With our year coming to a close, one of my favorite cozy winter activities is to snuggle up with a mug of coffee spiked with eggnog, my 2019 calendar, and my phone’s photo album, and sit and review the year coming to an end. I work to make a list of the things that were meaningful, and then do a deeper dive of the things that I’d like to improve. Without posting the entire novel, here’s a little bit about how I went about doing this: 

I start out with general buckets to note things in:

• My year in fitness: any races run, programs taken, favorite classes, PRs.
• Favorite movies, tv, and books. 
• Favorite podcasts (Dolly Parton’s America!) 
• Review my reading list: how diverse was the range of authors and thinking? 
• Favorite Eats: restaurants, recipes, and purchases (I’m looking at you bucket of Maldon and Rancho Gordo Bean Club) 
• Review of Travel: in 2019 relived highlights from Disney in March (that JIKO tasting and Safari! Dole Whip!) Turkey in June, Stratton in July, Houston in September and New York in October. 
• Creative Dates: my weekly journey into culture – museums, plays, and more. 
• What I learned (courses, projects, etc.) 
• Fun Random Things
• New Things Tried
• What didn’t work so well, and low points
• People I met / re-connected with / spent time with

This year, I had two fun “consumption” goals – rewarding myself for relaxation that I got quite a bit of satisfaction out of. I set my Goodreads 52 books goal, (surpassed!) and 52 new to me movies. (This year I’m also planning on tracking my TV watching – it seems to improve my overall quality of choice when I write down what I consumer. I also plan on tracking my music listening with a focus on albums.)  

Because this is theoretically a food blog, here were some of the highlights of my year in food, done middle school yearbook style:

A deeper dive into food superlatives of 2019: 

• Favorite Takeout: Shan-a-punjab butter chicken, Cava, Wegman’s California Rolls
• Best Cookbook: Alison Roman’s Dining In (my cookbook of the year) 
• Best Soup: Samin’s Ribolitta from Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
• Most Liked IG Post: Lobster avocado salad
• Best Salt Craving Fixes: IKEA Kalles Tube, Whole Food Cheese Crisps
• Best Recipes: Chrissy Teigen’s Cacio e Pepe, Anita Lo’s Red Cooked Duck
• Best Turkish-ish: deconstructed cauliflower gnocchi Manti
• Best Condiments: Patak’s Tikka Masala paste, Branston Pickle
• Best Food Purchases: 3lb Bucket of Maldon, Rancho Gordo Bean Club!
• Best Throwback Recipes: Chicken Marbella, Fettuccini with Spring Veg.
• Best Porch Snacks: pesto mozzarella toasts, cherries and wine; Whole Foods Cheese Crisps
• Best Family Meal: 4th of July Ceviche
• Favorite Ben and Jerry’s: Pucker Upper; Justice Remixed
• Best Fast Food Item: McDonald’s Stroopwaffel McFlurry
• Favorite New Trader Joe’s: Kunefe, Peppermint Hold the Cones; Cinnamon Rugelach, Aqua Kefir, Italian Bomba Fermented Pepper Paste
• Best Apple: Topaz
• Favorite Method: marinating in mayo (thanks, Kenji!) 
• Best Evening Snacks:
  • Whole Foods Chopped Mango
  • Cottage cheese with olive oil, salt and pepper.

As for this week’s Good Things: 

I’ve been wrapping up the last week of the year with reading, cooking, work (yes, we have some incredible things in store for us at Ompractice), at least three miles a day outside for my Race Menu Winter Warrior challenge, and more.

{Meals of Note:}

Chinese Tomato Eggs: soft scrambled eggs with shaoxing wine and sesame oil; with some smoked salmon. I wanted Chinese/Jewish/Turkish comfort food and this is what I came up with.

Pulled Pork with Arugula Salad: with cucumbers, lime juice, and a side of nectarines. I was going to have some baked beans with this, but I forgot.

Vietnamese Ginger Chicken Thighs: a great recipe from Melissa Clark’s Dinner: Changing the Game, over arugula salad with cucumber (sense a trend?) A good reminder that marinating meats overnight is always a good idea! Looked like this:

Refried beans with Chicken: a forgotten staple. This is one of my favorite comfort foods. (All it could have used were some HEB tortillas… but I’m due for another trip to Texas since I’ve eaten my freezer stash.

Pork Tenderloin with Peperonata: (top photo) arugula salad with cucumber. I love Peperonata – stewed peppers, onions, and tomato, with a nice hit of red wine vinegar at the end of cooking. It’s versatile and can be made days in advance and only gets better.

Turkey and Cranberry Bean Fagiole with Kale: defrosted a batch from my freezer, and ate for several lunches in a row.

I’ll be finishing up the last day of the year closing out loose ends, but I’m ready and excited for 2020! Thanks for sticking around here, I appreciate you all!

Here’s to a great new year!