My Top 7 Links

There is a chain going on in the bloggersphere through an initiative called "The 7 Links Project". Basically, a blogger invites another blogger to put up his/her top 7 blog posts and the invite continues to the next blogger. The project was started by TripBase blog who say the project is designed "to unite bloggers from all sectors in a joint endeavour to share lessons learnt and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again."

I don't know enough bloggers to be nominated by anyone but I don't plan to sit around, waiting to be invited. So here's my top 7:

1. My Most Beautiful Post

As I started to blog and post pictures of my experience and my food, I realised the increasing importance of good photography, and so began my plate-to-pixel learning journey. And with great reluctance, I might add. Aperture and depth-of-field and all those incomprehensible abbreviations on the camera were and still are too much for my little brain to understand and absorb, much less apply. This oxtail stew post marked the start of some more decent photography compared to the old ones and I'm amazed I crossed that hurdle at a time I was learning to blog and learning to cook all in one go!

2. My Most Popular Post

An intern at 46.

"My first day at work" continues to be the most popular post amongst my readers, old and new, friends and strangers. It happened in June this year when I ditched my corporate job of 20 years and went to work in a commercial kitchen as an intern with zero kitchen experience but high on passion and at a 95% pay cut. I am pleased to see this as the most viewed post since it was the trigger for starting my blog in the first place.

The spirit of this blog space is to capture the journey of moving my own cheese when I abandoned the corporate cage to become a free-range human and replaced the keyboard with the chopping board. Closely related to this popular post was how I got the kitchen job and how different kitchen politics was from corporate politics, which were the 2 most frequently-asked questions I received.

3. My Most Controversial Post

I don't have any controversial posts but this one on Sarah's birthday did upset one person. He asked why I was condemning the rich when they had a right to celebrate and enjoy their wealth. I was of course not condemning anyone or anything. I only wanted to blog that I now had a perspective of the world of extravagance like I never did before. The Prince of Wales spent a night sleeping in the cold together with the homeless. I had a less extreme experience working side by side with low income earners. And it's made me all the more richer with this experience.

4. My Most Helpful Post

Barding, a culinary term introduced in Word of the Week to mean cooking meat
using wrapped animal fats to retain moisture

I started a category called Word of the Week in which I introduce a new culinary term every Wednesday. I have received encouraging feedback that people find this helpful especially with some illustrations, and the ever inquisitive learner always finds something new there to learn. In addition to French culinary terms, I also introduce Asian and Middle Eastern ones which you cannot find in one place on the web.

5. A Post Whose Success Surprised Me

My post on Home-made peanut butter took me 5 minutes to write but it attracted much attention and hit high pageviews. It seemed to strike a chord with people who are increasingly more conscious about the type of food they eat. Trans fat and processed food are evil and home-made or hand-made or natural are embraced with a passion. Even non-regular followers of my blog wrote to ask me more about the process. For this, I have a fellow blogger May to thank for inspiring me to try it on my own.

6. A post I feel didn't get the attention it deserved

My posting on Lucy, a 9-year-old kidney patient, received little traction.

My blenders ended up with food bloggers rather than underprivileged families.

After my restaurant internship, I signed up for a certificate course with a reputable culinary school called At-Sunrice Global Chef Academy. As part of its social responsibility, the school invited children kidney patients to experience what it is like to be Chef for a day. I posted about my experience with Lucy but was disappointed with the page view hits I got and the number of likes and comments it garnered. 

In the same vein, my blender posting did not get enough attention either. I was hoping someone would pass me a lead or 2 on any underprivileged families who may have a need for this kitchen tool but no one came forward. Instead, it attracted food bloggers who find this useful and I pray they can use it to bless others with their good food. Thankfully, the 2 winners turned out to be very sweet people. We are all blessed to be a blessing to others.

7. The post I am most proud of

Home-cured salmon, my most daring culinary adventure to date for an extra virgin chef

It has to be my 3 posts on Salmon curing, a culinary adventure I took on after hearing about it from a friend and doing my own research on the internet. In the first post, I was just thinking about doing it and shared some research findings. In the second post, I documented a step-by-step photo capture of the curing process I undertook at home. And in the final post, I showed how I served it when it was ready a few days later.

Did I tell you my next culinary adventure will be home-made duck confit (wink, wink)?


So there you have my top 7 and in the tradition of the 7 Links Project, I nominate my 2 blogger friends The Experimental Cook and Hankerie to post their own top 7.