The hymen maneuver: observations on two months of blogging

I still remember the first time someone was directed to this blog by a Google search.  I was so excited.  Google!  The search engine had finally led someone to our little corner of the web.  I'd only been posting for a couple of weeks, and traffic was, um, sloooow, so I was thrilled to see this hit.

Then I clicked on the link in my Typepad administrator.  When I saw the search parameters that brought them here, we had a really good laugh.  Three words:

virgin

membrane

jpeg

That's right, someone wanted hymen pictures, and Russian Google directed them here.  Not only that, but Hungry In Hogtown was on the first page of search results.

"How did that happen?" you ask.  Well, one of the first posts I ever wrote was about two truffle feasts: one that included a truffle risotto and a very strong Swiss cheese, Vacherin Mont D'Or, and another, light meal consisting of truffled scrambled eggs and a salad.  Vacherin Mont D'Or is a cheese with a thin, pinkish membrane, and the salad was dressed with extra virgin olive oil.  There were, of course, jpeg images of both meals.  Combine with a blog so young Google hadn't yet figured out what it really covered, and you apparently get Russians looking for pictures of hymens.

Google's figured some things out over the past two months, so Hungry In Hogtown is no longer one of the top ten sites on the web for hymen imagery, though I fear this post is once again going to launch us back up that dubious ranking.  No, now people are regularly coming here to read about food, and that makes us very, very happy.

Let's be honest, no one creates a food blog (or, really, any blog, for that matter) strictly for their own personal edification; no, we bloggers really want people to read what we write.  We want to be considered interesting, and insightful, and entertaining. 

That's why Rachel and I are amazed that some of you out there really do seem to find the things we write about interesting.  Do you know what a thrill it is to know that someone in Singapore, or Australia, or Morocco is reading something you wrote?  Have you ever even heard of Pago Pago, American Samoa?  I sure hadn't, but apparently someone there has actually taken the time to read this blog.  Even better are the comments people send our way.

As part of our participation in Some Pig Blogging Weekend, Rachel wrote a review of Pig Perfect, a book by Peter Kaminsky that explores the culinary world that orbits the pig.  Imagine my shock, then, upon opening my email a little more than a week later and discovering an email from Peter Kaminsky himself thanking us for our review.  It's good to connect with like-minded cooks and eaters, even if they're chuckling at vanilla mucus.

I suppose it's only fitting that for dinner yesterday we finally sampled the preserved Meyer lemons that were the subject of Hungry In Hogtown's very first post. Rachel and I made couscous with preserved lemons, sauteed onions, toasted almonds, and parsley, on top of which we had a lovely piece of lemon sole sauteed in olive oil and butter.  The lemons were a little tart and a little salty, and they were just the right ingredient to jazz up couscous.

One of my favourite things about food blogging is that it makes you buy, cook, and eat all those things you promised yourself you would, but never actually got up off your ass and bought, cooked, and ate.  My favourite of these experiences so far has to be making a Thompson turkey.  This was a herculean task that consumed many, many hours of our Christmas.  I'd pondered making one for years, but had never mustered the energy to actually do it.  Did we love the turkey?  No, but posting about some of the things we eat makes even those meals that don't meet expectations, or take too much effort, or that just plain suck, seem rewarding because they give us another experience to share with each other and with you.

Comments

[Alanna]

You've got me laughing out loud. Can you imagine what kooks Farmgirl gets? I learned this when my site got hits from searches for 'farm girl porn' which matched a link to a red pepper soup at Farmgirl Fare and another to Food Porn Watch! Ah, people!

[ejm]

Aren't preserved lemons fabulous?

They are also brilliant in pasta. With apologies for the shameless plug, here is what we did:

http://etherwork.net/blog/?p=142

-Elizabeth

P.S. I suppose I should look to see what sort of scary searches have sent people to my blog too...

[rob]

Hi, Alanna, nice of you to stop by. I can only imagine the kinds of hits Farmgirl gets. It is pretty damn funny, though.

Elizabeth, I'm actually quite happy to see your link. We've been trying to find recipes with which to use our lemons, so we will certainly give yours a try.

[Ivonne]

Wonderful post, Rob.

I sympathize. I had a post about the ultimate cream puff pinged by a site called "Hot Latinas".

Somehow I don't think they were looking for a choux pastry recipe!

Congratulations on two months of blogging. The couscous and preserved lemons look delicious! And I'm sure they tasted that way as well ...

[MM]

LOL, that is hilarious! I keep getting pinged for Hot Asian Chicks and just recently, Mistress of Domination. I have no clue why but the fact that I keep having Brazilian visitors with very scary pictures on their website is almost enough to put me off food.

Oh, by the way, I am one of the frequent visitors from Singapore. Really like your recipes, ideas and fab writing! Happy V-day to the two of you!

[Michelle]

This is hilarious. I don't even want to know what links to my blog - I'm unfortunate enough to have it be something even worse than yours! Congratulations on two months of blogging, and I, for one, am so glad you're both here!

I haven't been keeping up on my blogging (for once, my $&^*%!! experiments are actually working!), so sorry this is delayed...but my fav. Oregon product is probably the Pinot Noir. But the hazelnuts are a pretty close second. Followed by beer, chocolate, salmon...etc. etc. etc. I could go on and on...any of them sound inviting?? :) I odn't know anything about the restrictions, so... Thanks for tip on the rib herbs, I'll use it!

[rob]

Hey, Ivonne, and thank you for the congrats. I can only imagine the shock someone looking for "Hot Latinas" must feel when they enter your blog and are surrounded by chocolate.

MM, thanks for your contribution, and thanks for letting me know you're one of the visitors from Singapore. I suppose some reference to Singapore and "hot" food gets you most of the way to your unfortunate link. I'll have to come visit your blog soon.

You're too kind, Michelle. Your difficulties in grad school amuse us, especially since we both spent a little more time in grad school than we planned.

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