The WordPress/Make.See.Eat.Do. Year in Review (2010)

Happy 2011, everyone! With all the “year in review” wrap ups going on right now, I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring with this super cool Blog Health email I got from WordPress today.

Wow…who knew that people cared that much about Denny’s and the freaking KFC Buffet? Thanks for sharing, WordPress. You guys rock! So, without further ado, I give you our blog’s  first official Year in Review. Enjoy!

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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how your blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads: Wow!

Crunchy numbers

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 53,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 70 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 494 posts. There were 228 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 39mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was February 9th with 432 views. The most popular post that day was Free Grand Slam Day @ Denny’s!.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were designdazzle.blogspot.com, nurserymuralsandmore.com, en.wordpress.com, flickr.com, and search.aol.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for the orphanage, kfc buffet, bettie page, baby nursery, and marla singer.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Free Grand Slam Day @ Denny’s! February 2009

2

Greta’s baby nursery featured on Unique-baby-gear.com March 2009
8 comments

3

“The Orphanage” October 2007
8 comments

4

The KFC Buffet August 2007
5 comments

5

Bettie Page (1923-2008) December 2008
5 comments

Some of your most popular posts were written before 2010. Your writing has staying power! Consider writing about those topics again.

See you in 2011!

Denny’s 2010 Holiday Slam Menu

Ah, man…just when we thought we couldn’t love Denny’s any more than we already do, they go and get all deliciously-seasonal on us!

That’s right, amigos, for a limited time only, the house of Denny’s is offering a Holiday Slam Menu featuring such mouth-wateringly-good concoctions as cranberry-orange pancakes, gingerbread french toast and peppermint chocolate cocoa and milkshakes! Mmhmm, top that, IHOP!

But as tasty as all that stuff is, the crowning glory of the new Holiday Slam Menu has gotta be the Holiday Turkey Melt: turkey, stuffing and Swiss cheese served on potato bread with a healthy dollop of cranberry honey mustard and a side of gravy for dipping. I think Christine said it all when she described this heavenly sandwich as: “The best part of Thanksgiving“.

Hmmm…for me, the best part of Thanksgiving has always been the loving communion with cherished friends and family, but, if Christine says it’s all about the food, well, who am I to argue?

Either way, this spectacular sandwich tastes like the best Thanksgiving leftover sandwich you ever had. Seriously, it’s kinda magical. But, it won’t be around for long, so, check it out while you can. Yum!

The Horseless Carriage @ Galpin Motors

Been meaning to blog about this place since Christine and I started the blog, but, as you know, we’ve been kinda busy, so, time and time again, the first-rate grub at the Horseless Carriage has fallen by the wayside. Well, that all ends today!

The first restuarant ever to open inside a working car dealership, the Horseless Carriage has been serving up the best diner food in the San Fernando Valley to the patrons of the legendary Galpin Motors since 1966. Yep, the Carriage is actually three years older than I am…crazy!

Christine and I discovered this hidden gem of a restaurant when we bought our first Saturn back in 1996 and we have been coming here for breakfast and/or lunch every since. Located within walking distance from the cozy waiting room at the Saturn of the Valley service area, the Horseless Carriage has always been the one thing that makes long-ass trips to the land of Galpin for tune-ups or oil changes bearable.

And though just about everything on their vast menu is amazing, I gotta tell ya, I have ordered the exact same thing every time I go for the past thirteen years…the pork chops and eggs with buttermilk biscuits and country gravy. I know it sounds boring, but when you find something you love, you stick with it. And, man alive, do I loves me that breakfast!

I mean, seriously, have you ever seen finer grill marks on pork chops? Hell to the no! And that’s only part of the meal…I didn’t even take a picture of the tasty, but decidedly unphotogenic, biscuits and gravy! And best of all, that hearty heart attack on a plate sets you back a paltry $10.65. Top that Denny’s!

But that steal of a meal is only one of the many fantastic items on the menu. Christine usually orders the traditional Club Sandwich (which is great!) but the last time we went, she opted for the Horseless Carriage Triple Decker Club California-Style, pictured above.

Substituting pastrami for bacon and adding a heaping wedge of avocado, this sandwich was so good, I just might ditch my biscuits and gravy goodness and get one for myself next time. Seriously, that sandwich was heaven with a side of fries, amigos…fantastic!

And even though one of the waitresses there looks and often acts kinda scary-mean — you know who you are, blondie! — for the most part, the staff is made up of really sweet career waitresses who keep your coffee and water filled like nobody’s business. And, honestly, anyone who can put up with my fat ass reading the paper at one of their best booths for two hours while I wait for my car to be serviced is OK in my book.

So, if you’re looking for a primo meal that will stick to your ribs while you browse the sprawling Galpin acrerage — they have seperate, swanky-ass showrooms for Fords, Saturns, Mazdas, Aston Martins, Volvos and Jaguars! — or get your car serviced, check out the fine food at the Horseless Carriage. You might be there a while, but you sure as shit won’t leave hungry!

