Happy Blogiversary somerville kitchen

Yes, exactly one year ago, I started somerville kitchen project and made a commitment to myself to stick to it for a year. 365 blog entries later, somerville kitchen hit 15,000 page views from followers in 84 countries (over half the world). Responses from a recent survey with followers, including "I like it the way it is", "c'est vraiment formidable", "keep giving us more of the same", "it is fantastic", "You have the best blog I have seen", "keep on truckin'" convinced me to keep going.

To celebrate, my biggest fan showed up bearing baking material and, in a typical replacement chef fashion, took over the kitchen with a "no peaking" policy (see more on replacement chef at Occupied Kitchen & Know It All Borscht).

By the end of the evening, I was allowed to peak at a beautifully prepared cupcakes platter.

The cupcakes were decorated with jardin blueberry, blackberry, raspberries, thyme and mint.

What a beautiful celebration...

So while somerville kitchen will keep on truckin' in the same fashion, look for some enhancements based on what you asked for. These include:

• Enabling comments - yes, you can now leave comments on any post
• A new dedicated email address, somervillekitchenwindow@gmail.com, with direct link on the top right hand side of the blog
• New bookmarks and labels are being printed to spread the word around
  
• More recipes, food adventures, places to eat and shop recommendations are coming up
• New labels to help you find recipes for Lebanese Fare, International Fare and recipes on the Sweet Side
• And, by popular demand, more contests and food gifts, starting today

Yes, behind each of somerville kitchen new cabinet handles is a gift. To play, choose a number and email it to me (somervillekitchenwindow@gmail.com) and receive a reply with either (a) the gift you won, (b) to try again with another number or (c) sorry, all numbers and gifts have been redeemed. One gift per person. List of gifts below.

The list of gifts includes: Lebanese dinner for two delivered to your place, a platter of Kebbeh, a tray of sfoof, chocolate chips cookies, pickled thyme, organic jardin bay leaves, organically grown jardin spaghetti squash, Spanish food coloring, and for your own garden, seeds of jardin poppies and a baby portuguese laurel plant.

Hurry up, contest on until all twelve gifts are redeemed. Will ship to anywhere in the world, provided custom laws allow.

Thank you all for reading, supporting and following. Looking forward to more...