Farewell 2012 - the Highlights

It has been a wonderful, wonderful year.

It feels rather sad for me actually, because this year has been amazing and I don't want February to come near quickly (because then I have to leave Jakarta). But now that we have survived the apocalypse (?), I say bring on 2013!

This is the recap of the things in 2012 that have added some kilos on the bathroom scale for me.


The food

2012 was started with my going back to Sydney after 8 months holiday in Jakarta, and since then, thank God, I have been eating great food, trying new items, and being at interesting festivals.

This year, I've had my first take on red velvet cake, charcoal chicken, Mexican food, Turkish food, exotic flavoured gelato, ox tongue, Ladurée, selat Solo, and es selendang mayang. I was also lucky enough to catch up on Sydney Food Trucks and exploring Eveleigh Market.

I've also had my most amazing iced chocolate, bánh mì (Vietnamese rolls), pork rib ramen, pies, frozen yoghurt, soft shell crab omelet & milkshake, Korean fried chicken & hotpot, gelato, gelato cake, laksa & char kwe tiao, pide, bibimbap, and durian ice cream.

I notice that I play more often in the kitchen this year. Here's what I managed to make/bake in 2012:

1. Chocolate lava cake - a new idea for delicious Valentine.
2. Kaastengels - addictive cheese cookies.
3 & 4. Deep fried Oreo and chocolates - just a small evidence of my craziness.

5. Tomato and mushroom frittata - which may convert me into vegetarian.
6. Kimchi bokkeumbap (kimchi fried rice) - because I can't get enough of easy & tasty Korean meals.
7. Ddeokbokki (Korean rice cakes in spicy sauce) - my favourite Korean snack ever.
8. Chocolate snowballs - little morsels to sweeten your Christmas (or any other day).

Apart from these, I have also made homemade 'pizza', sushi rolls, and crepes.

As you may have noticed, later this year I have been developing an addiction to Korean cuisine, which is apparent from the increased number of posts labeled 'Korean' in the tag cloud. I still am, actually. Blame this to the Korean friends who often bring their looking-great lunch boxes and also the K-dramas.


The special occasions

Thanks to lovely friends who introduce me to this kind of fun, I managed to go to my first culinary events in Sydney: Good Food and Wine Show 2012, Little Korea Food Tour, and South American Canivale. The latter two are parts of Crave SIFF 2012.

In 2012, Irene's Getting Fat! had its 1st birthday, and I felt like a proud mom!

On a sunny day in November, I was really honored to join annual Sydney Food Bloggers Christmas Picnic, where I stuffed myself big time and made new blogger friends.

So much food at annual Sydney food bloggers picnic

The blog

The blog itself has seen some changes and, hopefully, improvement. I started early this year with a new rating system that will more clearly highlight my personal score for a restaurant. I also had my first blog custom t-shirt, and am planning to do a new one next year!

And later this year I published a 'Behind the Scene' post, showing you about the things I do and use before I click the 'Publish' button.

Review Index and Recipe Index pages are also added to the blog, hopefully they are helping you to browse the posts more easily. Next to them are About and Contact pages, updated regularly and contain more complete info.

You can expect more changes in 2013 for the blog, as I am currently working on a new banner, and I'm also trying to make drop-down tags (anyone know how?).

Anyway, thank you very, very much for your support, comments, critics, suggestions, retweets, answers that you have given to Irene's Getting Fat! this whole year. They really mean a lot to me, and I shall work harder to provide you with more delicious and interesting reviews in 2013! If you have any critics, suggestions, or new year parcels, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Happy New Year everyone! Here's to more delicious and happy days ahead!


Cheers,
Irene