Greta’s first free food @ Denny’s…

Technically, this momentous “first” took place the week before Easter, but seeing as we’ve had more than a few sleepless nights recently, I’m only just now getting around to blogging about it…sorry! In any case, Greta’s first free food at Denny’s was pretty amazing.

Of course, she didn’t actually eat anything on the menu. But Christine, myself and our friends Mike and Patty sure did and it was great. And better yet, we practically had the whole place to ourselves!

I don’t know if it was the fact that the last ad was hyped so heavily during the Super Bowl or what, but the lines weren’t nearly as long as the last time we schlepped to Denny’s for free grub. Which was fine by us, since this time we came with a stroller!

And though I’m still partial to the Lumberjack Slam or those totally badass Nachos with the fake cheese sauce, I gotta tell you the free Grand Slamwich Christine ordered — I ordered the traditional Grand Slam, which you had to purchase to get the sandwich free — was pretty tasty.

Basically a sandwich version of the Grand Slam, the Grand Slamwich consists of two scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, shaved ham, mayo and American cheese grilled on potato bread with a maple spice spread. I know, sounds like I’m describing heaven, right? Well, it was pretty close, amigos.

Christine found the flavor combo a bit overwhelming, but the couple of bites I had of that larger-than-life concoction were pretty incredible. It’s no Southern Style Chicken Breakfast Bisquit, but it was definitely worth trying at least once.

And though she didn’t eat there, Greta actually woke up and demanded to be taken out of her carseat/stroller for the first time in her short life. Seriously, she has slept soundly at every restaurant we have taken to her so far, but for some reason, she woke up at Denny’s!

I don’t know it’s coded in her DNA or what, but I like to think my girl just knew somehow that this magical place with the red and yellow decor and 24-hour service with a smile was truly something worth waking up for.

Yep, guess that apple didn’t fall very far at all…welcome to the great, wide-world of Denny’s, baby!

Free Grand Slam Day @ Denny’s!

Hopefully, you guys will read this in time to take advantage of this sweet-ass offer…but today only, February 3rd, from 6AM to 2PM, the kind folks at Denny’s are giving away free Grand Slam breakfasts! Yep, I said free…as in, all you gotta buy is your coffee. Pretty cool, huh?

I’m sure this killer offer is not news to anyone who watched the Super Bowl on Sunday, but seeing as Christine and I were otherwise engaged (and just now finished watching the Bowl commercials on Tivo) we just heard about the Denny’s deal of the decade last night.

And in case you were wondering, I did read the fine print on the website, and unless you live in the town of Baker, California or Las Cruces, New Mexico, the Grand Slams will be free at every single Denny’s in the United States. AND from what I’ve read on a couple of other sites, you can add another two items to your breakfast for only 99cents each. If that’s true, then…wow, I’ll stay there all day.

Ooo, speaking of…if I go to bed right now, I can squeeze in a good five hours of sleep before my free breakfast. Later…

Kitchen 24, Hollywood

Several of our east coast friends have complained over the years about the lack of truly great 24-hour cuisine here in L.A., and though old stand-by’s like Canter’s Deli and The Original Pantry are good in a pinch, we usually end up at Bob’s or one of the two “homeless Denny’s” in Hollywood.

So, when we heard that a spanking new all-nite eatery called Kitchen 24 was opening in the heart of Hollywood’s bustling “Cahuenga corridor”, man, were we excited! Unfortunately, Kitchen 24 leaves much to be desired…

Sure the über hip dining room is cool — those crazy silverware lamps (below) are worth the price of admission in my book! — and the service was great, despite the fact that they had been open less than a week when we ate there, but some of the food we ordered was just plain bad.

My Ruben sandwich (below) was kind of skimpy on the meat, but decent, and the Seasoned French Fries were amazing, but Christine’s Turkey Pot Pie was straight-up disgusting. It might have looked awesome on the outside — pot pie served in a miniature cast iron skillet, ingenious! — but the inside of that pot pie looked and tasted like dried clay.

I’m not kidding, it was so bone dry that every bite was a chore. It was almost enough to turn you off pot pies for life…and if you know me at all, that is really saying something! Yikes…I don’t care how cheap that shit is, you can get tastier pot pies in the frozen foods aisle at the 99-cent store. So, I’m warning you now, avoid this culinary train wreck at all costs!

That said, the drinks were very good — they have a full bar in the rear of the restaurant — and the location could not be cooler. Surrounded by scads of hip new clubs on Cahuenga and neighboring Hollywood and Sunset Blvd., Kitchen 24 is literally walking distance from Amoeba Records and The Arclight.

So, at the end of the day, even though our food mostly sucked, Kitchen 24 is so cute and charming that I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt this time and try them out again in a few months. Christine wants to try breakfast next time, and to be fair, the breakfast menu sounds way better than most of what ate. And Lord knows it can’t be worse, so…I’m game.

Until then, see ya at Bob’s…