2091 (and then some) Meals Later...

I am so fucking lame. I missed my own friggin' birthday. OK, not *my* birthday, but this blog's birthday. Let me explain. On September 27th I arrived home from Europe after 24 hours of traveling (10 of which were spent next to the craziest bitch you ever did meet. Besides me, I mean). I went straight to bed, and got up and went to work on Thursday and Friday. Saturday I started rehearsal for my new show. It was Wednesday before I had a second to realized that Tuesday was my blog anniversary, and it was only today (my day off from rehearsal, but not from teaching) that I found a moment to actually write about it. How sucktacular is that?

In any case, I thought in honor of the (belated) blog birthday, I'd post the same round-up that I did last year, with some new answers. Here goes:

Highest Number of Visitors in a Single Day: 631

Highest Number of Visitors in a Month: 11,681

Number of Visitors All Year: As of this moment, 113,090ish

Total Number of Posts: 218, including this one (115 this year)

Total Number of Mesh Articles: 5 or 6 or something

Most Disturbing Search Term: "treat me like a whore" (I also get a lot of traffic for "bangkok whores" and I recently got some for "coco the french slut).

Most Unexpected and Welcome Bonus: Same as last year: my dear, dear friends, who keep me smiling and who showed their mettle at the most crucial times.

Biggest "You've Got to be Kidding Me" Bonus: Chow.com asking me to write for them.

Most Unlikely Reader Demographic: People who are easily offended. Seriously, assholes, find something else to read if you don't like it -- otherwise, you can bite me.

Best Meal(s): French Laundry (3rd visit), Alinea (1st visit), El Bulli (1st visit), L'Astrance (1st visit), Delfina (every visit).

Best Food I Ate Outside of the County this Year: L'Astrance in Paris. Worst food definitely was the ball sucking food of French Polynesia.

Pieces of Hate Mail for the Michael Mina Post: 5 (we're going down from last year)

Pieces of Fan Mail for the Michael Mina Post: 11 (THAT'S what I'm talking about!)

Number of Chefs/Restaurant Owners Who Have Posted On the Blog/E-mailed Me: 12 (5 from other countries)

Number of Oysters Eaten: Not so many as last year: about 84, I think.

Number of Burritos Eaten: 37

Number of Times My Grandma Has Asked Why I Have to Swear So Much In the Blog: 4 (she's giving up on me, it seems)

Thing That Makes Me Happiest: Same as last year, plus, always having someone to go eat with.

Thing I'm Most Proud Of: Again, same as last year, so I'll say it again -- Staying true to myself and not compromising my style or ethics to please anyone else. I still don't write anything down, I still make friends with my servers, bussers, chefs and bartenders and I still own my opinions, popular or not. Fuck, yeah!

And, finally, my blog birthday wish for this year: To get commissioned to write "The Restaurant Whore's Guide to Paris" so I can go back there on someone else's dime. Hey -- my wish from last year came true so I figured I'd aim high this time...

Thanks for putting up with me, even when I don't put out like I should. I fucking love you guys.

xoxo
Joy

"To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."
-- La Rochefoucauld

P.S. After two years, I *finally* just added the word "fucking" to my blogger spellchecker. What a lazy twat I am.