Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year! Looking back, looking forward.

Not a top-5 post, but I loved these eggs.
This year has been full of ups and downs. You might know that my husband went into the hospital on September 6, and you might have read about his progress.

On December 20 - after 15 weeks in ICU in the hospital - he was transferred to a rehab hospital.

This is good news because it means his medical issues are mostly solved. He's still weak and underweight and his muscles have atrophied from such a long time in bed. He's got a long way to go before he gets home. But we're headed in a good direction.

While the past few months have been stressful, I've become a more positive person. The support I got from everyone - online and in-person - has been amazing. I know that whatever happens, whatever new crisis I might face, there are people who've got my back.

I've also learned to let minor annoyances roll right past me. Since I have bigger things to worry about, the little things don't really matter as much. And that's a really good thing.

On the blogging front, December was my best traffic month ever, and I reached a milestone number of page views. That's something to celebrate.

Out of the five 2012 posts that got the most page views, four were bread-like items. Interestingly, there were a few posts from 2011 that ranked high in terms of page views in 2012 - an egg foo yung recipe from 2011 came in at #5 and a technique post about the proper temperature for yeast in breadmaking showed up as #6.

Leaving out those two posts from 2011, my top five posts were:

5) Bird in the Hand - bird-shaped buns.


4) Croissants made for Julia Child's birthday event.


3) Bunny Bread - one of my favorite bread critters.


2) We're Going Molecular, a recipe for spherified honey.


And the number one post for 2012 was:
 Biscuits! Biscuits! Biscuits!
A recipe from a cookbook by Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart


As far as what's coming, I'm looking forward to this new year. I'm hoping that soon my husband will be able to eat again (he's on a feeding tube right now .... sigh ... ) but we're hopeful it won't be long before he's strong enough to eat on his own. Maybe that will prompt some interesting pureed soup recipes.

Other than that, I have a few tricks up my sleeve for 2013. It should be a good year. And I'll be bringing all of you with me.

I'm not making resolutions or setting big goals because I know that much of my life will revolve around my husband's health and recovery.And that's not something I can plan, predict, or control. All I can do is try to keep calm and try to make life as normal as possible. And I think I can do that.

Thanks to everyone who has made these past few months so good for me. You know who you are.

If you haven't read my previous posts about my husband's condition, you can catch up here:

http://www.cookistry.com/2012/09/cooking-has-been-put-on-hold.html
http://www.cookistry.com/2012/09/over-one-hurdle-surgery-is-done.html
http://www.cookistry.com/2012/09/thirty-four-years-and-going-strong.html
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