The scene of a lovely meal in Kobe, Japan in April 2005

My husband arrived home last night from a 16-day trip to Tokyo and Taipei. I’m so happy he’s back safe and sound. I almost forgot how much fun it is having that boy around! I hope to persuade him to write a little report about all of the exotic and fascinating food he ate abroad. (Any tips, Catherine, for getting the Mister to food blog?!?) I thought I was an adventurous eater when we visited Japan earlier this year, but from what he tells me of food in Taiwan, I’d have a hard time!

Anyway, this is just to explain why I am taking the easy way out with my post today. I was too excited and occupied last night when he returned, so you’re getting the good ol’ 23/5 food meme. This is the one where you go to your blog’s 23rd post, find the 5th line, and then extrapolate some hidden meaning from it. I’ve barely completed 23 posts, but #23 happened to be from my weekly wrap-up feature called “Favorite Foodism.” Here’s the fifith line:

It’s been so exciting for me to see how people from all over the world share a common interest for food. I guess it makes sense since we all eat!

This line makes me think about how thrilling it’s been working on this blog over the last month. Since the food blogging community is so well-organized, active, and supportive, it’s been fairly painless for me to insert myself into the scene and build up a little audience.

Like any new blogger, I’m fairly obsessive about checking my stats every couple minutes. Due to the glorious nature of the internet, I notice a lot of visitors from all around the world. I’m sure every blogger enjoys this phenomenon, so I’m not saying I’m unique. I’m just noting that it is such a fun and unexpected thrill of food blogging!

Of course we have the standard U.S., Canada, and many of the most familiar European countries. But I’d like to give a shout out to the foodies who are following this blog from more exotic locales, such as:

• Australia
• Brazil
• Estonia
• India
• Israel
• Jamaica
• Kuwait
• Lithuania
• Malaysia
• New Zealand
• Pakistan
• South Africa
• Uruguay

Blogging is such an amazing hobby. If you’ve ever considered starting a blog, I’d highly recommend it. Michele from Oswego Tea was my very first visitor and commenter, and she told me that first day how much fun it is and how she’s made three good friends through the experience. You don’t really believe it until you do it yourself. I’m starting to believe!

So, thank you to everyone who’s been so supportive of this venture. It means the world to me.