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You are here: Home / Recipes / Birthday / 3 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!

3 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!

January 16, 2014 By Manu 22 Comments

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Today we are celebrating my site’s 3rd blogiversary! It feels like yesterday that I started blogging.  I still remember how hard it was to choose a name for the blog.  I wanted something catchy, but easy to remember… and I wanted something that represented me.  That’s how Manu’s Menu came about: I liked the way it sounded and it was short and easy.  In the last 3 years, I have learnt so much about blogging and, even though I know there’s still a lot I haven’t tackled, I am quite happy about where this journey has taken me.  Probably the thing I like the most is the learning experience itself.  I did not know anything about the “mysterious world of computers”, while now I am a little bit more at ease with it. 😉

Looking back, I can easily say that this was a great year for Manu’s Menu!

Among the many accomplishments, I published my very first eBook – Manu’s Christmas Menus.  I am very satisfied with it as I did it all by myself (well… with my husband’s precious help!).  It was a fantastic experience, a bit overwhelming at times, but very rewarding.  I want to thank all of you for your amazing support, it wouldn’t have been such a success without it!  So much so, that I am considering a few more projects for the future… so watch out! 😉

Final Cover Lulu LAST

I am also quite happy with this year’s improvements in my photography skills.  I have learnt how to use natural light better, and I am quite satisfied with the way I have started to pair props, colours and food.  It used to take me much longer to “set a scene” for my pictures and I literally had to sit down and draw it on paper, while now it is coming much more naturally, which is great as it saves me quite a bit of time.

I am very grateful to my husband who gifted me a new camera: a Canon EOS 6D.  Up until now I was taking pictures of the final dishes with an oldish DSLR, a Canon 350D/Digital Rebel XT , which I still love.  So, one of this year’s resolutions is to learn how to use the new camera and take better pictures with it!  In case you are into food photography, the lens I am using is a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM, and I highly recommend it as it is sharp and perfect for portraits and food photography.  I love it!

If you are curious to see my improvements for yourselves, just check out my Foodgawker, Tastespotting and Tasteologie galleries. Also, my biggest photography accomplishment this year was the fact that the picture of my Cabbage Rolls was the most gawked for a whole month on Foodgawker, something of which I am hugely proud!

Foodgawker - Most Gawked MONTH Dec 2013

CABBAGE ROLLS (click on the picture for the recipe):

1 Cabbage Rolls 4 (1 of 1)

These are my favourite pictures of the past year (click on the picture for the recipe):

MUGHLAI LAMB BIRYANI

IMG_0085_1

GELATINA DI CAFFE’

1 Gelatina di caffe 3 (1 of 1) c

GARAM MASALA AND PRESERVED LEMON HUMMUS

2 Garam Masala and Preserved Lemon Hummus 1 (1 of 1)1

SPAGHETTI WITH VONGOLE

1 Spaghetti with Vongole 1 (1 of 1)

HOME-MADE SICILIAN PORK SAUSAGE WITH FENNEL

1 Salsiccia 5 (1 of 1)

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND AMARETTI CHEESECAKE SHOOTERS

1 White Chocolate and Amaretti Cheesecake Shooters 1 (1 of 1)

CARAMELISED RED ONION AND TALEGGIO PASTRIES

1 Red Onion and Taleggio Pastries 5 (1 of 1)

MURUKKU – CHAKALI

1 Chakli 4 (1 of 1)

TIRAMISU’

1 Tiramisu 6 (1 of 1)

JASMINE AND MANGO PANNA COTTA

3 Jasmine and Mango Panna Cotta 5 (1 of 1)

I feel blessed to have met so many wonderful people who share my same passion for food and food photography and who are always there to leave a comment on my blog. I want you to know that even though I do not always reply to each single comment, I read them ALL and they mean a lot to me! Every comment is special… so keep them coming! I also know I have many “silent” readers and I am very grateful to you too… but don’t be shy, stop by to say “hello”, I’d love to know you! I would love to thank each one of you for all your love and support!

The summary of this third year of blogging would not be complete if I did not share some statistical data with you’ll:

Stats 2013

As you can see from the screenshot, since its creation, Manu’s Menu has been visited by almost 1,170,000 people and it has a pageview count of over 4.4 million (!) with a bounce rate of 16%! I had never even dreamt that my blog would be read and followed by so many people!

I am also quite happy with the results in the Social Media area… Manu’s Menu has more than 5,600 followers on Facebook, about 1,400 on Twitter and 1,300 on Pinterest.  I am in over 6,500 circles in Google+ and I have about 1,300 email subscribers. Even though there’s always room for improvement, these achievements go well beyond my expectations! THANK YOU!!

