House of Annie’s 20 Best of 2009

Happy New Year! As we look to the year 2010 ahead of us, I’d like to take a moment to recap some of the best of the House of Annie blog in 2009. First, some stats. In 2009, we had:

• 114 posts
• Over 590,000 pageviews (compared to 167K in 2008)
• Over 360,000 unique visitors to our site
• 670 new subscribers

We started the year strong in terms of posting regularly. Then we kinda dropped off the radar in the Spring and Summer as we focused our attention on the impending move from San Jose, CA to Malaysia. But after our move in August, our posting frequency went back up so that we’re finishing strong again.
Here are some of our best and most popular posts from 2009:


1. Homemade Pineapple Tarts, Part 2 –Annie’s step-by-step tutorial on how to make this sweet Malaysian treat has remained popular throughout the year.
2. Pandan Chiffon Cake – This is a favorite cake of many Malaysians and Singaporeans. Light, airy, and redolent of coconut and pandan.
3. In Memoriam: Ryosuke Yoshioka, the Sushi Man of San Francisco – I posted this when I found out that our friend and chef, Ryo of Sushi-Man in San Francisco was tragically murdered. The post has become an online memorial to him, where many of his former customers can come and share about his life and how he touched them. Reading their comments still moves me today.
4. Homemade Baked Char Siew Bao – a follow-on to our baked red bean bun post, we show you how to make the tasty filling for this popular dim sum item.

5. Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Chinese New Year Cioppino Hot Pot – Our first “Foodbuzz 24” event that we threw at our house, where we went all-out to impress FoodGal and Cooking For Engineers with an Asian-fusion meal.
6. Easy Green Tea Tiramisu Recipe – The dessert for the Cioppino Hot Pot meal. This is one of my personal favorites.
7. 3 Cups Chicken Recipe – Annie cooks this classic Chinese dish, but corrects the proportions of the main ingredients to make it healthier and more balanced.
8. Cream of Corn Soup Recipe – A recipe given to Annie by a friend of ours from Japan, it has become one of our most searched-for recipes.
9. Malaysian Honeycomb Cake Recipe – we updated this popular post from 2006 with better pictures. Our YouTube video of the cooking process brought scores of visitors to our blog.

10. Spam Fried Rice – My tribute to Spam fried rice, and to Dr. Seuss. It was a labor of joy to write. Hope you like it too!
11. Quick and Easy Pasta With Light Cream Sauce Recipe – This is Annie getting back to her no-frills, home cooking roots. It is another one of our most-searched posts.
12. Easy Sautéed Brussels Sprouts Recipe – It’s so amazing that such a simple recipe could become our second most searched for recipe ever
13. Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Ultimate Rib Showdown, Part 1 – I’m a big barbecue aficionado, and I wanted to answer the question: What is the best way to make ribs – boiled and baked, grilled, or smoke? So I made them all three ways and invited some friends over to do a taste test. The results might surprise you.

14. Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Ultimate Backyard Lu’au – In June, we threw a Hawaiian-style lu’au at our place, complete with some of our favorite lu’au foods like huli chicken, lomi salmon, ahi poke, kalua pig, and haupia pie.
15. Marble Cake Recipe – One of our favorite recipes at the Houes of Annie, and also one of YOUR favorite recipes. I think the post has the most commenters who say they’ve made this cake and love it.

16. Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: The Making of a Sarawak Layer Cake – Following our arrival in Kuching, we went behind the scenes at a Sarawak layer cake bakery, to bring you the secrets to making these beautiful delicacies.
17. Recipe for Banana Cream Pie – Annie loved to bake back in San Jose, so she was desperate to figure out how to work the combi microwave / convection oven in our new house. Once she did, she set out to make one of our favorite desserts: banana cream pie.
18. Braised Pork Belly with Tomatoes in Soy Sauce – Another one of Annie’s quick, “simply hantam” dishes that works great for a midweek meal.
19. Fancy Baked Mac and Cheese – Our son Daniel loves mac and cheese, but we hate giving him that blue box stuff.
20. YOU pick – what was YOUR favorite post of 2009? Leave a comment below and tell us!
We’re not going to slow down in 2010 (not if we can help it)! There’s so much for us to learn about living here in Sarawak, and so much more to share from Annie’s recipe repository. And I have so many ideas I want to work on to make this blog better, more engaging, and more useful.
Thanks for taking the journey with us!
Cheers and Aloha, Nate and Annie
2008 Year in Review