Here’s a rundown of some of my culinary highlights of January 2010. If there’s anyone out there reading my blog, feel free to comment with your own rundown of the month!

How did January 2010 taste?

Monthly Spice
Herbes de Provence. I had never bought it before, and my mom (who isn’t as insane about herbs and spices as I am) recommended I try it. So good! I think the timing was perfect, too, because the lovely woodsy taste works well in the winter, when you’re trying to create comfort food. Usually a blend of herbs like lavender, rosemary, thyme, savory and basil, it creates a nice balance between deep, woody herbs and lighter, leafier ones.

Mystery Ingredient
Ginger! It does a body good! My husband came down with a cold, and I made up my usual concoction of ginger, honey and lemon (more about that next week). I used a LOT of ginger this time, and he seemed to like it… so much so that I needed to make another batch the next day. Off to the grocery store I went, in the pouring rain I might add, to procure another PILE of ginger.

Party in My Mouth
Lindt just came out with a new Intense Blueberry dark chocolate. So good! Not as dark as I would like (‘Intense’ is a little misleading). A little disappointed to see other fruits in the ingredient list, like apple and pineapple, along with blueberry. This makes me wonder if the ‘blueberries’ in the chocolate are the kind of frankenblueberries (reconstituted-blueberry-flavoured-“fruit”-substance) that you find in breakfast cereal. Boo! That said, it tastes really good, and has a little crunch from almond slivers. On the fence, but just about to fall into the pit of denial, which is full of yummy, yummy chocolate.

I Made This!
I think the best thing I made from scratch this month was…. not sure, but my husband said it was mussels. Like most things, I started by looking at a couple of recipes and mostly used them to get an idea of the cooking time and what order things should go in. Then I did my own thing with the seasoning. Should I be offended that the best thing I made didn’t involve all that much difficult stuff? It’s not like he told me the best thing I had made was toast. Now THAT would be offensive.

Shameful Secrets
I am addicted to Skittles and Jelly Belly jellybeans. OK, the jellybeans aren’t that shameful in and of themselves… they are fantastic!! The problem is that I eat them until my stomach hurts. That, and they are in no way part of the ‘whole foods’ thing I’m trying to maintain, they aren’t especially natural, and I SIMPLY CAN’T STOP EATING THEM! I blame my recent bad behaviour on my friend Matt, who likes to hit the candy store after lunch. I had been doing so well!!

… and with my stomach torn to shreds, we head into February.

Have a great weekend!

S