A Year Food Blogging

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2008 may have not been the best year for the economy, it may have been more stressful than most, and it certainly was one filled with drama and change on the news, but it was a FUN year for blogging!

I experimented with a new ingredient, verjus, in the first post of the year and showcased the best bread yet using my wild sourdough starter (my newest hobby) in the last post. Should you be interested in how to make a wild yeast sourdough using unsprayed organic grapes It is explained here.

In between there were lots more cookies recipes than usual, many savory and sweet recipes made using local ingredients, and an original and sort of silly recipe, Bacon Bittersweet Truffles.

In October I passed the 250th post mark and had the 2nd anniversary of blogging at Feeding My Enthusiasms. This will be the 285th post…hard to believe…but I’m still having a blast.

I managed to do all 12 Daring Baker challenges this year from Lemon Meringue Pie to French Yule Log, plus I wrote the 13 (Baker’s Dozen) bit of fiction in the Land of St. Honore’. Maybe we will return there in 2009 to see what the denizens of the land are up to. I was also the host, with the lovely Deborah of Taste and Tell, of the April Daring Bakers challenge where the many, many Darng Bakers who participated made an amazing variety of Cheesecake Pops…that was a lot of fun.

The great thing about the Daring Bakers is that you really stretch yourself to learn new techniques, to organized the tasks so that it all comes out right, and to learn from your fellow Daring Bakers…which I do all the time.

My favorite experiences, beyond hosting the Daring Baker challenge, were doing other challenges with two baking buddies, Mandy in May

and Hil in November.

They are both creative and skilled bakers and fun to share a kitchen with. Hope they will join the Daring Bakers themselves one day.

But it isn’t all baking on this blog. One of my favorite recipes this year was the Grilled Cheese and Basil Polenta. There is something about the creamy polenta, the fresh basil, the melty cheese and the crisp crust from grilling that is just wonderful. Although they DO involve baking, my other two favorites were the summer pudding from August.

and the July Daring Baker challenge. There is something about fresh berries that makes the pudding simple but perfect. The July cake was rich and somewhat complicated, but it sang with the flavors of dark chocolate and peanuts.

I also enjoyed making recipes from my childhood like savory stuffing for turkey (or chicken), chocolate pudding cake, easy saucepan fruit bars and simple rolled sugar cookies, and most recently home made hot cocoa. I hope to share more childhood memories and recipes this year.

Wishing you and those you love a very Happy New Year & lots of good food shared with each other.