Day -2: Introduction

Years ago, while watching something on TV, I heard about a person who published an entire book on meals he ate throughout the entire year. I wish I could remember who that was or anything else about it, really, but the concept sounded interesting. It's something I've wanted to do as a project more than anything else, and since I don't plan on this being interesting enough for a publishable book, I figured I might as well make a blog out of it. So, I plan on using this to post photos of every single meal eaten throughout the year 2014, starting on January 1st.

Now, while I love food and cooking, I wouldn't describe myself as a "foodie". I like trying new foods, but like many other people, I do have the tendency to get into "food ruts". I have regular orders at some of my favorite places around town. I have phases where I eat nothing but toast in the mornings (well, if I even eat breakfast). I make more food than we need for the sake of having leftovers.

Actually, repetition is what is going to make or break this project. Like it or not, I do expect there to be times where there will be seven days of chicken tacos because I do often make a lot more food than two people can eat. But, the other driving factor behind the food that I eat is my boyfriend - who is a very picky eater. He doesn't eat any fruits or vegetables, with the exception of apples, pineapple, watermelon, carrots, celery, and lettuce. And potatoes, though I see those as more of a starch than a vegetable. Fish is also out of the question (freshwater and seawater, including crustaceans), as is most types of sausage.  Even things you wouldn't expect are out - yellow rice, scalloped potatoes, desserts with "too much chocolate", and more. So, while I do try to experiment with new recipes, oftentimes, I end up cooking tried and true recipes. Combine the above with the fact that we live in a town of 30,000 people and thus a more limited selection of places to eat out, and it's pretty easy to end up with a repetitive diet.

That said, I am hoping this project encourages me to try new recipes and foods - I probably have at least five different recipes that I swear I'm going to try one day, not to mention restaurants in nearby cities. Even locally, I keep telling my boyfriend that we need to go try the Pho they have at one place, and the Indian Buffet at another. And then today, I went on an on about how I want to host a fondue night sometime (and then had to explain that you could make fondue from cheese or chocolate).

Although this is going to be about food being consumed, I also hope to turn this into somewhat of a cooking blog as well. I still feel like I'm learning how to cook, and I still make more mistakes than I would like, especially when trying new recipes.

And while many of these posts are inevitably going to be taken with a cellphone camera, I'm hoping this will be an excellent chance to work on my photography skills, which, while they were never great to begin with, are now especially rusty.

That said, here are some dishes I have taken pictures of in the past.

My first homemade pizza, made in August.

In the process of making chicken broth, done in July or so.

Shrimp scampi.

First, and so far only, attempt at homemade sushi. We kept it simple and just did California Rolls. They didn't turn out bad, though I obviously need to practice rolling. This was from October 2012.

Teriyaki grilled salmon and stuffed mushrooms. Yum!