Life after a long day - A 2008 retrospective

As 2008 comes to a close it's time to do some reflecting. After a year of eating out, taking out, and cooking in, J and I have finally reached our take-out limit. We are tired take out and have been cooking easy, simply meals at home this week.

Saturday night we made what our friends call Hippie Chicken. It's roasted, bone-in chicken breast dressed up with herbs and spices like rosemary and thyme, salt, pepper, hot paprika, and cayenne. The chicken is served with lots of roasted root vegetables including carrots, parsnips, golden beets, and fingerling potatoes. Sunday night was a homemade raw kale salad and a tuna melt for J, a Dr. Praeger's veggie burger for me. On Monday we had a simple bowl of spaghetti tossed with olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper and oregano with some Swedish meatballs from Ikea's freezer case. And last night we made a shepard's pie with ground turkey instead of beef, it was pretty good, and best of all, homemade!

So with 12 hours left in 2008, let's recap the last 364 and 1/2 days.

In January, I made frittatas with arugula and goat cheese and with asparagus, red pepper, fresh herbs and manchego.

In February I went to Scotland, and ate French and haggis, two separate meals. Looking back, February was a really busy month! I also wrote about my favorite mussels recipe, had a burger at brgr, and began Friday night pizza night at home.

I was so busy in March that I didn't post a single entry, and in April, all I posted were pictures from my trip to Scotland in February, and an entry on the great pasty I ate at the Edinburgh Airport.

May was another busy month, my two posts were a meme and an entry on the great Indian food I had aboard British Airways on my way to India.

In June I created the almost perfect pizza and wrote about my favorite Indian snack, pani puri.

I spent most of July on my bike and only wrote to ask for help with my fundraising for The Dana Farber Cancer Institute. I'll be looking for some help again in 2009 as I will be riding in my third Pan-Mass Challenge.

I kicked off August by riding my bike across the state of Massachusetts in the PMC, and then I ate a lot! I wrote about tandoori chicken and Thai food I ate in India back in March. I also made a French toast souffle and some amazing turkey burgers. I wrote about the home-cooked meal I enjoyed at Jason's in Luzern and the Ostrich steak I ate at Helvetia. Finally I shared my favorite lobster roll with you, ate hot dogs on Block Island, and smoked some chickens on my new Weber. Phew! What a month. Okay, so I was in Switzerland in May but didn't get to writing about it until this month.

September was another busy month for One Food Guy, 15 posts! I wrote about the great lobster salad at The Aegean, I ate some recession busting hot dogs at Gray's Papaya in NYC, I went crazy for Crazy Burger, I cooked ham and eggs on my grill before Tropical Storm Hannah soaked the Northeast, I drank mudslides and ate fish and chips, I ate a LOT of sushi and some river crabs, I made fish tacos - you know how I love fish tacos, and I resurrected Tuesday's Tastings!

In October, Taco Bell gave away free tacos, again, and I ate more fish tacos. I discovered some pretty good English muffins too.

November came and went in a flash! Thanksgiving was a hit but I still haven't posted anything about my meal. I did share my brine recipe with you and discovered a bloody mary in a bag!

Finally, December, the year is almost over. I made some chili and nearly chopped my thumb off in the process, and I ate my way through southern California and Brooklyn. I have so much more to share with you from these two trips; I ate scorpions and crickets in California and learned what calallo is at Sugarcane in New York - I liked everything by the way. I also spent a weekend in the snowy Catskill Mountains in New York, camping, and ate some pretty good freeze dried camp meals. I'll tell you all about that too.

In 2009 I will not stop eating, but I do hope to catch you up on all the great eating I've done in the last month. One of my goals for One Food Guy in 2009 is to write more frequently and never stop exploring menus.

My food philosophy is: If it's on the menu then someone thinks it's good, try it! Be adventurous and be rewarded!

Happy New Year everyone!! Eat well and eat often, everything in moderation.