First Bloggoversary and a Little Giveaway

What can I say?

I’ve made it a whole year.  365 days.  And I cooked – on average three times a week.  (For most people, it probably doesn’t seem like a lot, but for me, that’s amazing.)

135 posts, over a thousand comments, and tens of thousands of visitors.  It has been one heck of a year.

I’ve had ups and downs, frustrations and successes, but I never once gave up.

But most of all, I’ve actually had fun!

I think back to my first entry – and I realize how far I’ve actually come…

I can now use a knife – with authority.

I can now cook with raw meat – and not freak out.

I can now cook with Hubs in the room – and not want to kill him.  (Well, at least most of the time.)

I still need to work on reading a recipe carefully before I begin.  But I’m certainly better at it than I was before.

My favorite thing I’ve learned is how supportive the food blogging community is – whether you’re a writer, reader, or both.  Anytime I’ve had a question (and not wanted to ask Hubs), I’ve gotten a thoughtful and helpful answer.  Anytime I’ve felt discouraged, I’ve gotten several comments with encouragement and reassurance that I was doing fine – and that things would get better.  You don’t know how much that means to me.

So, that being said, I want to thank all of you.  I feel like I have been embraced by the blogging world and am so happy to have the friends I’ve made through this little adventure of mine.

Now for the fun part.  I am going to be giving away a $20 gift card to Sur la Table.  It’s not a huge prize, but a small way I can say thanks to you.  Here’s how to enter…

First Entry:  Tell me about your biggest cooking misadventure.  (I’m really looking forward to reading these. :))

Second Entry:  Like Misadventures in Cooking on Facebook.  (If you already do, just leave a comment telling me you do.)  Or subscribe to receive emails in the box on the right.

Third+ Entries: Share this giveaway on your blog, on FB, on Twitter, or any other social media.  One extra entry for every time you share.

(Make sure that each of these is in a separate comment.  Enter your email in the comment form, so I can contact you if you win.  I will be choosing a random comment on Monday, January 16th – at naptime, early afternoon Pacific Time.)

Cheers to another year of growth and good food!