This has been a crazy year for us as we soared to new heights with up to 215,000 unique readers in a single month. After a two year apartment search, we finally moved in the spring. First we had no kitchen and cooked with just appliances. Then we moved into my mom’s house while we renovated and built our dream kitchen. Around the same time, we found out that we’re going to be parents! She’s due in just 8 more weeks! The prolonged morning sickness slowed me down significantly for the second half of this year so thanks for sticking with me and supporting me throughout! Happy New Year dear friends! We hope 2010 was a blast for you and that 2011 is even better!

For fun, as we did last year, we compiled a list of the top 10 posts of 2010 (based on traffic). I’d love to know what your favorite post of 2010 was too!

potato salad sandwich 3Soy Sauce Chicken with Baby Chinese Broccoli 3pick up buffalo wing

Crunchy Cranberry Salad 10plate of basic mei fun 7very berry strawberry mixture 2

cutting basil into 4 leaf clovers 4Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes 6peeling tea egg

#10 Chinese American Potato Salad

I can’t tell you happy I am that this modest dish made the top 10. It’s a nostalgic part of my childhood that I really loved sharing. I was even more surprised when so many chimed in, being familiar with this dish. I felt connected to this secret club of people who grew up with this lesser known, yet not forgotten potato salad.

potato salad on plate

#9 Soy Sauce Chicken

I have to thank my mom for this essential Chinese recipe. I was just there to document and photograph the beauty of this simple technique that showcases freshly killed chicken. There’s nothing like it.

Soy Sauce Chicken with Baby Chinese Broccoli 3

#8 Un-fried Buffalo Wings

I’m wary of recipes that try to reduce fat or somehow make a diet version of a long-loved comfort food. Taste and results always come first for us and my readers know that so when I say you can make these buffalo wings without deep-frying them, you know it’s worth the shot.

Buffalo Wings

#7 Crunchy Cranberry Salad

I shouldn’t be surprised that this recipe is so viewed. Long before I posted it, it was always one of those recipes that everyone asked me for after they tasted it. It’s also one of my favorites purely because it’s made with ingredients I always have in my pantry. Keep this recipe within arms reach!

Crunchy Cranberry Salad 6

#6 Basic Mei Fun

This year, I spent a lot more time learning Chinese recipes from mom. It’s something I’ve always intended on doing yet schedules conflicted or travel time seemed daunting. Now that we live closer, I’m so glad that I’m putting all this invaluable knowledge and wisdom down in writing. I’ve been getting so much feedback on it too, from other Chinese Americans who may be too far from mom or just didn’t know how to transfer mom to recipe. I’m so glad these recipes have been helpful to you! More to come…

plate of basic mei fun

#5 Very Strawberry Ice Pops

I just noticed that this was the recipe I posted on my birthday. Maybe that gave me a little bit of luck, pushing this cool summer treat to #5 for 2010. What’s not to love about a dessert that is both healthy and natural?

Very Berry Strawberry Ice Pops 7

#4 Lucky Basil

I love that this one isn’t even a recipe, just a simple decorative idea that is also functional. We eat with our eyes and I have to admit that I do like playing with my food.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes, Boconcinni, clover basil

#3 Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes

I love that so many have made this recipe and sent me pictures. It has even been re-posted on other blogs like My Buttery Fingers and Eats Well With Others.

Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes 6

#2 Tea Eggs

Tea eggs are uniquely beautiful aren’t they? Often, traffic is heavily influenced by the photos and it definitely helped push these into the #2 spot.

Three Tea Eggs 2

#1 Homemade Ginger Ale

…and the #1 post of 2010 is Homemade Ginger Ale! To think, this post was inspired by being sick and needing some good ginger ale. Well, the numbers speak and this is damn good ginger ale made with real ginger!

Homemade Gingerale in champagne glass 3

Very Honorable Mention

Only posts that were posted in 2010 were in the running for this top 10. Makes sense when called, “Best of 2010″ right? Yet, I feel you should know that the most viewed post during 2010 (with about half a million pageviews!! ) was actually a post written in the summer of 2009: Garlic Knots – For Superior Garlic Breath.

There must be a lot of vampire slaying food blog readers out there.

Garlic Knots

posted by jessica at 03:12 PM Filed under Holidays, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.