Deanne on 
Paul Dicken on 
Madeleine Boivin on 
Brian on 
Naomi Wilton on 
Michael on 
Ameena Sethi on 
Sh Saqi on 
In 2009, I will eat more fruits and vegetables.
I will make more dinners at home.
I will find a way to make white fish exciting.
I will learn how to bake chewy cookies.
I will try quinoa and durian.
I will clean the barbecue.
I will read “Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper” by Fuchsia Dunlop.
(List adapted from eGullet Society.)
White fish: on a sheet of baking paper place a chunk of white fish, some capers, cherry tomatoes, sliced potato, green beans, any herbs you have lying around, maybe some preserved lemon and butter. Fold into parcel and cook at a moderate heat. MMM.
Chewy cookies: more sugar and butter, roll into balls and don’t flatten, cook for 1/4-1/3 less time.
And go durian! Have an open mind and you may just fall in food love.
And use things like NUT for food nutrition guidelines
http://nut.sourceforge.net/
http://freshmeat.net/projects/nut/?branch_id=7300&release_id=291227
or PS21 for your iphone/pod or laptop, netbook.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=5720
There have been other I-went-to-Chinese-cooking-school books that are better. Dunlop’s book is recent. Joan Cohen did a good one. Anderson’s Chinese food anthropology can be useful.
Yeah, fruit and veg are on my list too. I am trying to accomplish that through buying veggie trays because if it’s not ready for me, I’m not going to make the effort. Is more expensive maybe, but less expensive than throwing out stuff that goes bad.
Cookies: parchment paper and don’t overbake. Parchment paper is one of those things Martha happened to be right about.
Cooking more at home is on my list too. I am vowing to try to use some strategies from Sandi Richards’ books- her books are “Cooking for the Rushed” and her food network show is “fixing dinner.” Mainly trying to use prep and overlap between meals to make things faster and easier.
BBQ is the Bear’s job. I don’t even want to know. He makes a fair stab at it, so I am not going to examine too hard.
I want to cut down on Diet Pepsi, which is evil.
Durian is overrated. Seriously.
Undercook your cookies, always helps me.
And I discovered a cilantro sauce in Mexico that made white fish fan-fricken-tastic. Just ironing out the recipe and then I will share.
I would really love to see whitefish that is exciting, not just topped with exciting stuff, but actually infused with flavor so that it doesn’t serve the exact same purpose as white rice.
Brooke posted a great chewy gingersnap recipe on our blog (http://takeitlikeit.blogspot.com/2008/12/bestest-chewiest-gingersnaps.html). She made them, but I got to eat them, and I give a thumbs up!
I use quinoa all the time. I´ve got recipes up the wazoo and will hook you up. Quinoa is much more forgiving than rice when cooked on the stove, then again you can always add it to your rice in a ricer cooker. It´s really easy to incorporate it into any meal.
For a chewier cookie try using more brown sugar (more moisture) than white. I also find spelt flour adds a really nice, chewy texture to the cookie that I have never before found with wheat flour. Anyway, I think I have exhausted my penchant for being the tree-hugging, vegetarian cousin for now. Back to my macramé…