Wednesday, January 04, 2006

2006 - YEAR OF THE BLOG

Happy 2006 my dear readers. I hope all of you (by which I mean all three of you) enjoyed a fine food and drink fuelled holiday season. I do apologise for not keeping up over the holidays but my oh my was December a busy month. I will keep it brief but it entailed me working a fair bit (I needed the cash to feed my cooking habit), flying to one side of the States to see the family (and eat), flying to the other side to be in a wedding (and cater), flying home to do my Christmas shopping in a record 2 hrs 20 min before going to the In-laws, driving home to go back to work (and dream about the next dish to make), kick it at home for New Years (and sleep) and finally go back to work (again, I have a hungry mouth to feed).

Yes, I did cook a lot in between but only some dishes would have been deemed worthy enough to blog with. Dishes tended to be old and easy favourites like pasta, quesadillas and soups. Sure at one point I plan to add these but I was pooped by the end of the month. That said I am back on form and eager to cook. I am ready to try new ingredients, attempt new cooking methods but most of all I am ready to fatten up my friends- one person at a time!

Christmas presents rocked this year. There was definitely a foodie theme to all my gifts even by people that hadn’t a clue. Cookbooks, utensils, slicers and grinders- everyone seemed to get it. In addition, I stocked up on all sorts of food mags whilst in the States. This leads me to introduce a new section on this blog where I will road test at least one recipe from a food magazine of that month and report back on the result. No need to fret about some of the other things we got going on (like Around the World in 80 Plates), I am only mixing it up a bit to encourage some reader participation. Another new section will be a Must Try Ingredient List (witty name to come later) where I will pass on any info and details of new ingredients I have seen or tried.

So far January looks to be a stellar month. I have already tried one magazine recipe to review (to follow), there is also an easy pea soup recipe to be added and we all get a special lesson in making a proper Indian curry, compliments of my pal Ajay (so not too much pressure then Ajay!).

So I say ‘See ya’ to Crappy 2005 and I say hello, bonjour, gutentag and buenos días to 2006- BRING IT ON!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Xoch,

Hey girlie,
soy yo - Tanya from sunny Diego. oh, my gosh prima, I am in shock. I did not know that this familia was blessed with a domestic diva. Hey, that rimes. If I recall correctly, the last time I saw you was in tour as Bootylicious!
Take care - Saludos a tu viejo...

Anonymous said...

Well I'm looking forward to new recipes so I can try new things and not get into "the chicken thing". I'm here tonight to get your tortellini recipe. I'll put the word out and maybe you can shoot for a readership of five this year!!!!! Hope springs eternal.
Love and kisses
Mom

Anonymous said...

Glad you're back to blogging...missed your humor and recipes. I have a new Indian Soup recipe from a friend which I'm going to send you to try out. I'm scared of it, but she claims it as a favorite. I'll send it soon. I made spring rolls several times over the holiday and got rave reviews. The rice paper is available at the Japanese market in Temecula. You'll have to visit it next time you do a transAtlantic. Happy New Year, Xoch

Anonymous said...

I made the tortellini soup you posted, but I combined it with Barbara's version. I didn't have fresh tomatoes so I used diced canned tomatoes, zuccinni, and lots of celery salt. I used 3 color tortellini, so it looked nice. Dad liked it even though he said he didn't want any sausage in it, I limited his dish to just a few pieces.
That said, will I make it again? Yes! It was fast, filling, different than the norm and yummy. Thank you Xoch and Barb.
Jeri