For once I can say that I accomplished a goal that I swore I would do in 2007: cook one new recipe a week.

Well, that’s not true. I should have reworded it to be: cook 50 plus new recipes in 2007.

Check!

Most of the recipes came from CHOW.com, Cooking Light, Cooks Illustrated, Epicurious, and misc. magazines and cookbooks that I’ve owned, but cracked pages open that were fresh of stains and new to me.

So, without further ado. Here is my list:

How to Eat Dangerously

 
1. Scallops in a mushroom champagne sauce (Cooking Light) beyond divine and so darn good! A new favorite
2. Pumpkin risotto with wild mushrooms: (Mary Englebrecht’s Home Companion) The best way to start off the new year. Amazing!
3. Red Thai Curry (Real Simple, April 2007)
4. Thai Chicken Barley Risotto (Cooking Light)—awesome but time intensive
5. Chicken Picadillo (Cooking Light)
6. Fig and blue cheese stuffed pork tenderloin (Cooking Light) so easy and good!
7. Mexican chocolate pots de crème (Sunset Magazine) Spectacular
8. Rosemary polenta (Barefoot Contessa/FoodNetwork) I saw her make this and the Chickens in morel sauce on one of her TV show
9. Chickens in morel cream sauce (Barefoot Contessa)—would make again, but using wild mushrooms at half the cost. Inspired by watching her show and Posy’s glowing review.
10. Pan fried pork chops (Cooks Illustrated) excellent method for cooking pork chops quickly and served with pineapple mango salsa.
11. Fromage Forte (Alton Dean from Food Network) Easy and good way to get rid of cheeses
12. Seared scallops with sautéed cabbage (Martha Stewart) Nice and light
13. Corned beef and cabbage Not necessarily from a cookbook, but I always wanted to try it and it was obscenely easy and so tasty too!
14. Turkey and bean chili (Good Food)
15. Creamed Spinach (Everyday Food) I’ve always wanted to try creamed spinach and boy is it addictive.
16. Chicken Stock OK, this was the single most influential dish I made all year because I became obsessed with making and freezing stock and what a difference it made to my soups. Unbelievable stuff!
17. Calzones—Trader Joe’s whole wheat crusts. Made up the recipe myself, but not good!
18. Sausage Tuscan Bean Soup (Food for Friends book) Very very good—made with homemade stock
19. Stuffed Pork with sage wrapped in proscuitto with lentils(Food for Friends book) Very good, but sage was way overpowering
20. Thai Beef Salad (from WW cookbook—amazing tasting stuff!)
21. Creamy pesto tortelloni (from Fitness magazine—good, but used real cream because the nonfat stuff has high fructose corn syrup—gross!)
22. Strawberry torte—from (Fast Food with Friends) (very good, but oh so decadent!)
23. Minted double pea soup: (from WW cook book)—good for lunches
24. Mini quiches (South Beach Diet cookbook) great for breakfasts on the go at work. Made many different versions—French with asparagus, lite goat cheese and herbs de province to Mediterranean ones, etc.
25. Butternut squash and black bean enchiladas (inspired from blog Angry Chicken and amazing! Rather time intensive, but worth it, since it fed us for two nights!)
26. Butternut squash and sweet potato soup with coconut and lime (from Jen C.—weirdly too rich)
27. Mushroom herb potage (Soup Bible—very light but good soup)
28. Beef Bourguignon (Slow Cooker cookbook by Lori Brody) Very good!
29. Black Eyed pea soup (Cooking Light) Good
30. Dal (Gourmet Slow Cooker cookbook) must soak lentils beforehand
31. Maple-glazed pork roast (cooks illustrated) Excellent—Eric loved the pairing of maple syrup and rosemary. Really easy too!
32. Indian black eyed peas with mushrooms (Mader Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking) very good, but added garam masala to the mix
33. Slow cooker chili (Cooks Country) John actually made this, but it was a new one for him and I watched. Mildly time intensive, but very very good as far as chili goes
34. Quick cinnamon buns (Fine Cooking Nov. 2007) OK, I know I really shouldn’t have done this since I’m trying to lose weight, but they were insanely good and relatively quick. Would make again in a heart beat
35. Roasted green beans (Cooks Illustrated) I’d roasted so many vegetables, but never green beans and it was the easiest thing possibly. Made me actually like green beans, but still—not my favorite recipe
36. Black bean soup with sweet potatoes (Weight Watchers Slow Cooking) Very good. Eric liked it immensely
37. Crunchy caramel popcorn (Real Food) Incredible! Just absolutely amazing. Too good and addictive to be made again!
38. Shrimp Green Curry (Epicurious) made with those shinkuri noodles and they were great! Only add one tsp of green curry. I added butternut squash, a red pepper and spinach for more greens. Amazing! But rather time intensive
39. Chicken pot pie (Everyday Food) Very very good! And I liked using phyllo dough for the crust. Divine!
40. Pumpkin ravioli with gorgonzola and hazelnuts (Cooking Light) Good, but for the work, I wouldn’t do it again.
41. Risotto with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese (Cooking Light) 10 of the most rocking points and the best part was the balsamic vinegar syrup on top. Simply divine!
42. Chicken Soup with matzo balls (my recipe and always with my own chicken broth) I adore it! Often just make chicken soup with gnocchi and its terrific. Makes me feel great!
43. Crispy waffles (Cook’s Country) AWFUL. With rice krispies in them. Would never make again
44. Lentil Soup with roasted root vegetables and kale (Cooking Light, Nov. 2006) Unbelievably good! Perfect winter soup and so much fiber too
45. Coconut Carrot Soup (WW Slow Good) Made for Karen when she had Molly
46. Fish Tacos with cilantro lime crema (Cooking Light) I fell in love with this easy easy fish taco recipe. I need to find more easy fish recipes that are this tasty! Yummy!
47. Flank Steak with red wine shallot sauce (Fitness Magazine) Very good weeknight meal with a side of broccoli
48. Chorizo empanadas—Thanksgiving (Saveur) Very rich and must make sure to get the ends really tight
    
