#portofoodie

[betecarvalho-blog1]

Que comecem as férias!! #cachorrinhosdabatalha #foodporn #portofoodie #férias #hotdoggourmet #foodlover #foodie (em Cervejaria Gazela - O Original Cachorrinho) https://www.instagram.com/p/BwaJESrHACC/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ao1zf74kni4a

[hangrywifey]

Happiness is...an English breakfast for brunch . . . #homemade #homecooked #cooking #breakfast #englishbreakfast #goodfood #brunch #foodblogger #lovefood #foodislife #hkfoodlover #nomnom #foodporn #foodstagram #portofoodie #hkfoodie #instafood #instagood #instalike #instafollow #igfood #fotd #feast #goodday #forkyeah #hangrywifey #吃貨 #自家製 #早午餐 https://ift.tt/2UwrsaW

[merrybellies]

Those dark chocolate sea salt truffles at Taylor’s are to die for. . . . . . #travelersnotebook #travelgram #port #porto #portugal #portofoodie #porto #travel #travels #traveller #traveling #travelers #travelblogger #travelphotography #food #foodie #food😍 #food❤️ #ｆｏｏｄ #foodporn #portporn #wineporn #wine #wineallthetime #winetasting #wineglass #winecountry #taylors #gaia #

[gailatlarge]

On July 28 this blog turned 15 years old, with a total of 5,845 posts plus 34 drafts (which may or may not ever get published). In total, I’ve put 1,318,030 words online as of yesterday, which is definitely more than a book — in fact, it’s the equivalent of 13 long memoirs!

To announce 15 years of blogging, I didn’t go with a cake image this time… instead I used a photo I took of a nearly empty billboard in Lisbon in July that had a couple of lines of quotes from the 1958 film “A Touch of Evil” by Orson Welles. (Confession: I had to look it up, I’ve not seen the film and was unfamiliar with the quotes.)

Somehow, it didn’t seem like a cake sort of milestone year. This one deserved something less conventional than cake, because I’m still struck by how absurd it seems to be writing this way for fifteen years. I think it’s because it’s an entirely self-motivated project; I’m free of constraints.

That said…

The Geeky Stuff

You can see by the numbers that this past year was my absolute worst ever for publishing since the year I started. For one thing, I switched hosting companies and while the transition was fairly seamless, shortly after that my traffic spiked, the technical problems started piling up, and I had to upgrade my service to account for that increase. Right now I’m at the top tier of shared server, and I want to keep it that way because switching to a dedicated server is expensive.

On the upside, late last summer I upgraded my Mac’s operating system by a big leap of versions (from Snow Leopard to El Capitan), which was the best change possible for my 2009 machine. There were very few problems from that transition, thankfully (one software program stalls at startup on occasion), but I think this is the last or second-to-last OS upgrade this machine will accept.

That’s not an excuse for the steep drop in posts, but the technical problems (versus the OS upgrade) took MONTHS to unravel. Website maintenance is always a work in progress, but the problems I had were really time-consuming: I burned through templates, tweaked code, researched workarounds, skimmed forums, had numerous exchanges with tech support, and figured a lot of things on my own through testing. The issues have subsided and I’m at cruising speed now, but it irks me to think of the cumulative time spent fixing problems instead of writing.

The other reasons for the drop in posts were entirely due to time, or lack of it, which is really a topic for the “Three Years In Portugal” post, which of course is still sitting in draft. To give you an idea of the backlog, the end of this month marks the due date for the “Four Years In Portugal” post. Someone told me I should just combine the two into one post, but I just can’t bring myself to do that. Yes, I am my own worst enemy!

Celebrating With The Best Ice Cream In Town

Today my blog turned 15 years old. Happy Birthday Blog! How did I celebrate 5,845 posts in 15 years? By going on a photo food tour by @portofoodtours in partnership with @portophotofest to combine two of the best things in life: FOOD 🍽️🍜☕ and PHOTOGRAPHY 📸! Check out the #portofoodie #foodfest in Stories. I have tons of drool-worthy pics and videos rolling through. This gelato is a to-die-for chocolate and hazelnut dream from @gelatariaportuense, who will be celebrating their first anniversary on Tuesday, August 1. Do yourself a favour and treat yourself to their artisanal gelato on Tuesday and enjoy it for half-price.

A post shared by Gail at Large (@gailatlarge) on Jul 28, 2017 at 1:50pm PDT

15 Most Popular Blog Posts

Anyone remotely familiar with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) knows I don’t follow any of the recommended practices for being found through a keyword search. Usually if any post becomes popular it’s through someone posting a link on a site like Reddit or someone sharing it on Facebook, not from anything I did directly.

