Looking Back- My 7 links & Gojee Feature

A couple weeks back my lovely friend Jenn from gorgeous Jenn Cuisine sent an email to me telling about this fun, kind of a relay post thread floating around the blogosphere called My 7 links. In this post you basically answer a few questions which are mainly about your blog and then hand it over to other bloggers who you love for them to take it forward. Jenn asked if I would want to join. I thought it would be interesting and maybe fun to look back at all those posts that you very carefully collected together for the past sometime. So very excitedly I said yes. But little did I know how difficult it is to comment on your own work. Every post that you put forward on your blog has a little bit of you so to pick a few from the whole bunch is difficult. It took me sometime to answer these very simple questions and although I am still not sure the answers are correct, still I am sharing it with you today.

Most Beautiful Post:-

I am one of those people who always criticize their own work. Every photograph I take, every dish I make and every post that I share I find some or the other flaw which I later think should have noticed before. So you can only imagine how difficult it must be to answer the very first question in the series. That being said I would say I felt pretty good about one of my very early posts about Pasta in creamy tomato sauce with pumpkin seeds. Not sure if that was my most beautiful post but I had fun shooting each and every photo from that post and looking back I realize that there was some effort that went into it.

As you know I have a series that I run on my blog called Wordless Wednesday which is basically a non-recipe photography post where I share with you some of my photographs. From that series the post that is really close to my heart is the post where I shared the photos I took at Chandani Chowk. Post was named Colors of Chandani Chowk (India). I can’t stop staring at all the vibrant, full of life and colorful images from the day when I just walked on one of the most crowded yet popular streets of India.

Most Popular Post:- 

Most popular post on my blog has to the Homemade Naan with Malai Kofta. It was not before I shared this post on Indian Simmer and I looked at the response of people that I realized how much a simple flatbread that I never gave credit to was so popular all around. I am not a huge fan of the use of yeast in my flatbreads so I usually make my naan without one using different methods. I thought it would go well with Malai Kofta so I shared it here and expected people to like the malai kofta recipe. But instead everyone was more excited about the homemade naan recipe. This post is the one that has been featured in many other blogs and websites. It has been the most searchable post of mine so far, got the most comments and I still get emails from people telling me that they tried the recipe and liked it. 

Most Controversial Post:

I am always open to people’s criticism/feedback and always appreciate it either its good or bad. I have been so lucky to always have had a good response from my readers. Once in a while someone would say not so good things about you but I choose to never delete even those from the comment section of my blog. But with my Chicken Tikka Masala and Cumin Scented Rice Pulao there was a different kind of objection that some “anonymous” readers had. The use of a particular beverage which I very innocently used as a prop disturbed some and that created a bit of a discussion. If you know me then you know that I am just not a confrontational kind of a person but those comments hurt me a little because they questioned my ethics. I responded to those comments but as usual the “anonymous” commenter stayed anonymous!

Most Helpful Post:

Turns out my readers love homemade food and they always appreciate when I share a way to make something that they usually buy from a store, at home. Another homemade recipe that I shared was of Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese). After naan this has to be another post that I always have people writing to me about. They are amazed at how easy it can be to make paneer at home and they say the post helped them change the way they look at Indian cheeses now. That is a huge compliment!

Although it has has been pending for a long time now but I started a series named Food Photography- My Process on my blog. The very first post from the series got a great response and feedback from my readers was that it has helped them take a different approach on food photography. In the post I spoke about my planning process and the use of light in food photography. I am so bummed that I am not able to publish the next post from the series and still have readers/friends ask me to work on one. Today I promise I will work on the next post from the series and will share with you soon.

Post Whose Success Surprised me:-

Another question that is difficult for me to answer. I always think that you, my readers have always been so appreciative of me and always give me a positive feedback. But the following two posts were the ones that I never would have thought that you will like so much. One was A Simple Hindu Pooja Meal. This post I wrote almost an year back, somewhere around the auspicious days of Navratri. Navratri (which literally means nine nights) are nine days when Hindus worship the goddess of strength, prosperity, patience and kindness. The several aspects of woman and we believe goddess Durga is an epitome of that. We cook some dishes that use close to none spices and are called pooja meal. The recipe from this post have again been featured in several places including the one I am going to talk about later in this post and also got a great feedback.

Another post which I never thought would get such great response was that of Molten Chocolate Liquor Cake.

Post that did not get attention it deserved:

I might have said before that the belief that Indiasn eat naan everyday at home is not really true. We love naan that is for sure but the bread that we eat everyday at home is not naan but something even simpler like a phulka, dosa, paratha or roti. That is what my grandma used to make everyday, and her grandma AND her grandma! I shared a recipe for the easiest and quickest Indian flatbread on the planet a while back. This post was one of my very early posts when no one knew who Prerna or Indian Simmer was. Maybe that’s why it never got the attention of people but I think if you like Indian food and want to learn about it then you should know Roti- An Indian Staple!

Post I am proud of:-

The day I try a recipe that my dad loves, or a dish that no can cook better than my mom, or the day I master my husband’s favorite dish that he thinks his mom makes best that day is a “I feel proud of myself” day for me. These are the little achievements that make me want to try new things and cook something for my family that they have never eaten before. But then someday you cook for a cause, you cook to show how much you care about something and to show your support. When those dishes and those posts get the support of readers like you that makes me feel prouder. One such post is Rose Panna Cotta- Celebrating Pinktober. I have many close friends and family who have been touched by cancer so the topic is personal to me. I will do anything to spread awareness about the topic, this was one such effort.

So here are my 7 links. Hope you liked them. I would also want to nominate five blogger friends of mine who run absolutely gorgeous blogs. I know you would love them if you don’t already know them.
Kulsum from Journey Kitchen
Joy from Joylicious
Sabrina from the Tomato Tart
Radhika from Food For the 7 Stages of Life
Sala from Veggie Belly

And now the other news that I am excited about lately. Gojee.com approached me a while back and asked if I would like to be a featured contributor to their website. My answer was, “hell to the yeah!”. I have been a fan of the website ever since they launched it. They are fun people and that shows through. Today they are revealing the contributors on their website which includes some very well known names and the little me too! Check out Gojee its one of the coolest recipe sites out there.