Planet Byn turns 3 today! Time to pause for the cause, and take a moment to look back on the past year of blogging and highlight the most viewed posts, my favourite posts, fun foodie experiences {new!} and some goals and exciting things coming up for Year 4.

 Top 5 Most Viewed Posts:

  1. School Bus Birthday Cake – I was expecting this as my blog stats show me that people visit Planet Byn daily to check out that post. Who knew School Bus cakes were so popular?
  2. Slutty Brownies – No doubt! Everyone loves these! More on them below.
  3. Lemon Meringue Cookies – These were in the Top 5 last year as well.
  4. Easter Candy Bark & Homemade Cream Eggs – The weirdest thing about this is that the blog that Easter Candy Bark comes from has disappeared into the blogosphere. Where did you go Lindsey?
  5. Joy the Baker Cookbook Project – Presented without comment, 100 recipes from Joy’s 1st cookbook. More on this below!

My Favourite 5 Posts from the last year:

  1. Slutty Brownies (+ Chaste Brownies, Peanut Butter Slutty Brownies and Slutty Blondies {not blogged}) – Just got obsessed with this phenomenon this year after seeing these on What’s Gaby Cooking, then realizing she was Jessica Simpson’s personal chef. Making another version this weekend: Slutty Cheesecake Brownies!
  2. Rainbow Birthday Cake – I just loved the way this cake turned out for my niece Charlotte’s 5th Birthday!
  3. Honey Wheat Bread – My first time baking loaves of bread and they turned out perfectly.
  4. Air-Popped Microwave Popcorn – This is a game-changer right here. Thanks Joel!
  5. Peach Margaritas – Had some trouble this summer making boozy (Susan) cocktails with fresh fruit that didn’t really work out (Rhubarb Margs & Cherry Mojitos). Finally hit the jackpost with these! Sippable summery goodness!

Fun Foodie Experiences/Projects:

  1. Meeting Deb from Smitten Kitchen – Well it goes without saying that this was one of my life highlights from 2012. Deb leaving a comment for me on that post is just the icing on the cake!
  2. Toronto Treat Tour – Danielle came to visit in the summer, and we had a pretty epic diabetes inducing day eating our way through Toronto’s best brunch, cupcakes, macarons, pie, doughnuts, ice cream, pizza and more doughnuts. All the more special to do it with my Sugary Goop co-podcaster!
  3. Gastropost – This has been a game-changer in so many ways. Not only is it fun to complete the missions every week, but it’s also given me the chance to appear in the National Post, make cookies for Chuck, and meet some amazing new friends, all of whom are just as obsessed with food as I am!
  4. Joy the Baker Cookbook Project – More on this next week, but Danielle and I baked our way through 100 recipes in the Joy the Baker Cookbook. This was a fun project, because truly, when do you ever bake every recipe of a cookbook? We found some forever recipes though, and we’ll tell you about them week.
  5. Meeting Gail Simmons from Top Chef – This is something I didn’t actually blog about, but when Gail’s book was released last Spring, I got the chance to meet her at a signing in Yorkville. (Haven’t talked about how I’m obsessed with Gail for a while, but here’s a refresher!). We chatted about Montreal eats, bagels, and chocolate and peanut butter. She’s so nice, friendly and pretty, and way teenier in person! Her book is great by the way, if you were ever wondering how she ended up on Top Chef.

Now let’s re-visit my goals from last year:

– Take a photography class (at minimum the one for Canon DSLRs at Henry’s)

Yup, still need to take those classes, but when I have time and daylight, I’ve been trying to have a little more patience in getting a good shot. These are some of my faves.

– Continue working with yeast! Actually make some bread 🙂

Another successful year! Whole Wheat Garlic Knots, Honey Yeast Rolls and Honey Wheat Bread. I’m no longer afraid of yeast, so this is coming off the goal list.

– HOMEMADE MARSHMALLOWS! My dream last summer was to have a S’mores party where we roasted homemade marshmallows on my condo balcony and then proceeded inside to a buffet of homemade graham crackers and a variety of toppings (milk chocolate, peanut butter, nutella, dulce de leche, etc). This WILL happen summer 2012.

Alright, so yes, homemade marshmallows, I made them a few times (vanilla, mint chip and Bailey’s). The problem is that when you try to roast a homemade mallow, they liquefy pretty instantly and it just turns into mess. I will take the win though for finally triumphing over these.

– Homemade ice cream. My co-worker got me an ice cream maker last summer and I never used it. This is another summer 2012 mission.

I ended up tossing that old ice cream maker and buying a new one, and made this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. But I kind of ended up having a Ross moment (Phoebe: You don’t like ice cream? Ross: IT’S TOO COLD!). I’m just not an ice cream person (or a dog person for that matter). But then I made some more for my brother and sister-in-law and they LOVED it, so I’m still in the ice cream game. I get weirdly hypnotized watching it churn.

Finally, the BIG NEWS for 2013:

Planet Byn is currently undergoing a makeover! I’m working with Cory from Zesty Blog Consulting, and the new design should be ready in the next few weeks!

…and…

I’ll be attending the 1st Annual Food Bloggers of Canada Conference this April! Yeah! Super excited to meet fellow bloggers, and learn about everything from food photography to recipe development and so much more.

I always conclude with a big huge thank you to everyone for reading and commenting (and those like my friend Katy in Ottawa who doesn’t comment but lets me know months later that she made something I posted and her family loved it 🙂

It’s going to be another great year and I, for one, can’t wait to get started!

Previous Blog-iversaries:

1st

2nd