What that means is that I can’t really predict how popular posts will become, because I’m not writing for them to get boosted, either by using titles that correspond with what people are searching for, or making an educated guess at the content that search engine algorithms tend to favour.

I also don’t have complete statistics for my website because when I moved everything from Blogger to my own domain at the end of 2005, Jetpack wasn’t available to all WordPress users at the time (only those who used Jetpack on WordPress.com). Jetpack only started keeping statistics on my website in early 2011. But you can get a pretty good idea of what posts are popular by these two lists, the left one is “Top 15 Posts of All Time” and the right is “Top 15 Posts of 2017”. Since they already get lots of traffic, I made screenshots rather than links. If you want to read any of them, the easiest way is to put the title in the search box at the top left of this screen (unless you’re on mobile, in which case there is no search box).

#gallery-0-5 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-5 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-5 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Top 15 Posts (All Time)

Top 15 Posts (2017)

[Insert Witty Wrap-Up here]

I was going to write a “Wish List” for the blog to end this post, but with the way this year is going, it may languish in draft forever… or at least another 15 years.

Cheers to surviving 15 years, Blog! (You’re the same age as the TV show The Bachelor.)

Time to hit the ‘Publish’ button!

15 Years Of Gail At Large On July 28 this blog turned 15 years old, with a total of 5,845 posts plus 34 drafts (which may or may not ever get published).

[merrybellies]

Creamy carrot soup by Cruel. They serve this with a side of pop rocks. . . . . . . #food #foodie #food😍 #ｆｏｏｄ #foodporn #foodphotography #traveller #travels #traveling #trav #travelersnotebook #travelblogger #travelphotography #travelporn #travelogue #veganfoodporn #foodinsta #foodies #goodfood #foodstagram #portofoodie #porto #portorico

[merrybellies]

I've mentioned that Porto is meat-centric and when I say meat, I mean pork. I'm not here to deny that pork is delicious or what anyone should eat but, personally, I've just been trying to get it all out of the way *because* I don't regularly eat red meat/pork. And honestly, you have got to try the pork in Porto and every single take you can find in the city. If someone told me I could only eat pork or meat once more for the entirety of my life, I would say, take me to Cruel. These braised pork cheeks couldn't even keep it together- they were so exquisitely tender and falling apart. They are served over roasted potatoes with a green salad with an equally delicious balsamic vinaigrette. I wanted to die. I think this was my second meal in Porto and it was one of those moments that made me feel like I made the right choice. What's more is that now I can fulfill my (so-far) life long dream of going for post dinner walks in a really romantic city, and that's exactly what I did after Cruel. . . . #cruel #porto #pork #porkcheeks #portofoodie #portugal #miamifoodieexpat #miami #expatfoodie #travel #travels #traveling #traveller #travelers #travelphotography #travelblogger #travelersnotebook #travelgram #travelbug #travelmore #travelgirl #food #food😍 #food❤️ #foodie #foodie #foodporn #foodblogger #foodbaby #foodies #foodstagram (at Cruel Restaurante)

[merrybellies]

Here it is... the cutie custard, must-do treat in Portugal. Pastéis de Nata. . . . . #nata #porto #portofoodie #expatfoodie #miamifoodieexpat #miami #portugal #natadelisboa #food #food😍 #food❤️ #foodie #ｆｏｏｄ #travel #travels #traveling #traveller #travelers #travelblogger #travelphotography #travelersnotebook #travelgram #travelgrammers #foodstagram #foodporn #foodpassion (at Nata Lisboa)

[merrybellies]

Merrybellies has moved to Porto, Portugal. This wasn't my first meal in the city, though. I stopped by Casa Guedes first because I happened to come upon it on Google Maps during a few hours of arrival. I have been running around trying to settle loose ends and find a room to settle in so it's been both stressful and inspiring. Porto is quite gorgeous. The realization that I am actually doing any of this seems especially surreal at night, when the city lights up its buildings. It's magical. This here is my very first Francesinha by Lado B Café. This thing was a monster. Porto is also meat-centric. The Francesinha is composed of wet-cured ham, linguiça (a portuguese sausage), steak or roast beef, and bread covered with melted cheese and a special tomato and beer sauce. Yeah. I couldn't even finish half of it but definitely worth a try. #porto #portugal #food #traveller #traveling #travels #comfortfood #foodie #food❤️ #food😍 #ｆｏｏｄ #foodielife #miami #miamifoodieexpat #expatfoodie #francesinha #portofoodie (at Lado B)

[hangrywifey]

