Five years ago, I started this little blog to document all the restaurants that I was trying out in the summer before my last year of college. Since then, I’ve moved from Durham, NC to Berkeley, CA and now San Diego. I’ve moved up from using the camera on my Sony Ericsson non-smartphone to a real camera with interchangeable lenses. I’ve experienced all sorts of new cuisines, tried all sorts of new recipes (with a lot of failures, haha), and learned a lot about different cultures. Through it all, though, I’ve tried hard to stay true to the original “intention” of this blog, which is simply to write about the food that I’ve eaten and meals that I’ve enjoyed.

I realized that I’ve never done a blogiversary post, but I really wanted to write this one because, well, five years is a milestone of some sorts, right? Plus, I’ve been really sick and haven’t gotten around to uploading all my photos from recent food outings. Oops…

Anyway, for this post, I wanted to do a round-up of some of my favorite posts/meals from the past five years – it was hard to pick just one for each year, but here goes:

Year 1 - Contest & Tiramisu

I did quite a bit of baking in college, even though I had limited space and equipment. It was a great way to procrastinate, and living on campus made giving away all the goodies really convenient! In my senior year, there was a baking contest on campus, and I chose to make tiramisu. It was a challenge, and I didn’t win the contest, but the tiramisu was one of the first desserts to run out, so I do take some pride in that, hehe. Tiramisu also holds a special place in my heart because it was the first dessert that S and I made together (this was before we started dating). We didn’t know much about baking back then, and we didn’t even know how to make heavy whipping cream into whipped cream, but every time I have tiramisu, I remember how much fun that experience was, and how we gobbled up the tiramisu even though it probably wasn’t all that great.

Year 2 - Tacos el Gordo in Chula Vista

Tacos el Gordo was one of the places that I insisted on having every time I came to visit S in San Diego (this was still during our long-distance, Berkeley-San Diego days). I instantly fell in love with the tacos here, and now that I’ve moved to San Diego, I actually haven’t gone as often. I remember that this was one of the things I looked forward to the most every visit (other than seeing S, of course!), and even now, Tacos el Gordo remains one of my favorite restaurants here.

Year 3 – The Brick Pig’s House

After moving to California, S and I craved for good old Southern food, in particular, barbecue. After trying out various places around Berkeley, we finally found a good place – The Brick Pig’s House, in Oakland. The place was tiny, but the food was spectacular, and the owners made us feel right at home with their Southern hospitality. I loved their cornbread, and of course their brisket and ribs, too. After discovering this place, S and I would always go when he was in Berkeley to visit me! I still miss this place sometimes, even though we’ve found really good Texas BBQ at Coop’s in Lemon Grove.

Year 4 – White Chocolate M&M Cookies (and SDFB Bake Sale round-up)

There are some nice perks to having a blog, but nothing beats the friendships that I’ve made through it. Since moving to San Diego, I’ve connected with many other bloggers here, and it has been amazing. I’ve received so much kindness and generosity and knowledge from them, and I’m so grateful to these awesome blogger buddies! The San Diego Food Bloggers’ Bake Sale was one of the events that I participated in, as part of a fundraiser for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry charity. It was a lot of fun to sell my cookies alongside other bloggers, getting to know them, and buying goodies from each other. 

Year 5 – Sushi Tadokoro

Oh yes, you knew this one was coming. My birthday meal at Sushi Tadokoro last year was the best meal of my life so far, and it really was an eye-opener in terms of sushi. I’m really thankful to Chef Soichi at Tadokoro, for preparing this amazing omakase meal for S and me, and of course, to S, for being my willing companion on this, and all of our other food adventures. 

Whew, that list actually took way longer to come up with than I had originally anticipated. Thanks to all of you for reading my little blog! <3