Eight years ago yesterday, my first child was born. I called it Words to Eat By. In honor of my baby’s blogaversary, I thought I’d share one highlight from each of its years, including some recipes that remain on my go-to list even now:
- 2005. For my first-ever guest post, the choice of writer was obvious: My husband, Stephen. He offered a lovely reminiscence about his great-grandmother, who died a few years later at the age of 105, and her recipe, which we call Little Gram’s Sauce. A stash of this sauce can always be found in our freezer.
- 2006. Harry’s birth marked the beginning of a two-year blogging lull. So let’s call it a highlight of my life, but a lowlight of this site. But it also led directly to…
- 2007. My one and only post for the year gave a clue to exactly where my life was headed. Slow Cooker Ratatouille was the recipe I taught at my mom’s group, which inspired me to create a class called Parents Need to Eat Too. More on that in 2009…
- 2008. Again, just one post for the year, but right now I think it’ll make a lot of people smile. Hint: I wrote it on November 5, and it involved current events. Here’s hoping I can write a similar post on November 6, 2012.
- 2009. The next phase of this site—and my life—really began when I announced the first-ever Parents Need to Eat Too cooking class. It booked up so quickly, I knew I was on to something. Oh, and this recipe for Slow Cooker Short Ribs? Still mind-blowing.
- 2010. Yeah, the book thing. That was big, for sure. But my favorite post from that year was kind of a throwaway, written on New Year’s Eve: A Year in Failures. I like to look at those pictures every so often, just to laugh at how wrong things can go.
- 2011. After a few years of posts about cooking post-baby, teaching classes, and working on a cookbook for parents, I rechristened Words to Eat By as Parents Need to Eat Too. New look, new name, same great taste. 2011 also marked the first of many posts devoted to my adorable son’s adorable infuriating eating habits. And also one of my favorite recipes to deal with His Picky Highness: Korean Style Lettuce Wraps with Ginger-Lime Noodles.
- 2012: Well, this happened. And perhaps more importantly, I fell in love with Mexican chorizo.
Now friends, I couldn’t very well write a summary of eight years and not mention The Best Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies in the Entire World, could I? The recipe itself dates to the first year of this blog, and it remains the most popular page on the site. They really are the best chocolate chip cookies you’ll ever bake. I’ll say it again: [warning: curse words ahead] Holy Fucking Shit, these are good.