2007 Round-up

Wow, for the 2 or so years since I have had this blog I have never let it go so long between posting. I owe the community a bit of an apology as, despite my good intentions, I missed out on Menu For Hope and this month’s Daring Blogger challenge. I was working some crazy hours for the first half of December and than it was off for a relaxing week in Mexico. I am only just getting back to normal.

Since today is New Year’s Eve I suppose it is time for a bit of reflection. I am not a big believer in New Year’s resolutions but I think I am going to try and not get so stressed out this year. I need to learn to let things go and separate my work from my personal life – at least I will try.

This year has also been a pretty large one here at Daily Unadventures In Cooking. For one thing I outed myself this year and now I have family and friends reading it. I also managed to post 159 times averaging out to about a post every 2 or 3 days. I also feel like I learned some thing this year and made lots of foodie friends which is what it is all about. That said I thought I would recap my favorites of the year, so here goes:

In January I made my second attempt at homemade Pierogis – this time using Helen from Beyond Salmon‘s recipe. They were absolutely fantastic and I ate them for months afterward whenever I needed a real treat, I really must get around to doing that again. A close second was the Mint-Cilantro Curry from Vij’s cookbook.

Rereading the posts from February there were a lot of great recipes, Ina Garten’s Indonesian Chicken – so great for a make ahead meal, my homemade Jamaican Patties and my Roasted Red Pepper Linguine with Prawns. However the revolution for me was in a simple Pistachio Pasta, I have made this several times since and it really demonstrates how wonderful simple food can be. Plus it has created a new obsession with pistachios.
March and April saw way less posting. The Lamb Shanks with White Wine and Tomatoes was one of the first recipes I ever made that I considered to be a true success and that made me want to cook more – so it wins hands down for March. The Tomato Sauce with Butter and Onion does deserve an honorable mention though as I feel I learned something from that recipe. In April I have to choose the Creamy Linguine with Mushrooms, Ham and Peas as it has helped combat my lifelong animosity for cooked peas.

In May I was in an Italian mood and my favorite was when I went to the effort of making Marcella’s Minestrone recipe.

It seems as though my Italian mood carried into June and my favorite were a couple of cream based pasta dishes of my own creation – Fusilli with Zucchini Mint and Cream and Rigatoni with Leeks and Cannelini Beans. I think Leeks may just be my favorite ingredient of 2007. Honorable mention goes to Rachael Rays quick Soba bowl, which is instant comfort and wholesomeness.

In July I finally started doing something new and I made Lemon and Thyme Artichokes, definitely a new skill and Vanilla Frozen Yogourt. The Yogourt stands out because of how simple and good it was.

August saw several original uses for summer squash but I think my favorite recipe came from the use of fermented black beans – Salmon with Black Bean Sauce.