Time for new year's resolutions! Like last year, I promise to take on some new challenges, and I hope that this year, I dare to make the following:
1. Sushi. Shouldn't be so very hard, right? As my trusty readers have heard to death by now, my brother-in-law is a very talented sushi chef, and should be able to give me a few pointers - however, he just started his own restaurant (Hattori Sushi Devil) and it's wildly successful and I doubt he'll have the time! But I found a lovely website to help me out - Make My Sushi has some great flash illustrations for sushi making. And failing that, my neighbor makes her own sushi so I can possibly persuade her to come over for sushi night.
2. Chokladbiskvier. This is a sort of cream-filled chocolate macaroon - a bottom made from almonds and eggwhites, filled with a chocolate buttercream, then dipped in more chocolate. It's very popular here, you can find it at virtually any café. However, I'm scared to death of making them myself. I've tried once, and it was very unsuccessful. Let's hope it goes better this year.
3. Glace au four. Ice-cream, in the oven. How stupid is that? Yet, I know it can be delicious. My friend Cissi (who sadly has stopped blogging) made a wonderful version, and I still have her recipe. That's definitely one thing I'm trying this year!
4. A vegetarian week. Not a huge challenge, we already eat a lot of vegetarian dishes, but we'll have to think long and hard to make a weekly menu. Not giving up on eggs and dairy though! And we're NOT going to eat just pasta, I promise!
5. Swedish crisp bread. Really, it's supposedly not so very hard. I really should try. Will let you know how it goes.
I won't pass this on to any bloggers in particular, but if you want to join me in this endeavour to try new, slightly frightening things, please do! And feel free to link to any such promises in the comments - I can't wait to read them!
16 comments:
Anne,
I hate ambition.{g}
Oh - I look forward to reading about all of these exciting adventures!
Cool New ers resolutions. I did not make any kind of promises this year, due to my - renown - lack of character.
Is Glace au four similar to Baked Alaska?
I have made a version of Baked Alaska many times for New Years Eve and this year as well. I make a regular sponge cake (sockerkaka till tårtbotten) with eggs, sugar, hot water, flour and baking powder; no need to make a super rich cake. When cold I cover it with slightly softened ice cream piled high and rounded - cherry vanilla for New Years Eve. Over this I spread a thick layer of meringue and freeze for several hours on a metal plate covered with foil. When ready to serve, I bake for 5-6 minutes in a hot oven (450 F or c:a 230 C), flame with brandy and serve.
The youngest grandchild cried because I set fire to the cake.
Hello Anne!
I've been cruising your site on and off for a few months now and wow, it is beautiful. Your picture of the sushi stopped me reading, making me go to that place of shame and guilt: the closet where a list of things I love to eat and the things I have made are kept. I think sushi is in the top 5 items awaiting their place on the list. So, I will make an effort at an undisclosed date this year, to try my hand in preparing and eating raw fish. Right now I'm thinking saba and some sake.
As for the vegetarian thing, give me a shout if you would like and idea or two for your menu. We have had a rash of veganism run through our house this past year, so I have a few ideas kicking around in my head unexplored......
Great list, Anne!
Kevin, don't we all? :)
Kristen, thank you! Enjoy :)
Jesper - lack of character? You? Never.
A-K - it's probably the same :) Cissi's version skips the sponge cake though, and has more of a soft batter over it, if I recall correctly. I might do two versions - one more classical.
D-man, welcome :)I'd LOVE cool veggie ideas!
Dagmar, I liked yours too! VERY much looking forward to the Polish cooking :)
Making sushi is definately not difficult. It just takes a little bit of practise before you'll be on your way, really nothing more. Living in Stockholm you can get all the right stuff at a Japanese store and not having to settle for something cheap and generic. In Japan sushi is rarely something you make at home, we went out all the time for it. So all the while I actually CAN make sushi, all the great professional sushi I've had kinda makes it less fun. One of these days, hopefully late January I've marked my calendar for a visit to Hattori Sushi Devil.
Glace au four probably has cake batter rather than meringue. Fried ice cream is another twist. I've had fried ice cream in Hongkong (or Singapore), in the sixties. It is deep fried, I think.
Individual portions on round slices of pinapple is also fun.
Jessica, thanks! And let me know if you want company for Hattori, I'm always up for *that* :) I know it's probably not very hard - the difficulty lies in making it taste as good as the stuff I can buy. Oh well, at least I should try once! :)
A-K - regular glace au four sounds just like your baked alaska though, I'm fairly sure it's always with merengue. Cissi's is with merengue too - and batter, and jam. And ice cream, of course :) Deep-fried ice cream sounds so yummy!
That's a great list. And I hope you do the Swedish crisp bread--because I want to learn how to make it!
I was chuckling over the vegetarian week--my goal this year is to learn how to cook meat. Perhaps we should swap pointers...:-)
I love that your resolutions are cooking challenges! I know I'm going to enjoy your culinary triumphs, and be inspired to try some of them myself...Happy New Year, Anne.
Wow! These Sushi look gorgeous!
As Japanese I'm happy to hear that you'll try to make some Sushi!
My Finnish husband, I and our tiny dog like a cat are going to move to Finland this spring.
We are huge fan of Sushi, so it will be great to visit Hattori Sushi Devil one day!
Cool ideas! I just set myself one goal for 2007 but I know it's going to be hard at times... Check it out:
http://beurreetpain.blogspot.com/2007/01/this-year-i-dare.html
Hi Anne! Having just ticked off another of my 2007 foodie resolutions, I'm keen to know how other This Year, I Dare... 'participants' are doing! So, what's the score so far? Mine's 3 out of 10 (or maybe 5 out of ten, depends how you look at it):)
Pille, good job!! I'm at.. umm... zero. :)
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