Each year, on the anniversary of the date I started this blog (the bloggiversary, if you will), I post a recap about all the cool things that have happened in the past year. There were years when I did several food segments on the morning news and years where I traveled across the country for the blog, but this past year was sorely lacking in these types of exciting life events. It was instead a year of stress and challenge, a year that frankly isn’t much fun to reflect on.
(Check out my 5th-year and 6th year anniversary posts!)
I did go on a press trip to Hocking Hills in January, during the Whole30, at which I was served brownies for breakfast, to which I was forced to politely decline. OH THE HUMANITY. Honestly, I focused more on fitness than food this year, which I believe helped me from completely going off the deep end. Well, that and my new obsession with Trader Joe’s plantain chips. Soooo crunchy.
This year I thought about changing the name of this blog, as I have done off and on over the past seven years. I picked the name “fervent foodie” on a whim, and it’s never seemed to fully capture what I hope for this space. I guess that’s probably how my parents feel about naming me Mary, when clearly I’m more of a Zoe. I mean, that’s what that online quiz I took said.
My most popular post over the last 365 days was my Buffalo Chicken Dip recipe (originally posted in 2010, most popular blog post, SEVEN years running). Come on people. This is followed closely by my Charlotte Foodie Guide and this HIGHLY informative post on how to make leftover pizza taste like it was just delivered.
I’m still not eating meat, and sure as heck don’t miss it. Except sometimes when I see a turkey sandwich with avocado and sprouts or a big fat meatball. Or smell some North Carolina pulled pork. Other than that, I totally don’t miss it. This year I also learned that despite all the exercise and healthy eating I cram into my days, my cholesterol is high. This makes absolutely no sense. I’ve temporarily omitted eggs and shrimp from my diet. The verdict is still out on whether this unscientific experiment will make a difference.
When I started blogging back in 2010, I posted about 3 times a day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner every dang day. This past year? I posted about once every three months. That’s grad school for you. The truth is, blogging takes a lot of freaking time. More time than most people have, actually. And I believe that’s why so many people are shifting to micro-blogging platforms (like Instagram, for example).
My lack of blogging this year freed up some time which I ironically used to start the Columbus Food Bloggers group. With the help of Erin (the Spiffy Cookie), Jordan (Midwest Foodfest), and Stacy (Eat Pretty 614), we’ve connected nearly fifty Columbus foodies and planned more events than I can recall. Our definition of the word “blogger” includes Instagram-only foodies (those micro-bloggers I talked about earlier), which is wonderful, otherwise I’d be kicked out of my own group for lack of posting.
Last month, I spent a weekend in Charlotte (the city I moved away from last year), and as I headed south on 77 and the skyline finally creeped into view, I was hit with a sharp wave of sadness. I guess it’s sort of like when a relationship ends for valid reasons, but you still love and care about that other person. It’s easy to push it from your mind when you’re keeping busy, but there’s no avoiding that punch-in-the-gut feeling that hits when your paths do happen to cross.