This past year, I have also had the honour of being featured in a variety of online publications and other wesbsites, among which Food Writer Friday, Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things, Javelin Warrior’s Cookin w/ Luv, Cooking Club (my Chocolate Acorns were Editors’ Pick), the Secret Recipe Club (which featured my Sweet Chilli and Orange Chicken Wings as part of the Top 12 Appetizers and Snacks of 2013) the Examiner (which featured my Tuscan Cabbage Soup), YAHOO! Lifestyle – India (which published my Chocolate Fudge).

Besides, I have done my first ever podcasts over at Quatro Fromaggio and Other Disgraces on the Menu: one was about my eBook and the other one was just the other day, about Australian food, so head over there if you are curious to hear what we sound like! 😉  It was a very fun experience and I see more of that coming!  I will definitely keep you’ll posted!

Check out my Featured On page for a complete list!

I was also one of Babble.com’s Top 100 Food Bloggers for 2013, which was a great honour as I had already been in the Top 100 in 2012!

In 2014, you will still see me making recipes from the Secret Recipe Club and the Daring Kitchen, even though this year the food blogging community has lost one of its best and most supportive member ever: Lis! <3

I am also proud to announce that I will be joining the Sunday Supper Movement and I cannot wait to participate in my first event in a few day’s time!

I also thought it would be nice to share Manu’s Menu 10 most visited posts of this 3rd year… here they go in descending order! – Click on the picture for the recipe.

1. HYDERABADI CHICKEN BIRYANI

1 Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani 3 (1 of 1)

2. HOME-MADE BAILEYS IRISH CREAM

1 Home-made Baileys 5 (1 of 1) s

3. PEPPA PIG CAKE

1 Peppa Pig Cake 1 (1 of 1)

4. HOME-MADE CHOCOLATE SYRUP

1 Chocolate Syrup 3 (1 of 1)

5. COCA COLA CHICKEN WINGS

1 Coca Cola Chicken Wings 1 (1 of 1)

6. CHOCOLATE AVOCADO MOUSSE

1 Chocolate and Avocado Mousse 4 (1 of 1)

7. GNOCCHI ALLA SORRENTINA

1 Gnocchi alla sorrentina 2 (1 of 1)

8. STRAWBERRY CRUMBLE BARS

1 Strawberry Bars 1 (1 of 1)

9. WHITE CHOCOLATE PANNA COTTA SHOOTERS WITH RASPBERRY COULIS

1 White Chocolate Panna Cotta Shooters with Raspberry Coulis 2 (1 of 1)

10. CHICKEN STIR FRY WITH CASHEW NUTS

2 Chicken with Cashews 3 (1 of 1)

For the complete list of the recipes I have published, go to my Visual Archive.

These instead are my biggest accomplishments this year (click on the image for the recipe):

MAKING CROISSANT – CROISSANTS

3 Croissants 7 (1 of 1)

MAKING SALAME COTTO – SALAME COTTO

1 Salame Cotto

MAKING COTECHINO – COTECHINO

1 Home-made Cotechino 5 (1 of 1)

MAKING GOAT’S CHEESE AT HOME – CHÈVRE

1 Chevre 3 (1 of 1)

MAKING CASSATA – CASSATA

3 Cassata Siciliana 8 (1 of 1)

And these are the dishes I had the most fun making!

MIFFY CAKE

1 Miffy Cake 2 (1 of 1)

MIFFY CHOCOLATE COOKIES

2 Miffy Chocolate Cookies 3 (1 of 1)

CHOCOLATE ACORNS

1 Acorns 2 (1 of 1)

FIRI FIRI

1 Firi Firi 3 (1 of 1)

A special mention goes to my Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani, which is the recipe that is giving me the MOST satisfaction… when I get comments of people from India and even from Hyderabad praising it… well, I don’t think I could ask for more!

This has been quite an interesting year on Social Media.  If you follow me on Facebook you should be aware that Facebook has been making it hard for pages to reach their audience.  Make sure to hover with your mouse over the “liked” button and click on “get notifications”… also, the more you like/share/comment etc., the more likely you are to get my updates on your feed.  Facebook basically want page owners to pay to “boost” their posts.  I personally think that’s not right as there are many “normal people” and small business that won’t be able to do that and I think in the long run, many bloggers will use Facebook less and move on to other platforms like Google+, something I really need to concentrate on this year!  If you are using other social media platforms besides Facebook, remember you can follow MsM also on: Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram. Come join us!

So, which was your MsM’s favourite recipe this year?

Once more I want to thank all of you for your love and support during these last 3 years!!! Here is to many more!!! 🙂 And don’t forget to come back to check out MsM’s next recipe… trust me, it is delicious!

