Happy Birthday to Pat's Kitchen!

How about a little celebration and a lot of thanks?

I have done blogs off and on for a few years, each one with a termination date since they were based on trips we take.  When my niece came over last year to help with my Mom we talked about my frustration at always having an end date and she made a suggestion to base it on something like the new kitchen we were putting in.  Without that germ of an idea, I am not sure this blog would exist.  So the first thanks is to Roxanne!

And another real surprise - this blog has readers in every continent!  What fun!  Thanks to all of you for making writing this fun. I love looking at the stats and seeing all the continents represented.  It amazes me that you all consistently find my blog interesting.  Thanks to all my readers!

And thanks to my husband who has to sit and watch me compose photos or the blog while I really should be doing other things.  His patience is legendary!  He is also very generous in trying what I cook and being honest in his appraisals.  Of course, he says everything is good! 

 

Special thanks to my little cooking partner, Corbyn!  I really enjoy baking with him and he is clever enough to give me the impression he loves to bake.  But between you and me - I am on to his deception.  He is a little boy who loves to eat cake, and he knows if he can butter up his Grandma enough to convince her he loves to bake, he will ultimately get to eat cake. Just don't anyone let him know I am aware of this!  And just so you know, I do live in hope that one day he will really enjoy baking for baking's sake!

Last Christmas I was lucky enough to be involved in a Cookie Swap.  This is basically an American concept, but it seems to be catching on over on this side of the pond.  There are certain criteria to be able to participate, such as actually doing a food blog and publishing so many times before a certain date.  I registered and was delighted to be accepted!  There have to be at least 4 people in a country before the concept of the cookie swap works.  In the Republic of Ireland though, there was only one sole person wanting to participate.  So some of us in the UK agreed to take on the (not exceptional) extra postage.  I have followed all three of the people I shared the cookies with and her's was the one that made me realize my blog's birthday was coming up.  She recently published her Blogiversary and that was what made me look up just exactly when mine started - 22 August 2012. So a huge thank you to the Velvet Moon Baker! 

Strangely the most popular blog has been Courgette (Zuchini) and Cheese Soup.  Admittedly, this is a delicious soup and easy recipe, healthy, weightwatchers.....and the most viewed!  10% of all viewings have been this soup! There even has been a surge recently, so maybe it is Courgette season just now!

I did tie in the accident, deterioration and death of my mother through the first 6 months of this blog, because she was instrumental in our decision to redesign the kitchen.  This was a comfort to me and I am grateful for all the support I felt through the many viewings of posts relating to our experience.











My only complaint would be out of the 1663 (as of this very minute!) viewings, I have only received 19 comments, all but 2 from family and friends. And those 2 were from my cookie swap partners!  I do receive feedback through facebook and have copied some of these to become a permanent part of this blog. But it would be so much more fun to hear from some of you who are all over the world! 

Maybe this year I will have time to improve my food photography and the layout of this blog.  But even if I don't, I am really looking forward to another year of sharing my attempts at keeping up with Pat's Kitchen!

"To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first." 

William Shakespeare