Heyyyyyyyyy-o! A low-key day over here: had my weekly acupuncture, got lunch & hit the butcher shop with Alex, and did Piles of Laundry in preparation for the weekend. I have to say, I’m pret-ty excited for NYE and New Year’s Day dinners. For the former, we’re planning a mixed grill; for the latter, a leg of lamb. Tortilla might make an appearance, as might sweet potato walnut bread.* Yumyumyumyumyum! No better way to ring in the new year than with a three-day feast, yes?
This was one of the better feast images I found, so I'm going with it.
Speaking of New Year’s: Resolutions: Have you got ‘em? I didn’t, but then as I scanned my google reader and noticed that EVERY story is about the new year, I thought, “What the hell? Might as well make a few, myself.”
Mind you, I won’t resolve anything traditional: oh, noooooo. I won’t vow to banish bra fat, work out six days a week, volunteer with orphans, or any of that. Rather, I’ll set a few food resolutions to expand my cooking and baking repertoires and train some of the fussiness from my palate. In no particular order, these resolutions are:
1) Use More Smoked Paprika
[Whilst back in Minnesota, I picked up a tin of smoked paprika; I have yet to bust into it. My plan for the coming year is to collect recipes using this spice and sequentially test those recipes. My secret goal is to use enough smoked paprika to start a collection of the beautiful tins it’s packaged in. Heh.
2. Continue Seafood Appreciation Project
[All things considered, this year’s Seafood Appreciation Initiative went well, but I’ve got much work yet to do. Case in point: I may have balked when I learned that my udon (at Katana Ya) would be served in fish broth. Another case in point: I may have reacted squeamishly at today’s lunch when Alex noted that most of our dishes contained fish products.
To be clear: I want to like seafood. Indeed, I’m now a willing consumer of most mild fishes. Shellfish is another matter — I avoid that shit like the plague. I’d like to change, though, and the first step in changing is acknowledging the desire to do so, RIGHT?
3. Eat Better Candy
[Few people consider me a garbage disposal (I think?), but I remain woefully uncritical when it comes to candy. M&Ms, gas-station gummy worms, kind of stale Tootsie Pops — if it’s candy, I eat it. Sad but true — I’ve had a raging sweet tooth since I was a wee one. I’m not going to get rid of my sweet tooth (which, frankly, is a preposterous suggestion), but I’m going to clean it up, refine it — in a word, boboify it. Will Kate quell her insatiable honger for peanut M&Ms? That will be 2012′s great question.
There you have it: my food resolutions for the coming year. If I think of more, I’ll add them to this post, but three seems a reasonable number to start with. Wouldn’t want to overwhelm myself during the first two weeks of the year and forever abandon smoked paprika, would I?
***
*If I can get my ass to the grocery store and bake a loaf, that is.
If you’re not from here (or around here), you may want to stop reading now. I warn you only because you might become jealous: of this glorious weather, of the park, of the olives and cheese we destroyed. Mostly the weather: mid 60s, sunny, and breezy. I wore a striped 3/4-sleeve shirt and a knitted cowl + sunglasses. Later, a jacket, but that was only much later, after we’d been sitting out for a few hours and the sun began to set.
Quarter to noon, we met for a picnic: crusty bread, salami (Genoa: Applegate Farms), olives, red grapes. Some old favorites, too, in the form of Darrel Lea’s Soft Snacking Liquorice and Triscuit (pronounced with an over-the-top French accent). Beer and champagne, but not mixed together. Jasper molded the licorice into a pony, which looked more like a Dachshund than a pony, but was a quadruped nonetheless. We watched tiny dogs comingle with large dogs; we witnessed small children contemplating hill descent.
In three weeks, I’ll be back in MN, where I’ll bundle to the nines. I’m glad that, pre-departure, I can enjoy this weather (balmy, placid), nibbly treats, and friendship. Cheers to low-key picnics.
Saturday afternoon, pre-Pre-T, Alex and I strolled through the Ferry Building Farmers Market. I could not resist the grapes, purple-black and dusted with yeast, or the dinosaur kale. A. & I each got a bunch of organic carrots, knobbier than their city cousins, and shorter. They’re built like peasants. I can’t wait to try them in tomorrow’s dinner.
Though muesli has reigned supreme for months as my top breakfast choice, peanut butter toast is gaining favor. Saturday morning, when I woke up after the deepest, most prehistoric sleep, I made two slices, to which I added cinnamon. Cinnamon sugar would have been better, but cinnamon was good. I find myself lately making my coffee a little too strong — on purpose, though. I’ve gotten my milk-to-coffee ratio down pat. Strong coffee with more milk tastes better than moderate coffee with moderate milk. Extremes in all circumstances, as they say.
