Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year

to you from Hannibal the Cat and I. We hope you will get an exciting and healthy New Year here in 2013 with more sunshine and snow than rain and hurricanes. I am writing this post drinking a glass of champagne, which is an excellent start to a brand new year :-)

Looking into the progress of 2012 on my wish about baking my way through "Hjemmebagt", I can see, that I have baked 6 recipes in 2012 compared to 12 recipes baked in 2011 !!!! With a speed of 6 recipes per year it will take me another 9 year to accomplish this task of mine, so I should be finished in 2022 with the last recipe in "Hjemmebagt". So I did not made greater progress on this specific topic, but I can still maintain this as New Year´s Resolution for 2013 :-)

As another New Year´s Resolution for 2012 I also had a desire of becoming better at using the seasonal herbs, flowers and fruits, which you can collect for free in nature. Here I can see, that  I am quiet good in using the elder flowers, but ramson is still a unknown herb/green for me and my kitchen. Neither did I get around to collect and use sloe and elderberry in 2012, but here 2013 will give me a new opportunity for doing this.

However, 2012 provided me plenty of occasion using seasonal fruit using surplus fruit like strawberry, raspberry, rhubarb, red currant, white red currant, blackcurrant and plums for various Summer Challenges like Rumtopf and plum for "cook out" in my kitchen.

Some of this wonderful summer fruit I also turned into various fruit alcohols like raspberry vodka, blackcurrant rum, limoncello and blackberry rum. Using these various seasonal Summer fruits have been giving me a lot of great fun, which I will continue with in 2013.

2012 did also give me the opportunity to meet various Danish food bloggers in real life, which at the same time moved myself out off my own comfort zone and meeting up for this event with all these unknown people. In total 28 persons turned up for this fantastic event full of plenty talk, perfect atmosphere, great food and nice free-flowing wine. I am feeling much more comfortable for turning up at another event, where you can meet food-bloggers in "real life" in 2013.

In 2012 I also took some more steps out of my comfort zone in form using my baking capabilities for various fund raising activities among my work colleagues and friends, where they had to bring money in order to eat my home-made muffins and cakes ! In total we collected 91 DKK for cupcakes for Africa in January and in October 273 DKK for at PINK fund rasing and finally 600 DKK among my friends at a PINK afternoon tea  in October as well. So prepare yourselves colleague and friends I will be back in 2013 collecting money for other fund raising activities.

Besides from meeting food bloggers in real life, I am virtual meeting up with many interesting food bloggers with my very regular participants every month in a virtual tea table called Tea Time Treats hosted by two food bloggers in the UK. It is great fun for me to work the various theme selected for these monthly tea tables. And I will continue to enjoy these monthly virtual tea tables in 2013.

Another interesting blog event are the regular Matbloggsentralen´s challenges, which I can see is giving me quiet many visitors from Norway, so a big welcome to these Norwegian guests in my little kitchen.

Also the month of December was a very, very busy month for me and my little kitchen, as I have been making my very own version of a Christmas Calendar again in 2012. I think, that some of my good work colleagues and friends have been feeling a big pressure since October, as I have been nagging them for their family recipes for this Christmas Calendar. I can already now promise you, that I will be making a Christmas Calendar in 2013. However, right here and now I have no clue/idea, if the 2013 version should have a theme. 

Hopefully the weather of 2013 will be better for inviting friends around for  entertainment in my little "park", as 2012 did not provide me with any of these opportunities.

The final New Year´s Resolution from 2011 concerning working more with cocktail and drinks has turned to be a success, as I have shared a recipe on different drinks with you, almost every month expect from May. And I can promise you, that I will continue to do every month of 2013 :-)

Kitchen status on 2012:

Review day: 1 January 2013
Recipes baked during 2011 from "Hjemmebagt": 6 accomplished
Amount of new cooking books in my kitchen: 1 new cooking book (55 books at end of 2012)
Page views in 2012: 32.627 (total page views of  49.833 at 31st December 2012)
Publish posts in 2012: 218 posts (total posts of 537 at 31st December 2012)

I am looking forward to see you around again in 2013 :-)