A Fond Farewell to 2015

Last Updated on January 2, 2016 by Chef Mireille

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Well, I started last year doing a roundup of the best of the year. I meant to have this published sooner, but with me working full days leading up to the end of year, even working until late into the evening on New Year’s eve night, this post had to wait a few days. Whenever the year ends, we are always pensive as we take the year into account and see what happened – what was good, what was bad, what life lessons learned, what knowledge gained, what goals achieved…or not as we get ready to tackle the new year with renewed enthusiasm.

Personally, it was a mixed bag as is usually the case right? However, blogging I am pretty content with. Do I wish my stats were better – Sure, who doesn’t? Do I wish my blog was full of engagement with my audience leaving comments and starting conversations over my dynamic posts – of course I do!!! However that doesn’t mean I can’t jump for joy over the small achievements my humble little blog has made. I had a few posts go viral on Pinterest….well viral by my standards – meaning over 100 repins…for me that’s FANTASTIC!!!

I also attended my first blogging conferences – one in April in Kansas City and another one in May right here in NYC. I gained a lot of knowledge and made a lot of good friends. I rebranded my website with a new name and have started to gain additional income via paid sponsorships so on the whole my blog is improving and I am overjoyed at the baby steps I have made. My blog posts are getting better as I improve my photography skills improve, allowing me to present to you the best of me. I hope you can see the difference that I do. 2015 was good to me….here’s to 2016 being even better.

Well, let’s start with the Indian recipes. Although I blog about all International food, you’ll find more Indian recipes here than any other International cuisine, even my native Caribbean. I am over the moon that I am getting to visit India in March for the first time. OK so it’s only for a few days on my way home from my Thailand/Penang vacation. However, I am over the moon to be meeting some of my Mumbai based blogger friends. So until I get to Mumbai, here’s a few of my favorite Indian recipes I presented in 2015.

Favorite Indian Recipes

Tellicherry Pepper Chicken

Kashmiri Wadi Curry

Parsi Chapat

Every month I participate in Food of the World. This year we visited everywhere from Indonesia and Madagascar to Aruba and Sweden. Here are a few of the best posts.

Food of the World Highlights

Tutu – from Aruba

Vanilla Chicken Stew – from Madagascar

Native American Bannocks – from Canada

Another monthly event I participate in is Bread Bakers, we bake a bread every month on a particular theme. Here are a few of the highlights.

Bread Bakers Highlights

Spinach Semolina Bread

Emirati Khameer

Everything Dutch Oven Bread

I participated in one of the twice yearly Blogging Marathon group’s Mega Marathons. This one had a different theme every week, but each recipe presented was from a different country. Here’s the best recipe from each week of the marathon.

Mega Marathon Highlights

Breakfast

Khao Soi – from Thailand

Combo Dishes

Fafda & Chutneys (this was also one of the posts that went Pinterest viral 🙂

Condiments

Sosu Kaani – from Senegal

Indian Regional Cuisine

Akkaravadisal

…and to start the year on a sweet note, let’s think about some of the best desserts that were created this year.

Pistacchio Crusted Mango Rose Cake

Gelo di Melone

Plantain Cacao Upside Down Cake (this made one of my most popular Instagram pics) …and you all know what a plantain fanatic I am so this was probably my favorite dessert of the year!

Thank you to all my readers and supporters and especially to my blogger friends …what a wonderful world we are in!