in world politics, and the anger about the sexual abuse cases in the world of entertainment.  In our state politics, I was really sorry to hear that one of the good politicians Fiona Richardson MP died of cancer.

Best of 2017
This is my personal reflections on what I encountered this year rather than what was published this year:
  • Favourite book - Light in the eye of the sheep by Sofie Laguna
  • Favourite young adult book -  A monster calls by Patrick Ness
  • Favourite children's book - Wonder by R J Palacio
  • Favourite Australian tv show - Seven signs of ambiguity
  • Favourite international tv show - Home fires
  • Favourite children's tv show - So Awkward and Secret Life of Boys
  • Favourite DVD - A street cat named Bob
  • Favourite film - Battle of the Sexes and Star Wars the Last Jedi
  • Favourite children's film - Beauty and the Beast and Paddington 2
  • Favourite live show - Journey to the centre of the earth puppet show
  • Favourite eating out - I Dream of Sushi in Moonee Ponds

Statistics
As noted above, I have had less energy for blogging this year and also found that some of my favourite blog events ceased this year.  So I am not surprised to see this reflected in the stats.  I had high hopes that I might hit 2000 posts by the end of the year but busy times got the better of me and I ended up on 1996 posts since I started blogging in 2007.  Not a bad feat nevertheless.

I was surprised recently to see on Blogger that my previously most popular post of all time, Apple slice (110.212) views, has been passed by Dan Lepard's Multigrain and Honey Bread (166,071 views) and Awards and my ABC of Photography (165,522 views).

Here are some numbers for 2017:
Most popular posts of 2017
I actually looked at Google Statistics and Blogger for the 10 most popular 2017 posts.  There were only 4 posts that were in both lists, showing just how different every statistical package seems to be.  I chose the Blogger top 10 because they had higher numbers of hits.
    1. Vegan muffins with tofu feta, olive and sun-dried tomatoes
    2. Vegan almond feta and some feta recipes
    3. Cheesy lentil bake
    4. Chickpea tofu and pea curry 
    5. Simple vegetarian lasagne
    6. Savoury carrot and turmeric muffins
    7. Pear muffins
    8. Overnight baked sourdough doughnuts (vegan)
    9. Chickpea peach and pumpkin curry
    10. Baked doughnuts with baking powder (vegan) and a Sundae
     
    "Better than a Big Mac" at the Vegie Bar.  And it was so good and so like a Big Mac but far better indeed!
    What I enjoyed eating in 2017
    I continued to have a few favourite recipes that were made regularly - such as fast track sourdough pizza, overnight sourdough bread, lemonade, tofu bacon, lo mein.  Here are some of the recipes I blogged in 2017:

    view from Ararat on the way home from the Grampians
    Where my blog was featured in 2017
    Here are a few places I found my blog featured in 2017 as well as some of my favourite blog events such as We Should Cocoa, Healthy Vegan Food, Eat Your Greens, Meat Free Mondays, In My Kitchen and Eat Petite:

    Happy New Year
    And finally I wish all my family, friends and other loyal readers a happy new year and all the best for 2018.  I thank you for reading, commenting, suggesting, tasting and sharing.

    I started this blog 10 years ago with every intention of staying under the radar but never imagining all the connections and inspiration the blog would bring.  A decade on I am blogging with a little less energy but nevertheless still enjoying it and grateful for all this little corner of the internet gives me.  I have lots to share in 2018 if only I can find the time.  I love hearing from you and hope you continue to drop by.

    11 comments:

    1. I enjoyed reading your reflections Johanna, I always do. It makes me thankful. I don't know if I will do one of my own and perhaps will mention stuff in passing in blog posts, as its not been the best of years and I am glad it is behind us.
      I am terrible for keeping up to date of where my blog has been featured (minus food challenges) but was so pleased to see you featured in PEtA. And also Thank you so much for the links too.

      Once again, Happy new Year to you - I truly look forward to reading more of your blog this year and the years to come. x

      ReplyDelete
    2. What great reflections on 2017. Ten years blogging is a huge feat. It's no wonder that your vegan muffins with tofu feta, olive and sun-dried tomatoes were #1, they were totally delicious.
      All the best for 2018!

      ReplyDelete
    3. Once again, thank you very much for blogging and sharing - I appreciate it all very much. I hope you and your family have a wonderful 2018 and much to summarize 365 days from now :-)

      ReplyDelete
    4. Happy New Year to you! Still reading and enjoying your blog.

      ReplyDelete
    5. I love your blog Johanna. Thank you for sharing your life and family with us. I hope 2018 will be a great year for you.

      ReplyDelete
    6. Great roundup, this year has certainly been a whirlwind of the good and the bad!

      ReplyDelete
    7. Happy new year! I'm pleased to see so many vegan recipes made it into your top 10 for last year, and so many in your favourite eats. I love visiting your beautiful corner of the internet and I'm looking forward to more of the same for 2018.

      ReplyDelete
    8. Happy New Year my dear friend. 1996 posts in 10 years is incredible by the way. I'll never know how you find the time to do everything you do - I find it completely inspirational. It's motivating me to get back into blogging this year =)
      I appreciate the roundup since I missed some of this during my break.
      I especially like your best of 2017, especially since we agree on Favourite young adult book & favourite children's book. As well as favourite children's films. I think we'll also agree on favourite films once I finally get around to seeing them. And I definitely want to see your favourite DVD as I literally just finished reading the book.
      You accomplished so much in 2017! I can't wait to see what 2018 brings for you.

      ReplyDelete
    9. I always enjoy your annual reflections / summaries and this year is no exception. Congratulations on all that you managed in 2017, and thanks for all of your excellent posts and recipes.

      ReplyDelete
    10. Nice post!!I like all the images and photographs awesome.
      https://m.ozfoodhunter.com.au/

      ReplyDelete
    11. Happy New Year Johanna! It has been a pleasure to read about your past year, and I hope that you'll have even a better one this year! Congratulations also on the 10 years of blogging, that is a really proud achievement. I hope to read a lot from you in 2018. :)

      ReplyDelete

    Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)