49. Ranch style mashed potatoes—Thanksgiving (Cooking Light) A bit bland but good
    
50. Chocolate ganache tart—Thanksgiving (Everyday Foods) Very easy and every good!
    
51. Goat cheese butternut squash and leek gratin—Thanksgiving (Bon Appetite) I think this was my favorite new dish for Thanksgiving. Surprisingly light and delicious
    
52. Turkey with mushroom butter and gravy—Thanksgiving (Bon Appetite) I should have probably cooked it a half hour longer to get a crisp skin, but it was really good nonetheless and surprisingly easy. But I’m quite proud of my first bird.
    
53. Brie hazelnut honey appetizer (from Pearl Oyster Bar) My recreation of one of their dishes and it was great! Everyone loved it!
54. Jojo ice cream (from William Sonoma Ice cream cookbook) but kinda made it up. It was great!
55. Potato bread (from Daring Young Baker’s coalition) also sorta made it up, using the leftover mash potatoes from Thanksgiving dinner) but Eric and John loved the results
    
56. Stuffing Stuffed mushrooms (CHOW.com) one of the top 10 things to do with Thanksgiving leftovers and I’m so very proud of myself for this one!
    
57. Fig, blue cheese and pecans on endive (CHOW.com) so easy to make and so good too! I would do again in a heartbeat.
    
58. String Bean with Bacon, Sage, and Pine Nuts (Boston Globe) for Christmas from my sister in law Diana’s collection of recipes. Also, it had some lovely lemon rind in it which really sparked it up!
    
59. Greens a la Catalon (CHOW.com) I am always looking for new ways to cook greens, since they are so healthy for you and who knew that the simple addition of golden raisins and pine nuts do so much for them? Brilliant.
    
60. Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Chestnuts (CHOW.com) really really wonderful! A Charlie Trotter recipe. I’ve heard so much about him and always wanted to cook one of his recipes

I must say that it was very very fulfilling and enpowering to take on this goal. I didn’t cook a new recipe every week, but sometimes I would cook two or even three new recipes a week, so it was more of an evening out of the numbers that strictly following the one a week, because, well, life has ways of throwing you curve balls.

The new recipes vary from main courses to vegetable sides (I’m always in a quest to find new and intriguing ways to cook vegetables) to desserts and everything in between. I’m so glad I did this. And I must say there were very few bombs. I’d say the worst was this recipe for extra crisp waffles that I made from Cook’s Country, an offshoot magazine of Cooks Illustrated. Ugh! I had no idea that one could make such a disturbingly untasty waffle!

The best recipe? Hmm…I’d have to say the Lentil Soup with Roasted Vegetables and Kale. Every bowl was heaven plus lentils and kale are so good for you. And the Shrimp and Green Curry. Oh that was divine! I also really enjoyed the fish tacos. So easy and so darn good! The pumpkin risotto was very special and much easier to make than I thought it would be!