How to ensure you eat your daily portions of fruit and veggie? Just mix them together like this simple orange and avocado salad with citrus dressing! Recipe on bio link . . . #homemade #homecooked #salad #meatless #vegetarian #healthy #eatclean #foodblogger #lovefood #foodislife #hkfoodlover #nomnom #foodporn #foodstagram #diet #portofoodie #hkfoodie #instafood #instagood #instalike #instafollow #igfood #fotd #recipe #easyrecipes #forkyeah #hangrywifey #吃貨 #自家製 #沙律 https://ift.tt/3boSSpQ

[hangrywifey]

I’ve decided to make one type of sandwich every month. Given what I have in the fridge during this social distancing period, I’m gonna start with Katsu Sando (Japanese pork chop sandwich). It’s a healthier baked version as I’d like to nurse the oil (as well as saving some calories), and it turned out great! Check out the recipe on bio . . . #homemade #homecooked #sandwich #katsusando #japanese #healthy #sandwichofthemonth #comfortfood #hkfoodlover #nomnom #foodporn #foodstagram #portofoodie #hkfoodie #instafood #instagood #instalike #instafollow #igfood #fotd #recipe #easyrecipes #forkyeah #hangrywifey #吃貨 #自家製 #三文治 https://ift.tt/33wX6sN

[hangrywifey]

Homemade cauliflower gnocchi with smoked salmon and peas. These little pillows took some time to prepare, but they are sooo worth it! . . . #homemade #homecooked #cooking #gnocchi #cauliflower #italianfood #eathealthy #yummy #weekend #foodlover #nomnom #foodporn #foodstagram #hkfoodie #portofoodie #instafood #instadaily #instagood #instafollow #instalike #igfood #fotd #forkyeah #hangrywifey #吃貨 #自家製 https://ift.tt/2T95lI4

[hangrywifey]

Comfort food Friyay! This Japanese curry with cauliflower rice is super satisfying😍 . . . #homemade #homecooked #cooking #curry #japanese #cauliflowerrice #comfortfood #friyay #diet #eathealthy #eatclean #foodlover #myfave #nomnom #foodporn #foodstagram #portofoodie #hkfoodie #instafood #instadaily #instagood #instafollow #instalike #igfood #fotd #forkyeah #hangrywifey #吃貨 #自家製 #咖喱 https://ift.tt/2T4qu51

[hangrywifey]

OMG!!! The biggest, sexiest, tastiest fried squids EVER! Wanna know where to find it? Stay tuned for @dahungrycouple new video . . . #squid #calamari #seafood #portuguese #yummy #treatyoself #goodfood #foodie #hkfoodie #portofoodie #foodspotting #nomnom #daytrip #foodporn #forkyeah #instafood #instagood #instalike #instafollow #igfood #picoftheday #portugal #travel #traveleats #eatlocal #hangrywifey #葡萄牙 #旅行 #吃貨 https://ift.tt/2P4qEbr

[hangrywifey]

I like big cups and I cannot lie...you other people can’t deny! . . . #coffee #cuppa #musthave #goodmorning #morning #coffeelover #goodmood #goodfood #foodie #hkfoodie #portofoodie #foodspotting #nomnom #foodporn #forkyeah #instafood #instagood #instalike #instafollow #igfood #picoftheday #hkgirl #hongkong #portugal #algarve #hangrywifey #hangrywifeyeatsalgarve #葡萄牙 #咖啡 https://ift.tt/2S3Q232

[hangrywifey]

Taking a break from Chinese food and ordered Indian from Chutnify Canteen for dinner instead. The chaat was delish! The rest were ok (still better than those the Indian takeaway from Ubereats we had before). Looking forward to dine in and try their dosa and naan! . . . #indianfood #takeaway #dinner #mondayvibes #curry #biryani #samosa #chaat #comfortfood #chutnifycanteen #delish #nomnom #hkfoodie #foodie #portofoodie #foodporn #latergram #instafood #instafollow #instalike #igfood #forkyeah #f52grams #thefeedfeed #foodstagram #hangrywifeyeatsporto #吃貨 #印度料理 https://ift.tt/2S1ULB8

[hangrywifey]

@dahungryhubs loves my Dandan Noodles soooo much that he had it for lunch AND dinner today😝 . . . #homemade #homecooked #cooking #dandannoodles #noodles #spicy #nutty #chinesefood #comfortfood #weekend #eatwell #vegetarian #nomnom #hkfoodie #foodie #portofoodie #asianfood #foodporn #instafood #ilovecarbs #igfood #thefeedfeed #forkyeah #f52grams #foodstagram #hangrywifey #自家製 #吃貨 #担担麺 https://ift.tt/2P37h1G