*In the spirit of full disclosure, this post contains some affiliate links, which means that I may get a commission if you decide to purchase anything from Amazon.com. I only recommend products that I use and love myself, so I know you’ll be in good hands.

 

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Related Posts:

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  • 6 Year Blogiversary

Filed Under: Birthday, Events, Misc, News, Special Occasions Tagged With: blogiversary, blogoversary

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Comments

  1. Aisha says

    January 17, 2014 at 2:21 am

    Congratulations!!!

    Reply
    • Manu says

      January 17, 2014 at 9:51 am

      Muchisimas gracias Aisha! <3

      Reply
  2. Joan Nova says

    January 17, 2014 at 4:07 am

    Congratulations — you’ve done spectacular work!

    Reply
    • Manu says

      January 17, 2014 at 9:48 am

      Thank you so much Joan!

      Reply
  3. Sicorra says

    January 17, 2014 at 4:43 am

    Happy blog anniversary! Love your recipes!

    We made cabbage rolls on Sunday and ate them for dinner all week. I love doing that. I just noticed someone’s comment on your recipe too about freezing the cabbage the night before. We will need to try that next time too.

    Reply
    • Manu says

      January 17, 2014 at 9:52 am

      Awww thanks! I am so glad you like my Cabbage Rolls! I too read you can freeze them, though I haven’t tried it myself… please let me know if you do, so I can add a note to the post! 🙂

      Reply
  4. SallyBR says

    January 17, 2014 at 6:25 am

    I’ve been reading your blog for a very long time, and feel you deserve all the recognition and much more!

    Congrats on three years, and here’s to many many more!

    Reply
    • Manu says

      January 17, 2014 at 6:58 am

      Awww THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH Sally!!! You are so kind!! And I am very grateful for your constant support my friend! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Javelin Warrior says

    January 17, 2014 at 8:08 am

    Happy blogiversary, Manu! Here’s to the next wonderful 3 years and beyond!

    Reply
    • Manu says

      January 17, 2014 at 9:58 am

      Thank you so much Mark! 🙂 And I am so sorry I forgot to add your site to my shout outs! It’s fixed now, but I do apologise! I was sure I had added it and instead I forgot… the truth is I wrote the post over a couple of days, and that’s never a smart idea! 😉 THANKS for all your support my friend! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Lizzy (Good Things) says

    January 17, 2014 at 9:10 am

    Manuela, congratulations, this is such an achievement. Well done. Love your work, really love your work. And thank you for the very kind shout out xox

    Reply
    • Manu says

      January 17, 2014 at 9:59 am

      Thank YOU Lizzy! <3 It was a pleasure!

      Reply
  7. Paolo (@quatrofromaggio) says

    January 17, 2014 at 9:23 am

    Congratulations! Much deserved success, my friend! Looking forward to many more years of great blogging 🙂 And to our next podcast!

    Reply
    • Manu says

      January 17, 2014 at 9:59 am

      Grazie Paolo! I am looking forward to the next podcast too! 😉

      Reply
  8. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says

    January 17, 2014 at 12:24 pm

    I have had such joy watching your blog go from strength to strength. Look at those photos above – all are mouthwateringly wonderful. I look forward to one day being able to say, “I knew her when she just started out.” 🙂 Congratulations on your success.

    Reply
  9. Mi Vida en un Dulce says

    January 17, 2014 at 1:32 pm

    Congratulations Manu…wow, 3 years…!!!

    Reply
  10. chocolatesuze says

    January 17, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    happy blogiversary Manu! here’s to many more delicious years to come!

    Reply
  11. Frank @Memorie di Angelina says

    January 18, 2014 at 12:35 am

    Congratulations on your 3rd Blogiversary and all your much deserved success!

    Reply
  12. Chris says

    January 18, 2014 at 6:47 am

    Congratulations to your third Blogiversary. You had a very successful year and I hope it will go on like this for you in this very year as well! As for me, the best about food blogging is the whole experience of doing and trying things itself.

    Reply
  13. Gary Lum says

    January 21, 2014 at 6:12 am

    Congratulations on 3 years. Well done. You have an amazing website.

    Reply
  14. azita says

    January 22, 2014 at 12:11 am

    So much pretty and so much deliciousness. Happy 3 years blogging! And wishing you more and more success and fun as you continue.

    Reply
  15. Sawsan@chef in disguise says

    January 29, 2014 at 4:34 pm

    Congratulations Manu on another wonderful year!
    It has been a joy to know a wonderfully talented and passionate person like you
    Wishing you much more success and happiness my friend

    Reply

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Hi! I am Manu, the author of Manu's Menu. I was born and brought up in Italy and my blog can show you how to create authentic Italian food in your own home! Read More…

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