List-making. I enjoy it almost as much as list-accomplishing. Here’s what I’m excited about for 2014.
1. Try my hand at ingredients and cooking methods I’ve never attempted before. Fish intimidates me for some reason. The same for yeast-y baked goods.
2. Bring more surprise to my daily staples. I’m talking simple surprises here, like tossing sesame seeds into my plates of kale. Or sesame seeds atop my weekly bowls of Korean ramen.
3. Bake a loaf of bread. (See #1)
4. Make this lemon crepe cake. This one’s been on my list since, oh, 2010 when I first saw that stunning photo in Martha Stewart. But 2014 will be the year, yes ma’am.
5. Recreate this Forage barley salad in the above photo. It’s got barley, a ton of parsley, some spinach, button mushrooms and a chili vinaigrette. Fresh, tasty comfort food with a little heat, basically IS my palate. I want this one in my steady home rotation.
6. Follow that immediately with those roasted carrots and parsnips with crema and pomegranate seeds.
7. More leafy greens, fewer (processed) snacks. Gummy candy is a sometimes snack. Gummy candy is a sometimes snack. Gummy candy is a sometimes snack. If I repeat it enough I might start believing it.
8. Just go for it in the kitchen. My friend and favorite kitchen partner Narinda is fearless in the kitchen (and everywhere else in her life), and I admire that so much. I’ve tended to be a strict recipe-follower, but especially since trying my hand at writing down some of my own recipes, I see that it’s fine to leave the map aside and go exploring without a guide.
9. Start that cooking and food book club. Merging literary life with food and cooking–this is the dream. Los Angeles-based cook/book lovers–you interested?
10. Share it all with you here.
Happy new year!