Recipe Retrospective - 12 Recipes for 2012 & Sunshine Blogger Award

In this first week of 2013, I want to wish a sweet (and indulgently butter-filled) Happy New Year to all who came to visit The Kitchen Boudoir in its inaugural year. Save your appetites for more delicious recipes and intimate dishing in 2013! January 22nd marks the first anniversary of this blog, which will (obviously) be celebrated with multiple helpings of cake and a birthday blog post of its own. Below, you'll find a tasty selection of recipes from each month of this past year - Enjoy!

To ensure these tempting posts land in your newsfeed/inbox/recipe rotation (lust-induced daydreams?), subscribe to the posts by inputting your email in the space provided further down in the left column, or by clicking on the RSS feed symbol on the top left of the blog screen. (That's where you'll find me on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook as well - you can also follow me in real-time on Instagram @kitchen_boudoir.)

(From L-R)

JANUARY: To S(tart) - Summer Fruit Tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream

FEBRUARY: Dijon Braised Brussels Sprouts & Braised Short Ribs

MARCH: Chewy Gingersnap Cookies with Candied Ginger

APRIL: Carrot Cake with Coconut Milk Drizzle (Gluten-Free)

MAY: Sweet Tarts with Strawberry-Rhubarb Curd

JUNE: Coconut Cloud Cake with Pineapple Flowers

JULY: Julia Child's Reine de Saba Cake

AUGUST: Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Bites

SEPTEMBER: Lidia Bastianich's Ziti with Roasted Eggplant & Homemade Ricotta

OCTOBER: Vanilla Bean Latte Cake

NOVEMBER: The French Laundry - Apple Kuchen with Vanilla Cream Sauce

DECEMBER: Chestnut Creme Cakelets (Naturally Gluten-Free)

I'd also like to take this opportunity to heartily say 'thank you' to Chloe and Sarah from Honey & Lulu (two lifelong friends/neighbours from Australia who share a passion for cooking, fashion, and pretty things), who presented me with The Sunshine Blogger Award recently. The award was created for bloggers to acknowledge other bloggers 'who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere'. Ten questions accompany the award (represented by the flower shown at right), which is then presented to ten more blogs of the recipient's choosing. My answers and blog recommendations are below:


1. Who is your favourite philosopher? Lately, I've been cultivating a philosophy inspired by reading the pages of my cookbook collection (I have a tendency to read cookbooks like they're novels - I've also found that a recipe for a dish can often be translated into a recipe for living). I've been inspired by Lidia Bastianich and her philosophy of cooking fresh, seasonal, ingredients with love to magnetically draw people together around a table. Currently, I'm reading Chef Hubert Keller's memoir/cookbook Souvenirs, and am loving his attention to detail: how he meticulously plans and prepares, but deliberately stays open to 'go with the flow' of what the ingredients (and the customers who will eat them) are communicating.

2. What is your favourite number? I don't know if I have a favourite number, but it seems every time I look at the clock or other random places, 11:11 shows up. I take it as a sign - that things are exactly as they should be - that all is ok. My inner pre-teen still makes a wish. Every time.

3. What is your favourite animal? My current favourite animal is my piano teacher's dog Jack. Jack and I are in unconditional love. It is distracting when I am trying to play scales and he looks at me with his love eyes.

4. What is your favourite time of day? That moment in the early evening when the sun is on an angle, and everything is golden. I love it.

5. What are your Facebook and Twitter? I thoroughly enjoy connecting with people via the many social networking options - please friend/follow/like/pin me! You can find me as The Kitchen Boudoir on Facebook, as @kitchen_boudoir on Twitter and Instagram, and as kitchenboudoir on Pinterest.

6. What is your favourite holiday? I love the implied indulgence of Thanksgiving, where my friends and I are thankful for what happens when I introduce seasonal produce to its buttery piecrust destination.

7. What is your favourite physical activity? Walking. In the spring, I will be walking 500km across Northern Spain on an ancient spiritual pilgrimage - the Camino de Santiago. Over the next three months I will be breaking in my new hiking boots, which my friends helped me buy with the caveat that they not be seen with me wearing them.

8. What is your favourite non-alcoholic drink? There is a small cafe across the street from my house, right next to the laundromat, that makes a perfectly pulled americano. I'll add a touch of cream and doing laundry no longer feels like a chore. It's caffeinated incentive for self-care. 

9. What is your passion? I love to sing and music is something that truly moves and inspires me, however, get me talking about food and my eyes light up and it feels like I'll never run out of things to say or learn. Or eat. Or think about eating. My friends wisely decided to move close to me, as I have a tendency to act on this particular passion, and there is always plenty to share.

10. What is your favourite flower? I love big, blowsy, pink peonies. Lately 'bouquets' of organic butter have been quite effective as well. ;)

Over the past year, I have found inspiration and fostered online relationships with many kitchen kindred spirits. Below are a few you should check out:

Jen @ Tartine & Apron Strings
Wendy @ Chez Chloe
Kat @ Gooseberry Mooseberry
Kristin @ Pastry Affair
Katherine @ Eggton
Rachael @ Movita Beaucoup
Caroline @ All That I'm Eating
Jen @ Juanita's Cucina
Akheela @ Torview
Vanisha @ Nish Whips Up a Dish