Bucket List

It’s actually very overwhelming to be obsessed with food. It results in chicken-scratch lists of must-try restaurants, chicken-scratch lists of restaurants to go back to, countless recipes flagged in cookbooks, countless recipes flagged in magazines, stacks of old Williams-Sonoma catalogs, plans to start new Sunday night food traditions, stacks of cookbooks by my bed that leave my mind swirling with food ideas as I try to fall asleep, even a binder of food-related ideas.

It’s all fun and games until you start realizing what this obsession can cost--and even more so, what it can do to your formerly toned body.

Would I trade it in, this obsession? Of course not. I mean, you see what I eat. And if you love food half as much as I do, you know it’s a sacrifice worth making.

So, because I like to make lists and like to have a plan, here is my bucket list for this year. The things I want to accomplish. All related to food, of course.

1.       Recreate the menu from the cooking class my friend Wendy took me to at Cooks of Crocus Hill for my wedding shower gift last summer with Lucia’s chef Lori Valenziano

Summer Sweet Corn Risotto
Summer Caponata
Clams with Tomato, Onion, Fennel, and Garlic Cream

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

2.       Have La Belle Vie chef Tim McKee tweet back at me

3.       Create a new Sunday night tradition: a glass of port with chocolate or blue cheese

4.       Make Roasted Chicken for 2 with Warm Bread Salad from The Zuni Café Cookbook

5.      Make lots and lots of jam with my jam cookbook The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook. It’s arguably the most beautiful cookbook I own.

Rhubarb-Rose Conserve with Cherries

Strawberry Rose-Geranium Jam

Strawberry-Blood Orange Marmalade with Rosemary

Blackberry Jam with Lemon Basil

6.       Perfect a signature cocktail. Cocktails are just so elegant.

7.       Learn how to use our charcoal grill

8.       Go back to Piccolo for dinner

9.       Try 20 new eating establishments. Currently on the list: Masu, Tilia, Sun Street Breads.

10.   Dine at the kitchen table at Corner Table (unlimited food and wine for the night--they just keep bringing out dishes to share with the table)

11.   Make Almond Joy inspired cupcakes

12.   Make homemade strawberry pop tarts

13.   Make candies and package them up super pretty

14.   Go to the new Fulton Farmers Market every Saturday this summer (except on the Saturdays when I go to the Mill City one)

15.   Finally make at least one thing from Julia Childs’ cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking

16.    Buy a French press (even though we already have a regular coffee machine as well as an espresso machine)

It’s going to be a delicious year.