Happy 6th Anniversary to the blog!

I always like to take a moment to acknowledge how long it’s been and also reflect on what’s happened. I also think it would be nice if I baked a cake or something fancy for the occasion, but I’m always too lazy to do so. Maybe one of these years it will happen.

Every year I talk about how grateful  I am to have my readers and my blog and I really mean it. The experiences I’ve had, the knowledge I’ve obtained, the people I’ve met, all of it is truly priceless. This last year has been particularly wild.

I met Anthony Bourdain.

I cooked with Top Chef finalist Brooke.

I hugged the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

I finally got to meet in person several food blogger friends.

I went to New Orleans! What an amazing food city.

Oh, and I became a published author. It still doesn’t seem real. I drag Mr. K to every bookstore we pass by to see if my book is there. And I get ridiculously giddy every time I find a copy.

When I was a kid, I spent most of my summers and weekends at the library. I loved to read and I would fill up pages upon pages worth of stickers from those Summer Reading Programs. For most of my middle school years, I was convinced I wanted to be an author. It was only after my parents and teachers strongly advised me towards a more stable career that I temporarily gave up on that dream.

Initially, the blog started as a creative outlet from my day job and as a way to let that author dream continue. I never actually thought I would become an author out of it—I just thought it would be a way for my writing to reach other people in the world.

So yes, having this book published means more to me than I can describe in words and I am so thankful for all the support of my readers.  So many of you bought my book for yourselves, as gifts to friends and family, etc. My friend CC bought 6 copies to gift to others! She is such a wonderful friend and it was because of blogging that we became friends.

It was particularly thrilling to see the book translated into other languages and seeing the different covers.  A reader sent me this image for the Italian version.

I loved the German cover so much, I bought myself one even though I can’t understand any German.

Last year, I ended my anniversary post by sharing a few random things about myself. I wanted to do the same again. Since this is the 6th year, I’m listing 6 things you likely don’t know about me.

1. My favorite meal of the day is dinner. I love the variety of dishes available and my stomach seems to have so much more room to eat in the evening.

2. I think dessert is a separate part of the stomach. No matter how full I am, I have room for dessert.

3. I like to snack in bed. It’s mainly because we have a TV in our room so I’m often on the bed watching TV and I like to snack when watching. But this eating on the bed habit drives Mr. K nuts, especially if I spill crumbs.

4. I own 18 Hello Kitty plush dolls. That’s not too many, is it? I’m trying to collect one for every occasion/holiday.

5. Apparently I can’t wink. My siblings tell me that when I attempt to wink, my other eye also briefly closes.

6. I eat a piece of chocolate almost every day. This is probably why I get so excited when I stay at a hotel that offers turn-down service with chocolates. The last time this happened, I requested if we could have extra chocolates and they responded by bringing me an entire bag!

That’s it for now. Thank you again for following along and continuing to read my blog, support it, comment, share it with others. I hope to continue doing this for many more years and I hope you will all continue along the ride with me.

Five Year Blogiversary

Fourth Year

Third Year

Second Year