Thursday I was home alone prepping lunch while Marco ran to pick my parents up at the airport. I was taking in the quiet calmness of my house when I realized that the year, another year, is over. I don’t normally make resolutions but I do try to set a goal for myself each year. For 2021 I had three goals:
Eat different types of greens.
Sign up for a CSA and eat more local produce/products.
Cook 10 recipes from a different cookbook each month, my monthly cookbook challenge.
This year I ate tons of greens that I usually don’t reach for when shopping. Collard greens, swiss chard, lots of escarole, and I fell deeply in love with iceberg lettuce and cabbage. We unfortunately never signed up for a CSA box but coincidentally we’re talking about it this week on the way home from Whole Foods. While we may not have signed up for a CSA box, we made it to the farmers market a lot and shifted to eating as much local meat and poultry as possible. For the monthly cookbook challenge, I cooked 10 recipes a month for 8 months! I worked through 8 different cookbooks until The Kitchen Club came along and it become too much. That’s pretty great if you ask me.
A big part of setting goals for myself every year is also allowing myself grace when I don’t hit them perfectly. I struggled with stopping the monthly cookbook challenge early because I really wanted to complete the goal but in reality, something a little bit better came along. We didn’t make it to the farmers market every week because some Saturdays we needed to hang in our PJs and rest. That’s life and that's how things go.
I hadn’t really thought about my goals for 2022 until this week. I haven’t even thought about 2022 at all. I still would love to sign up for a CSA box to support a local farm and to eat more local produce. I really want to shift 100% to local meat and poultry. The upfront cost to stock the deep freezer a little makes it difficult but if I can get to 80% this year I’ll be happy. I have added six new cookbooks and my goal is to make three things from each of them. No strict timeline or deadline. I just want to continue cooking and learning.
This year Marco and I may finally take our honeymoon, four years later. It’s booked and planned but…everything is omicron willing of course. We have plans to get some friends out here for an exciting weekend together and I am beyond excited to share our life here with our community from the west coast. Professional goals aside. which I have a lot of, this year my goal is to work on connecting again. Sharing my home, cooking for people, and visiting others. Those are the things I have missed the most.
I think we found our Christmas Eve tradition. Our Indian meal was composed of many many dishes and it rocked! I cooked literally all day but it wasn’t too hard, just consistent little tasks. Now I know what I could prep ahead for next time to make it even easier. I made…
Chicken Biryani
Tofu Tikka Masala
Mint Raita
Ginger Chutney
Cilantro Chutney
Kaju Katli for dessert
The spices and flavors were warm and comforting while also feeling festive and exciting. The two books I cooked from were India: The Cookbook and Indian-ish. I can not recommend them enough!
Chili Lime Cilantro Sauce For Oysters
We shucked a few oysters to enjoy on Christmas Eve and I threw together two quick sauces. A classic mignonette with finely diced shallot, red wine vinegar, and a squeeze of lemon juice, and a chili lime cilantro sauce.
Mix the juice from 2 limes, some finely diced serrano chili, a splash of white wine vinegar, and finely diced cilantro leaves. Let them hang out for a little bit to let the flavors meld together. Spoon over some oysters and enjoy!
We will be making it again for our New Year’s Eve oysters. Let me know what you think of it!! 🥳 🦪
Creative Recipes For A Just World *A must read
Oyster shucking knife and GLOVES! Shucking oysters is a fun activity to do but you need the glove. You can stab yourself big time if the knife slips.
Thanks for hanging with me every Sunday and reading The Weekly Recap! I’m grateful to have you here. See you next year!
Xx, M