Feeding the Sixth… Blogiversary
I’ve been The Food Girl in Town for two thousand, one hundred and ninety days. What started as a hobby is now part of my identity. At this point I’m sure not what’s influenced the other more — my love for food or my love of writing, but one thing is for sure: I am who I am today because of those first two words WordPress made me type in the fall of 2012.
“Hello, world.”
The Food Girl in Town has ebbed and flowed in tandem with my life over the past six years and I have to honestly say I am who I am today because of the blog. The sixth year was all about the baycation and exploring our home province. I signed on as Associate Editor at Atlantic Business Magazine in February, which drastically changed my work life. And the way I travel. I don’t have the freedom to jump on a plane whenever I want. I won’t lie, it’s definitely been an adjustment getting back into the 9-5 groove, but I’m getting there! My new job has also afforded me lots of opportunities to be back in Halifax, so eating with friends there has been a particular joy. What did the last year look like? Dig in.
Year six by the numbers
Number of restaurants I ate in: 85
Yes, I counted. I eat unabashedly with no remorse. From trying soup dumplings in Shanghai to showing visitors where Anthony Bourdain sat at the Big R in St. John’s, I savoured every bite. Special thanks to Instagram for helping me remember all the places I’ve eaten in the past year; it was a delicious trip down memory lane.
Number of cities visited: 23
Like I said at the beginning of this post, this was the year of the baycation, so most of these cities are small Newfoundland towns, like the Fermeuse overnight with Mike and Chelsea. But I also knocked off Beijing, Shanghai, Ottawa and Halifax too!
Number of hotels stayed in: 20
It doesn’t matter how many hotels I stay in, from a staycation at the Alt Hotel St. John’s to the fabulous Sofitel in Nanjing, I’ll never get sick of checking in. Turn down service is turning out to be one of my favourite things.
Times I was on TV: 2
Well not TV exactly, but I was totally feeling my Bourdain moment when I teamed up with the Help Me Order to make videos featuring restaurants on their app! Here’s the one I did at Kimchi & Sushi downtown.
These are my favourite things
Favourite dining experience: Well & Good Dinner
My favourite dining experience wasn’t a Michelin-starred restaurant, it was a cozy communal dinner I shot last fall at the Grounds Cafe. Read Well & Good Dinners: A Rapturous Recap of Volume III for all the delicious details.
The thing I loved cooking this year: Pasta!
Adam and I learned to make pasta this year, I mean really learned. I’ve made it dozens of time, but it was different every time and I didn’t find a good recipe I liked. We spent the majority of January and February 2017 making pasta and drinking wine. I also spent an afternoon learning how to make Koshari for the Around the World in 12 Plates I completed last year. Learning about the history of this Egyptian dish was really cool, plus we all know I can’t resist a dish with pasta AND rice. Read Around the World in 12 Plates: Egypt here
The coolest place I visited: China
My new job at Atlantic Business Magazine gave the opportunity to snag a spot on the Canada China Business Council media trip to China and holy crap it was beyond cool! Knocking The Great Wall of China off the bucket list felt pretty good. This is just the first of many blog posts documenting my adventure: Read Visiting the Great Wall of China
Favourite hotel: Fogo Island Inn
In the past year, I stayed not once but TWICE at the Fogo Island Inn. The difference between my first winter visit alone and my summer visit with Adam was drastic and I loved aspects of both experiences. Here’s the post I wrote about the food from my stay last November: Read The Food at Fogo Island Inn
My favourite blog post: The Kraft Dinner Showdown
Tracking down the seven different Kraft Dinner brands, making them to the exact directions on the box and eating them might sound fun, but it was a whole lot of work! This post rocked the stats like no other in the past year — everyone wanted to know what boxed mac and cheese came out on top, don’t you? Read The History of Kraft Dinner + a KD showdown
Most popular blog post: Where to Stay in Newfoundland this Summer
Needless to say, those baycations paid off with blog posts and everyone wants to know where to stay in Newfoundland because we’re super trendy now! Read Where to Stay in Newfoundland this summer
Most popular Instagram post:
What’s next?
This year Adam and I will finally go on our honeymoon…two years after we eloped at Toronto City Hall. England and Belgium won’t know what hit ’em! The baycation infatuation also continues — we’re headed to our very first Roots Rants and Roars in Elliston this weekend, another bucket list culinary experience.