Friday 2 January 2009

2009 food challenges

It’s that time again, where I set my culinary new year’s resolutions.

In 2007 I did a masterful job, and so I upped the ante in 2008 setting many new categories and increasing the tasks to five in each category. I had 45 tasks to complete, many of which had multiple elements, and I achieved 32 of these.

The hardest to complete were the feasts, which I have scraped in 2009. The most entertaining to do were trying out new ingredients, recreating food memories and learning about new cuisines. I’ve kept these for 2009.

I’m back down to four tasks per category (it’s much more achievable) and I’ve introduced a two new categories: trialling recipes by fellow bloggers and a commitment to purchase some new cooking gadgets.

Here are the tasks I have set myself. Those I didn’t complete from 2008 have rolled over into 2009 and are listed in italics.

Cook recipes I’ve coveted:
Puy Lentils w Scallops completed
Chocolate Caramel Tart completed
Castagnaccio (cake)
Red Wine Risotto
Coeur de Crème (dessert) completed Jun 2011
Khachapuri
completed

Find recipes for:
Pickled Sausages completed
Tagine completed
Braciole completed
Oeufs en Meurette (eggs in red wine)
Česneková Polévka (garlic broth) completed Dec 2011
Königsberger Klopse (meatballs)


Invent my own recipes for:
Trifle
Rhubarb Jam completed Oct 2011
Edamame Pesto completed
Falooda completed
Musk Ice Cream
Crepe Gratin


Recreate food memories:
Dadar Unti (pancakes)
Sauerkraut & Pork Chops completed
Sorbetto all’Anguria completed
Cullen Skink (soup)

Learn more about these cuisines:
Creole & Cajun travel experience, main, breakfast
French ice cream, dessert, breakfast
Mexican sauce, breakfast, snack, stew, starter
Japanese

Cook with new ingredients:
Oxtail stew
Hominy stew
Chestnuts cake
Wattleseed scones
Mastic ice cream

Taste test:
Sea Urchin completed
Rapini (turnip leaves)
Brawn (head cheese)
Grains Of Paradise
Pheasant

Recipe Road Test:
Far Breton by Mercedes from Desert Candy
Milk Braised Pork by Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen completed!
Rosemary Scented Truffles by Ilva from Lucullian Delights
Apple Cider Indian Pudding by Alanna from Kitchen Parade


Cook from these books:
Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen
Creole by Babette de Rozières
elBulli by Ferran Adria
Frozen Desserts by Francisco J. Migoya
Pier by Greg Doyle

Buy these books:
The Press Club by George Calombaris
Aquavit by Marcus Samuelsson
The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz bought!
The Silver Spoon
by Phaidon Press
Thai Food by David Thompson
Cheese Slices by Will Studd


Buy these gadgets:
Smoker COMPLETE
Lime juicer COMPLETE
Photography light box
Cooking thermometer

Now that you've read through mine, it would be great to hear what challenges you have set yourself for 2009. Why don't you write your own food challenge post and add a link to it in the comments section. Be sure to update the same post regularly with your progress throughout the year and check back to this very post to see how I am doing too!

7 comments:

  1. I'm impressed with how organized you are about this! Right now I'm challenging myself to lose a few pounds before the end of January (yes, I know that's not the type of challenge you have in mind!)

    Every year, Indian food is always on the agenda for me to learn more about! I remain mostly intimidated by it though.

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  2. Anna have you taste test the grains of paradise yet? what do you think?

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  3. Happy New Year to you and yours. That's quite a lot of things you have in the list. Hope you achieve your goals.

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  4. I'm going to be in SE Asia for, well, as long as my money holds out. I have decided to stay in each country at least long enough to learn how to cook. I'm going to try swapping English conversation for cooking lessons. One of my main interests is what people eat for breakfast.

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  5. Hi Anna,
    "Stumbled" by in search of an apricot recipe for a post I may do for National Apricot Day (today.) (I will be "borrowing" the summer apricot soup link if I do & its okay)

    I really enjoyed my visit and commend you are your ambitious "to do list."

    Thanks for sharing...

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  6. I've enjoyed reading about your 2008 challenges, and I'm impressed with your goals for 2009! I'm hoping to cook more vegan food, make more cheese (hopefully that's not a contradiction), be more adventuresome in trying new foods, and to work on taking better pictures of my food. (I love the pictures you post here!)

    Good luck with your challenges!

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  7. anna!!
    you are fantastic!!
    I don't even know what to cook tomorrow! :))
    well one of my goals is to help do something good in the bloggeraid.

    fot the rest, I'll think of it.
    have a nice evening
    baciusss

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Thanks for saying hello. It's great to know there are people out there in cyberspace!

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