When the girls were little, my idea of celebrating a birthday was an 8:00 dinner reservation and a babysitter booked by Andy. It didnโt matter what restaurant we were headed to, so long as I didnโt 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) itโs a different story. I find itโs not nearly as fun to blow out the candles without the two of them inserting their โcha-cha-chasโ in the birthday serenade, and begging for the slice with the flower.
My birthday is still a few weeks off, but Iโm proud to announce that DALS turned one this week. (Can you believe??) And in the spirit of including the whole family in the celebration, Iโm 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 Iโve been collecting from generous vendors, including Laurie Davidโs cookbookย The Family Dinner and a pile of food-related notepads from the always entertainingย Knock, Knock. (Iโm just going to assume you all have the DALS signatureย โMake Dinner Not Warโ bumper sticker already, but if you donโt, you can select that for your prize as well.) As usual, the selection process will be highly scientific โ Phoebe and Abby will be picking three winners at random. So keep the comments clean. (That means you 654!)
Iโve 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):ย 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: Rosaโs Mud Cake (below)
Jennyโs Most Favorite Posts by Andy: Pick a Country, Any Country, Have a Baby Win Some Books, Tonyโs Steak, Jake, Great Grandma Turanoโs Meatballs, The Family Part of Family Dinner, Pork in Milk
Andyโs Most Favorite Posts by Jenny: Absolute Value, Special (pictured below)ย On Anniversaries, Sorry, I Have to Catch My Train, Table Manners for Grown-Ups, Sunday Minestrone, You Canโt Mess This Up Iโve Tried.
Thanks for a great year โ Hereโs to many more!
Happy birthday, DALS!! Love your website and love your book. Looking forward to another year of inspiration.
I absolutely love your blog. My favorite post so far was when you and your husband did confessions. Thanks for letting us into your kitchen and your world.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
You look like a monkey,
and you smell like one too!
happy birthday!!
Happy, happy birthday to your blog, and soon to you as well!
Today is my birthday also!
I just found you recently- but since I read through all the archives, feel like Iโve been here since the beginning!
Happy Birthday! I always love your blog โ the recipes, ideas and the stories that sound like my home too. Congrats!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Iโve a four year old Sebastian who likes his food deconstructed like your girls. Lovely to read recipes, stories & kid related ideas about making meal time interesting & fun.
Happy Blog Birthday! I think Iโve been reading since almost the beginning โ yay!
I may not have children and have it pretty easy when it comes to finding time for making meals and sitting down to dinner, but I love your site for all of the great recipes, entertaining dialogue, and thoughtful discussions about food. Happy Birthday!
Only one year? I love your recipes, your practical mom-ing advice and the fact that you make me feel even the slightest bit normal in my [often]frazzled state!
Thanks for opening up your lives for our purusal!
I just came here for the first time via AnnieBlogs and absolutely love what Iโve discovered. Youโve just landed a new reader:)
happy birthday dals!!! so much achieved in such a short space of time. dayle
Hurray for chicken! Happy Birthday, DALS!
as a mom of two girls, 3.5 & 6.5 your blog has been a total WIN for me. loving the recipes, the polly pocket reference as well asโฆ pretty much all of it. keep up the fine blogging ๐
Happy Birthday! I have been following this site for a while and I have loved everything I tried. We lived off the yogurt marinated chicken for a while last summer!! Thanks for all that you do!
Yay!! I canโt wait for another year of deliciousness!
Happy 1st Birthday! Has it really only been a year??? I feel like I have been reading your blog for much longer than that!
You have made quite the impression in your relatively short time in the blogoshere ๐
I am looking forward to many more! All the recipes I have tried of yours so far have been great!
Thanks!
Happy Birthday!
Thank you for introducing me to the Dark and Stormy. (Not exactly family dinner, but every little bit helps!) It made last summer moreโฆfuzzy. ๐
I love your introspective yet enthusiastic style; keep up the great work. Hereโs to many more DALS years to come!
Wow, hard to believe that you have only been here for 1 year! So many amazingly good ideas! Happy Birthday and thanks!
Congrats on a Year!!
I have only been here a short time, but I truly enjoy DALS.
Out of all the sites I read on my โDaily Rollโ, yours is the most organic, and I donโt mean that in the food sense. I mean that in a delivery, content and photo sense. Just like my life!
Thank you, Iโll be returning again and again!
i am not just posting for the freebies but I was JUST thinking, hasnโt it been almost a year since DALS debuted?!?!?
Congratulations and THANK YOU for a year of great recipes
Congrats on the blogversary!
Happy birthday! Hereโs hoping that Iโll not only make one your recipes but that my kids will actually eat it before you turn 2!
P.S. Thereโs chocolate in it for the kids if I win. ; )
Happy birthday!!! I LOVE your website and have gotten SO many good ideas.