2018 Year in Review

2018 was an amazing year for me. Full of ups and downs. Lots of lessons learned. And so much to be proud of. The one thing I am most proud of is how this blog has grown. This year was the first year I really took this blogging thing seriously. I never thought I would have a blog of any kind let alone a food blog. So it’s wild that people are actually responding to the food I am cooking and the recipes I post. Words cannot express how it feels to watch something you built grow and flourish. It probably feels similar to a parent watching their kid succeed. I am a strong believer in looking back, especially this time of year, and just celebrating your wins. So much of our lives are built around picking out our faults so it’s nice to cut yourself a little break sometimes. So here are some of the highlights from this year.

Most Popular Recipe

The most popular recipe on my blog this year is hands down my matcha creme brulee recipe. I still remember the whole process in creating this recipe. It had been awhile since I made creme brulee. I used to make it a lot in college with an ex boyfriend but I stopped when we broke up, so I wasn’t sure if I could still pull it off. Creme brulee is really technical since it’s hard to know if the inside is cooked without spooning some out. I must have tested this recipe 3-4 times during the week. I just kept getting it wrong, so I had to continually go to the store to get more ingredients lol. When I finally nailed it, it was just pure magic in my mouth. The bitterness of the matcha balances out the sweetness of the sugar SO WELL. It was absolutely amazing. I also still pinch myself a little bit when I see it on the first page of Google search results.

Most Popular Drink Recipe

I have slowly made my foray into drink recipes this year because I personally love a good cocktail. The one that got the most hits this year was my holiday sangria recipe. I got the inspiration for this recipe from a coworker. She was talking about how she makes a really good sangria this time of year, and I was like well I have a good sangria recipe. Why don’t I try to make a holiday version. I was really inspired by persimmon this winter so I knew I needed to somehow incorporate that into my recipe. I also wanted to make it more of a celebratory drink, so I added some prosecco to add that sweetness people love in sangria. Then I threw in some grapefruit, malbec, and cranberries for that holiday flair. Long story short, I was pretty impressed with the end result. And yes I definitely drank the whole thing after this shoot. 🙂

My Favorite Recipe

My favorite recipe is my pho recipe. It was one I was determined to perfect because I was just not happy with my mom’s recipe. My mom is an amazing cook, but her pho was always just okay for me. And I could not be a Vietnamese cook who didn’t have a good pho recipe! I did tons of research, read a ton of recipes, ate a ton of pho, and finally figured out my own way to make pho – taking some ideas from my mom and some from the research I did. What resulted was this super amazing combination of herbs, meat, and noodles.

My Favorite Instagram Pictures

2018 was a great year photography-wise for me. I took Broma Bakery’s food photography course, and it seriously changed how I took pictures and how I looked at photography. A lot of my pictures made it into my recipes, but I had many more that I took because I felt inspired by something. Most of these pictures I posted to Instagram, but I wanted to post a round up of them here for your visual enjoyment.

If there was one thing 2018 taught me, it was that you can do anything as long as you have the passion and drive to see it through. I am so excited to take this blog into 2019 and see where it takes me. Happy New Year guys! May it be yummy, bright, and filled with alcohol. 🙂