Would I say that it was a healthier year. Uh… Perhaps not when one includes homemade ice cream and cinnamin buns on the list. But I did get into the amazing habit of cooking on Sundays a big healthy vegetable-based soup that would be eaten for lunch that week as well as prep a meal for Monday and cook Sunday’s meals. And yes, I did spend 4 plus hours in the kitchen on most Sundays, but it was so much fun and healthy for the soul. So perhaps for 2008, I’ll try to do more cooking of fish and vegetables.

Yes, 2008’s goals will be discussed in 2008. Until then, happy New Year!

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For some, the holidays are times of traditions. I am lucky enough to come from a family who loves its traditions and looks forward to them every year.

Of course some are traditions that many people also share, like hanging ornaments on our Christmas tree. My family prefers a really FULL Christmas tree choc-a-block with ornaments collected over the years. Not very designerly, but each one brings back a memory.  And since this blog is supposedly all about crafting (heh heh!) here are two ornaments I made ages ago. The painted wooden one was created in Kindergarten and the stuffed candy cane toy was a relic from my Girl Scout Days.

And like many other families we spend a good chunk of time decorating Christmas cookies for the onslaught of kiddies…

Hmm… This one looks a lot like it’s model, yes?

For the past six years, since my sweetie has been in my life, we have a new tradition of a canoe ride from the house on Christmas day. It is just wonderful to be on the water on such a special day.

See how good he is with a paddle?

And of course the tradition that is almost a century old in our family–the trains.  Still magic.

Who knows what new traditions await us?

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I like to think of myself as a baby connoisseur. Only the finest babies will do for my lap.

And luckily the past couple of years have been excellent ones for babies. Take for example my friend Melinda’s little one, Snapper.  Melinda is a great Mom.  Not only in the sense of loving and taking care of her child, but also in the fact that she hasn’t lost her brilliant sense of humour (which is a good thing, since she is a comedian by trade).  Who wouldn’t love a mother who describe her own child’s first steps up stairs as something akin to watching Chucky stalk his prey?

I stopped by Melinda’s place last Sunday to see the Snapper (names so after Roddy Doyle’s hilarious book about one woman’s pregnancy experience, The Snapper.  Oh, and also a movie too!) Much to my delight, Miss Snaps was full of kisses and snuggles. It was as if Melinda was slipping cute pills into the kid’s apple juice.

Snapper does this most wonderful thing where she just grabs your face and looks right into your eyes with so much love that you are actually woozy afterwards. Man, if the world was ruled by cute babies, what a better place it would be!

But enough about me trying to describe the charms of Snapper. I suggest you get the latest on her from her mother’s hilarious blog, Easy Rider.

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Soo… Can’t knit…blah blah blah. But I’m still very determined to stay true to my goal of giving handmade gifts this year, if not made by my hands then made by far more clever hands that aren’t as beat down as mine.

Enter San Francisco’s Bizarre Bazaar 2007!

With my shopping partner extraordinaire at my side, the lovely and so very loved Jen, we went in. And saw a lot of cute crafty stuff. I did make some purchases, but of course, I can’t show pictures of them, for fear that a few of the receivers of said purchases are lurking on this blog.

But here is one picture. (Forgive me, I easily get overwhelmed by places like this and forget to take pictures…)

How cute are those larger than life fruits? I even like the peach oil cloth/tablecloth underneath! Hmmm… I should have asked her where she got that…

And then Jen and I wandered out of the land of crafty goodness downtown to Jen’s personal mecca, Banana Republic. Yes, it’s the antithesis of all things handmade and good, but it’s hard to say no to her husband’s 30 percent discount.

And beautiful ladylike ensembles like these…

I don’t know if these dresses were designed for our Charlie’s Angel poses or not, but we karate chopped/disco danced them out of the store and into our closets.

But as we were heading back, we came across this Scottish Santa.

I don’t know why Santa needed a sword, but I liked this Scottish Santa, because if he’s not Scottish, he’s crap!

But then we saw a whole gathering of them. Why, of course–it’s Santarchy!

Look at the clearly traumatized little girl in the right-hand corner. What dreams she probably had that night…

Two Santas were sweet enough to even stop and give Jen a hug!

Truly, it is the most wonderful time of the year!

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Soo…

Alton Brown from Food Network makes the most amazing Fromage Forte. What a great way to use up any extra cheese you just happen to have lying around. Like from a cheese plate from Thanksgiving.

So last week, I thought I would give it a whirl.

Basically the recipe calls for all of the left over cheese you have, some butter, a clove of garlic, some fresh parsley, and white wine. Toss it all in your handy dandy Cuisinart and voila–heaven on a cracker. Well, I had only red wine open. And then I thought back to my friend Susan who use to make the most marvelous stilton soaked in port that was just heaven.

