One Year Anniversary!

Pop the cork on a bottle of Cava and let us celebrate the First Anniversary of my blog, A Passionate Foodie!

It seems such a short time ago when I decided to move on, after a year and a half, from the now defunct Real World Winers blog and create my own wine & food blog. But, it has now been a full year and I am very pleased with how my blog has developed over this past year.

I created over 800 new posts during the past year, plus added over 100 of my old posts from the Real World Winers blog. I have written about a wide range of food and wine topics, including adding a number of posts about spirits. I have reviewed many restaurants, wines, spirits, books and more. I have covered my travels to such places as Spain and Las Vegas. I have tried to make my blog interesting, fun and educational.

It has been a great year and my blog has led to many different opportunities, including getting to meet many interesting, passionate and fun people. That has certainly been one of the best joys that has come from my blog.

Online, I have met and talked with many other wine and food bloggers. It is generally a friendly community and many people are willing to help each other in their mutual passions. I have met some wine and food bloggers offline and those meetings have gone well too. For example, I met Gabriella and Ryan of Catavino while I was in Barcelona. I have met several local bloggers including: Ken of Ken's Wine Guide, Becky and Steve of Smells Like Grape, Cathy of 365 Days of Wine, and Sharon of Bloviatrix. I even met Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV at the Boston Wine Expo.

I have also met numerous wine store owners, wine distributors, wine makers, chefs, restaurant owners and many more. There are just too many names to mention here but you can find them all throughout my blog. I look forward to meeting so many more people in the coming year.

I also have continued to learn more about food and wine: attending tastings and dinners, reading new and old books, reading other blogs, taking educational courses and more. And my educational efforts will continue as there is always so much more to learn. I will continue to share what I learn with my readers.

What will the next year entail for A Passionate Foodie?

• You can expect the same level of passion about food, wine and spirits as the prior year. But I will try to expand to new topics, to find new restaurants, new wines, and new spirits. Please send me any suggestions you have for places and items you would like to me review.
• A few months ago, I instituted Saké Sundays, a specific day of the week for Saké posts. I may institute another such theme day in the near future. Maybe Spanish Saturdays?
• I will write more food/wine related short stores for my Passionate Foodie: Fiction site. I am currently working on an idea for a new short story, a murder mystery.
• I would like to hear more from my readers, to have more of you leave comments on my posts. If you like a topic, please tell me. If you disagree with my opinions, tell me that too. A blog should be a two-way conversation between writer and reader. And I very much want to hear your own thoughts and opinions. I am sure there is much my readers can teach me and others.
• With summer coming, I will be doing plenty of local travel, hitting spots all over New England and I will tell you about any good places I find. I will be taking more local treks in Massachusetts as well, including explorations of the newest restaurants in Boston. I hope to get to New York at least two times this year, maybe three, and even to the Long Island wineries. And I will return to Las Vegas next April.
• One of my own goals for this next year will be to learn more about Portuguese wines and food. As I hope to travel to Portugal in 2009, I want to start now to learn more about that fascinating country. I already know they make some excellent wines, especially many great values wines. But there is plenty more to learn.
• And I also hope you find a few surprises in the coming year from A Passionate Foodie.

So, please tell me how you think I have done over this past year. Leave me comments here or email me. Please also give me your suggestions for how I can improve my blog, or tell me what else you would like to see me post about.

Thanks so much to my family, my friends, my readers and everyone else who has contributed one way or another with the success of A Passionate Foodie.

Go forth and eat, drink and enjoy!