Top 12 recipe posts for 2018

As the end of the year is approaching fast, just stretch your arm, and you'll be able to grab it by the tail, I usually look at the stats for my posts written through the year, to see which posts have been the most popular ones.
Typically, my food and drink, book and toy reviews do equally well. This year's Photo diary/Project 365 was a consistent source of visitors too, and I'm glad I persisted with it, even if occasionally I was asking myself whether I should stop altogether. I only skipped one week this year, and hope to continue next year.
Writing a family and food-inspired blog, I'm curious to find out which of my posts attract the most interest.

Overall, the number of posts in the last year went a bit down, as I found this year very challenging, mostly to do with our son's 16+ placement and not settling in at his new school, and all the related problems - which means I wrote less. Quite a few times I felt like throwing in the towel, and just giving up on the blog.
It was a tough, overwhelming year. I don't like to moan online, and a lot of staff that's going on is too personal for me to disclose. I know there are plenty of bloggers who feel different, and find it cathartic to open up to the world and bare their soul.

It's been over 8 years, since I started writing this blog. I've long given up on upping the numbers of followers on social media, it doesn't really matter, as I don't monetise my blog, and have no plans to do so. But at the end of the year I do like to indulge myself and look through the last year's blog stats on the most visited posts of the year.

And so here is a dozen of my most popular recipe posts of 2018 (I typically do a top 10, but this year 3 recipes have the same amount of pageviews):

No.10
Russian style pancakes - every year I repeat myself, saying that pancakes are not just the Pancake day food, and should be enjoyed more often than once a year.

No.9
Pine nut and chocolate chip honey cake - I can still taste that beautiful cake in my mind. It was lovely, and why haven't I baked it again?!

No.8 is shared by 3 posts:

Tuna kimchi soup was a good way to use the kimchi leftovers.

Limoncello and lemon ricotta cheesecake was one of the Easter bakes. It was gluten free and quite fun to make.

The recipe for Apple cereal muffins did pretty well, considering it was published in September.

No.7
Shakshuka with falafel is a vegetarian recipe, with a vegan twist, where eggs were substituted by falafel.

No.6
Choc chip cashew oat cookies is one of many variations on our favourite cookies, which I bake pretty regularly.

No.5
Regency-style lemon almond tart was inspired by The ghost of Glendale, a Regency romance with a ghost story twist.

No.4
Victoria Sponge was inspired by yet another book, The Woman in the Wood, a disturbing family saga by Lesley Pearse.

Moving onto the final top three...

No.3
Gluten free potato blini and salmon cured in gin was a popular recipe of the last year.

No.2
Freekeh with aubergines and cashews was adapted from Marcus Wareing's recipe. I love aubergines, and this recipe would please all aubergine fans.

And finally - ta-da -
No.1 position goes to a Chocolate polenta cake. I'm not surprised by its high ratings, as it was a very tasty cake.

Judging by the top twelve, sweet recipes rule.

I want to say Thank you to all my blog readers for visiting and reading! Happy new year!
Here's to a new year of culinary delights!