When the girls were little, my idea of celebrating a birthday was an 8:00 dinner reservation and a babysitter booked by Andy. It didn’t matter what restaurant we were headed to, so long as I didn’t spend half the meal kneeling under the table looking for a Polly Pockets shoe. But in the past few years, as the girls have gotten older and wiser (though somehow no less clumsy in the small-parts dropping department) it’s a different story. I find it’s not nearly as fun to blow out the candles without the two of them inserting their “cha-cha-chas” in the birthday serenade, and begging for the slice with the flower.
My birthday is still a few weeks off, but I’m proud to announce that DALS turned one this week. (Can you believe??) And in the spirit of including the whole family in the celebration, I’m offering gifts to you guys, my faithful DALS readers, who on a daily basis make this space so much more rich and so much more fun. Anyone who leaves a comment below is eligible for his or her choice of various goodies I’ve been collecting from generous vendors, including Laurie David’s cookbook The Family Dinner and a pile of food-related notepads from the always entertaining Knock, Knock. (I’m just going to assume you all have the DALS signature “Make Dinner Not War” bumper sticker already, but if you don’t, you can select that for your prize as well.) As usual, the selection process will be highly scientific — Phoebe and Abby will be picking three winners at random. So keep the comments clean. (That means you 654!)
I’ve also included some fun year-in-review stats, gleaned from the all-powerful Google Analytics and then a few personal faves from Andy and me. Thought they might help as you head into the weekend.
Ten Most Clicked Posts of the Year (in order): Letter of Agreement, The Recipe Door, Instant Dinner Party, Salad Pizza, Lemon-Pepper Chicken, Picky Eater Taxonomy, Dinner: A Love Story, The Book, Time for Dinner The Cookbook, Green French Fries, Vegetable Hater Special.
Most Popular Category (no surprise): Chicken
Most Popular Pep Talk: My Real Food Movement
Most Popular Chicken Recipe: Baked Chicken with Tomatoes and Mascarpone
Most Popular Pasta Recipe: Rigatoni with Back-pocket Bolognese
Most Popular Beef Recipe: Belgian Beef Stew
Most Popular Seafood: Thai-spiced Salmon in Coconut Milk
Most Popular Vegetarian Recipe: Pappardelle with Butternut Squash
Most Popular Soup: White Bean and Tomato
Most Popular Baking Recipe: Rosa’s Mud Cake (below)
Jenny’s Most Favorite Posts by Andy: Pick a Country, Any Country, Have a Baby Win Some Books, Tony’s Steak, Jake, Great Grandma Turano’s Meatballs, The Family Part of Family Dinner, Pork in Milk
Andy’s Most Favorite Posts by Jenny: Absolute Value, Special (pictured below) On Anniversaries, Sorry, I Have to Catch My Train, Table Manners for Grown-Ups, Sunday Minestrone, You Can’t Mess This Up I’ve Tried.
Thanks for a great year — Here’s to many more!
I don’t have children yet but visiting you daily (you are my homepage @ work and home) is like training for me!
Happy Birthday DALS! You have inspired me to cook lentils again!!( and feed them to the 500 children children I create Bfst, Lunch, Snack menus for!)
Congrats! I think I wasn’t sure how old DALS was, but I think I’ve been following you since you were a wee baby!
Cool – Happy Birthday.
How nice to recognize an annual event for a blog that’s a part of my (nearly) daily life! Congrats on ONE! Here’s to many many more years!
Happy birthday to DALS! My left hand is aching from all the ctrl-C ctrl-V I’ve been doing sending your blog addy on to people I know will love you as much as I do.
happy one year! keep up the good work
Wish I could recall how I ended up “finding” you, but I am so glad I did (and that’s an understantement)! Thanks for all the great posts and recipes. Love ’em!
Happy birthday!
Congratulations!!
Love, love, love your philosophy and practicality (and stories about your girls’ quirks and that adorable pup of yours).
Andy’s Great Grandma Turano’s Meatballs are my absolute favorites…and my kids love to make them!
Happy Birthday!
Jenny, your site rocks! Thanks for the recipes, pep talks, posts by your hubby, and witty take on family life.
Cheers!
Mazel tov, Jenny.
Really only a year??? Holy cow there is a lot of information on here that I refrence constantly. I’m going to geek out a bit and admit I have a bumper sticker and the cook book…and check the site daily 🙂 Congratulations and thanks so much for giving me new ideas every day 🙂
Happy Birthday! Congrats.
Love your site, recipes, humor and family bonding. Thank you for sharing with us!!
congrats to a year!
Happy one-year birthday! We tried your Lahey pizza crust and LOVED it! Also, your vinaigrette is one of the best I’ve had. Thank you Jenny!
Happy Birthday to my absolutely favorite blog! Here are my favorite things about DALS:
THE FOOD!!
Our shared love of Trader Joes!
Phoebe’s name (also my Boston Terrier’s name!!)
Your mouthwatering descriptions of food!
Your photos are awesome!
When I follow your recipes, they come out right!
Your cook book that I just got from Amazon!
Watching your kids love of food grow.
You blog almost every day, I love that!
Basically, I love everything about your blog! Please don’t stop!!!
Thank you so much for all the recipes and ideas you’ve brought to my table
happy, happy!! love to read the blog, cook the recipes, and shop from the Trader Joe’s faves list 🙂 thanks for it all!
Happy Birthday and thanks for all the ideas!
Congrats! I’m a recent reader and I love your dinner ideas and family stories.
Happy bday! Looking forward to year 2!
Feliz cumpleaños! A year already! I make your recipes frequently, even tho I have no little one at home… love, love, love the recipes, the stories, the photos, the writing, and your darling daughters. Thank you for sharing!
Happy Birthday, DALS! We eat something from your blog at least once a week, and I am thinking of having a spy party for my up-coming 30th birthday!
Thanks for all the great ideas!
happy birthday! Can’t wait to read in year two! I’m a fairly new reader and have been cooking from the blog! The Finger Food Chicken Wings are a new staple for us! Thank you!