Culinary Challenge 2011

Yesterday I was out with a friend for coffee (well actually London Fogs) and she asked me if I could work on one "thing" Decorating or Cooking/Baking this year which it would be. I thought about it and decided that because many if not most of the things I want to have done decor-wise are done or not a huge priority. So I picked Cooking/Baking. Together her and I made goals for ourselves in Cooking and Baking for the year. It's more focused than a 101 list and doesn't take nearly as long. So I have a whole year to work, perfect and hone the skills I choose. And I think it will be AWESOME and super divine.

Baking
1. Make amazing breads- a variety of great breads with different grains especially working on using whole wheat. I would be very interested in making focaccia with whole wheat after my attempt failed this weekend and in making ciabatta, and so on and so forth.
2. Find MY perfect brownie, chocolate chip cookie and other favourite recipes.
3. Make a double layer GORGEOUS cake.
4. Make a real deal Tiramisu

Cooking
1. Work on making my own dressings. In particular Caesar dressing.
2. Make homemade pasta
3. Make sushi
4. Work on honing my skills in my two favourite cuisines. Mexican and Asian
Mexican- make amazing Enchiladas including homemade enchilada sauce
learn to make tamales.
Asian- make a mean Lemon Chicken and a Honey Garlic pork or chicken or ?
-perfect making stir-fried veggies- in particular timing. Either they are ready too early
or get mushy.
-learn to make Pho. It's a Vietnamese soup. I had it roughly 3 years ago. It was the last
thing Renee and I ate together. Maybe I will try to make it on the 3 year anniversary of
her passing or her birthday.

Theme Ingredients- Like the Iron Chef but a little less intense
1. Work with more spices and learning what to add, how much to add and how to to make dishes pop with flavour with the right combination of spices.

Spices/Herbs I want to work with more- Cumin, Corriander, Ginger Root, Garlic, Rosemary, Flavoured Oregano, Saffron and I want to successfully grow basil, thai basil and cillantro.

2. Potentially roast some of my own spices and get a mortar and pestle to grind them and use
them in my dishes.

Things I will need to buy or acquire in order to complete these challenges
1. A mortar and pestle. I don't know if I will get an expensive one because I don't know how much I will use it.
2. More baking pans, for breads and such.
3. Serving dishes including a cake stand for the double layer cake
4. Sushi making stuff
5. Books about great breads, Asian, Mexican or spices. (Recommendations would be fabulous).

I want to take notes on my recipes so that I can adjust them. I have found WAY too many times that I use a recipe from online that has great reviews and then it sucks. And chances are if I made some tweaks that it could be okay but if I go back to it most often I don't know what I didn't like about it.

I am hoping to come out in the end of 2011 with my signature dishes that are flavourful and even a little bit healthy.

So here's to a year of good food!

Cheers!

Krista