August 6th,2011

My 7 Links

I feel really flattered that the much admired Skinny Bib has nominated me to take part in Tripbase’s My 7 Links challenge. The idea behind this is to unit bloggers from all walks of life and throughout different blog topics by making them choose their 7 links in the areas expanded on below and posting them.

I am not sure how you,my dear readers,feel about this,but for me this was a chance to go back to my old blog posts,re-read them again and reminisce about food,travels and events that I was lucky enough to experience since the birth of my blog 1 year and 3 months ago.

So…. here we go….

1. My Most Beautiful Post

This one is easy. I have posted about exceptional food and amazing places,but there is one location that epitomizes the essence of beauty more than anything else that I have seen in the past years,and this is Kyoto. I expressed my deep admiration in the post: KYOTO (Japan) –temples and tempura.Never before have I experienced a place so full of grace and delicate beauty:enchanting temples and shrines,picturesque landscapes,incredible attention to details in presentation of food and drinks,handsome people and beautifully crafted gardens.

I didn’t have my new camera yet when I went to Japan,so the pictures could be better,but I hope you can still feel something of the admiration that I have experienced for this grand Japanese city.

2. My Most Popular Post

My most popular post is again a remnant of my Japan trip. I went to Japan about 3 or 4 months after I started with my blog and as I didn’t know anything about promoting my blog and also SEO didn’t mean anything to me,I had about 10 visitors a day. Maybe 20 on a good day…(most of them was my mum). So when I checked my page views,after I had published the post JAPAN – Impressions raving about my stay in the Kansai region of Japan and how I fell i love with this country,I couldn’t believe my eyes! Overnight,my 20 views a day had increased to 4000! I was stunned to find out that someone in Japan had discovered my post and suddenly my link appeared on many Japanese blogs and websites. I got emails and comments from Japanese people thanking me on the way I had portrayed their country and I even got a couple of comments in Japanese! I was so touched and thinking about this still makes me smile.

I have to show you a snapshot I took from one of the sites that posted my link (I was in tears when I saw it the first time…I don’t know WHAT it said I was writing about…)

3. My Most Controversial Post

hmmmm…. this is a bit more difficult. I had a couple of posts that did not confirm with the general opinion. For example,after a blogger dinner at Bob Bob Ricard,everyone was thrilled to bits about the food,while I was just about mildly impressed. I also had an unexpectedly bad meal at the Michelin starred Galvin at Windows in London. My most controversial post however was the exposure of The Olive Tree in Bath as an overpriced,pretentious tourist trap (THE OLIVE TREE –Rip Off in Bath). I got harassed on twitter for it. I still think I am right,and if I managed to keep a few people away from this restaurant,I will gladly suffer any abuse.

4. My Most Helpful Post

This is hard to say,it is rather for you to judge which of my posts did actually help you in any way. I would like to believe that I was able to spread a bit of Austrian culinary heritage with my Ute cooks:WIENER SCHNITZEL and POTATO SALAD post. I cooked and photographed this under the strict guidance of my mum,who is an amazing cook,not only of Austrian delicacies.

5. A Post whose Success surprised me.

It is sometimes impossible to predict,which posts will have a lot of readers and comments and which posts won’t. When I wrote my post about Pho,slagging off their Vietnamese food which was the least authentic I have ever tasted,I didn’t expect much feedback. I ended up getting the most comments ever on a blog post,virtually everyone agreeing with me. Poor Pho,no one likes you!

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

Well…there is one post,LONDON’S CHEAP THRILLS,I published at the Student magazine Mouth London and also on my blog. It is the ONLY post on my blog that actually got proof-read and edited by a native English speaker! And I think it’s pretty helpful too,particularly for people who haven’t learned yet how to best navigate the London foodie scene.

7. The post I am most proud of

I am incredibly proud of the post Hungry in London on the Map where I added all the restaurant I have visited onto a google map,including their rating. It took me about 2 weeks,the fact that I was in rural Wales at this time with an internet connection crashing every 3 minutes and,if working,being sooo sloooow probably tripled the time of work. It was worth it though,looking at it makes me happy. (This is kind of sad now,maybe I should get a life after all?)

So,now I have the responsible and difficult task to nominate another 5 blogs (which have not been nominated yet) to rise to the 7 post challenge. Looking forward to reading their 7 links.

The Catty Life

The Happiness Project London

Sasasunakku

Hungry and Frozen

Hungry Female