So, yeah–let’s use red wine, right? Oh, yeah and a lot of blue cheese–that’s kinda like stilton, right.

Right–yet so completely utterly and disturbingly wrong.

I think the picture really says it all.

No Christmas miracle was going to save this nasty paste. As you can see, the combination of red wine with the blue cheese made it a truly terrifying corpse-like gray mauve color that shouldn’t really exist in the real world.

Please note that this recipe went so horribly wrong that I couldn’t muster up the gumption to cook a single meal for a week!  Shameful, I know, but there is always next week.

Let’s hope I can shake it before I head back East to do some serious holiday cooking and baking!

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So, as you know, I can’t knit. All playing with yarn is verboten for me right now.

Exit yarn. Enter fabric.

Now, my love of sewing and fabric go way back. Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved the feel, the prints, just the wonder of fabric. My grandmother would graciously surrender one of her old cotton sheets to my crafty passion where many a summer evening was spent embroidering my designs on her front stoop after the ice cream man went by and before the lightening bugs came out.

I have not been without a sewing machine in my house since I was 10 years old.  This doesn’t mean that I actually knew what I was doing. My mother has no desire to do anything remotely crafty. She breaks out in a sweat when she enters a fabric store. Her sewing basket consisted of some black thread and a stapler. 

Yes, I took classes in middle and highschool, but I was on my own.  Fortunately, I had a job at the costume department in college for a good two years, so I became an almost decent seamstress. But somewhere over the past ten years, my skills have gone somewhat to seed.

Don’t get me wrong–I can tailor an outfit pretty well and smaller things I can snap together with pretty good ease. I can thread any machine and get it going, but still patterns scare the bejesus out of me.

But after reading and seeing so many sharp blogs like Wardrobe Refashion and all the dandy stuff on one of my favorite sites ever, Sew Retro. And  of course, Erin’s wonderful, glorious blog that I check almost every day sends shivers of inspiration down my spine every time a page loads.

And I can’t lie. I’m a big girl. And I like snappy clothes. I have this desire to show my snappiness off through designing my own clothes. But I needed to bite the bullet and actually make something. And wear it.

And I’ve had my mistakes. My horrible,horrible mistakes. Like deciding I could make three dresses for Viva Las Vegas from vintage patterns in 2005. Which was quickly followed by me throwing out two half poorly made dresses after wasting three days doing nothing but sewing and wearing an old pair of jeans for my entire time there. Or the infamous tiki dress of August that didn’t cover my chest enough. No, I needed something very very very very very easy to win back my sewing confidence, so I could try other things.

So, I began with this. And I must thank Erin’s post about skirts with pockets as the inspiration for getting back on the sewing horse. Please note that the skirt Erin made seemed as hard to follow as a vintage Vogue pattern to me, so I took it down three more notches to make the most simple skirt in the universe–like one step above grabbing a piece of fabric and knotting it at your waist.

Yes, that is a flask in my sewing room. I HIGHLY recommend one for everyone’s sewing room. Heck, I’m surprised Singer doesn’t give you one with the purchase of every machine.

I spent a good chunk of time with my machine… See! I’m sewing! I’m even rocking interfacing. I remember interfacing…

Oh, holy crap. I forgot. That six letter curse word–ZIPPER. But I put it in. Yes, it is the world’s crappiest zipper insertion, but hey, my zipper foot was broken…  It was such a traumatic experience that even the picture was blurry.

And guess what?  It fits. It’s flattering. And for some extra zing, I put bias tape on the edge. I love it. I LOVE IT!

I will take pictures when I’m dressed sassier than I am now. But keep an eye out for this! Hurrah! And the best part is–I made the skirt from my stash fabric.  Go wardrobe refashion. Yeah!

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And when it’s made by your loving husband–well, it taste even better than it looks.

My father used to talk about a favorite diner breakfast–salami and eggs. Here is Eric’s delicious riff on it.

With a piece of toasted foccacia and a large glass of fresh squeezed juice made from all of the tangerines, mandarine oranges and large navel beauties that I keep purchases and forgetting that we already are innundated with citrus–well, it was perfectly restorative.

Yum!

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[16:08] TheElectricMeat: been thinking about you lots the past few days — hope you are surviving as best you can and are able to leave it at the door each night
[16:08] *** Auto-response sent to TheElectricMeat: I am currently away from the computer.
[16:08] TheElectricMeat: hang in there, Les

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