LittleNYCKitchen

January: Mom’s Bulgogi with Cucumber Kimchi Salad by Joanna Gaines (plus a Shaved Carrot Salad with sesame seeds & a Kimchi Pancake). I’m so spoiled to live just a few blocks away from an H Mart.

February: The night before this ‘Don Angie Feast’ my friend and I went to the tasting menu at Rezdôra. I think we were so inspired by all of the pasta we had, we kept the Italian theme going by making homemade pasta, a red sauce, grilled mortadella, broccolini and bruschetta (most from ‘Italian American’) for my family.

March: The week of my birthday I took four days off of work and treated myself to a bootcamp at the Institute of Culinary Education. Working in teams of 3-4, we pulled mozzarella, shelled seafood, stuffed pastas and broke down a chicken. Cooking for 6 hours a day – my dream!

April: As the weather started getting warmer in NYC, I was committed to throwing a BBQ at my parent’s apartment. A friend and I loved the idea of a Sausage Party (taken from Alison Roman’s book Nothing Fancy p. 184). Although it rained, we still enjoyed different kinds of sausages, buns, salads and sides! Similar inspiration can be found in her newsletter from last summer where she wrote about a Hot Dog Party.

May: Another recipe from Joanna Gaines’ cookbook made for a great dessert to a grilled chicken dish in late spring. Luckily I made this French Silk Pie (& homemade whipped cream) a day that I had access to my mom’s KitchenAid! Zero shame that two of us ate over half the pie in one sitting.

June: A friend and I wanted to try out this viral Grinder Sandwich from TikTok and wow did it deliver. She even put a twist on the concept for a BBQ later in the year and made a Grinder Pasta Salad.

July: For the past few years, I’ve been opening up to so many different types of seafood. I have my likes (calamari, lobster, mussels) and my dislikes (sushi…) but found a great recipe for a Paella Party I hosted inspired by both the land and the sea.

August: This month was the month of the tomato. I ate tomatoes on everything. I even ate halved cherry tomatoes on a cream cheesed sesame bagel (topped with pesto, damn it was good). Other highlights were a Tomato Cheddar Tart, Tomato Mayo Toast, Sungold Tomato Sauce, Tomato/Ricotta/Avocado Toast…the list could go on.

September: For one of the first fall themed dinners of the year (yes, fall starts for me in September even though it’s still hot af) my friends and I made this Tortellini Soup. We also made a pumpkin shaped Baked Brie, a Sweet Potato & Apple Salad and popped a bottle of champagne. Not the most traditional pairing but it was a vibe.

October: I had a single avocado that I really needed to use, and saw this recipe saved in my NYT Cooking recipe box one October afternoon. Melissa Clark always has what I am looking for. I’ve made this Vegetarian Skillet Chili a few times since.

November: My friend who lives across the street from me (I mean literally, we timed that her second floor apartment to my fifth floor apartment are sub-4 minutes apart) was over for dinner in October and we found ourselves watching cooking videos. Probably because that’s the only thing I have in my YouTube search history. We watched Alison Roman’s video where she makes a whole Passover feast and were so inspired to plan our next dinner get-together to be Matzo Ball soup. Our afternoon/evening in November was full of homemade broth, 20+ matzo balls and quite a bit ‘waiting time’ that we filled with ‘Don’t Worry Darling’. This was by far one of my favorite dinners of the year.

December: I won’t get too into this one since all my thoughts are thoroughly documented in my blog post ‘challah’. However, I will say this was one of the most rewarding day-long baking experiences (actually maybe the only) of the entire year!