One Year On...

So I actually missed the 1 year anniversary of my bucket list. I had intended to write this post then, but at the time I was preoccupied with making Stegabell - a Birthday cake for a friends "21st"! 

I'm not going to write a separate post about her, she follows the same recipe as my Turkey Cake, but if anyone is interested to find out about the making of Stegabell, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do to explain it a bit better, though don't expect an explanation of why anyone would ask for a Stegosaurus/Tinker bell cake, I don't know if I can do justice to how we came upon this idea...

Anyway, we're a year on from where this all began so I thought it was time for a bit of an update...

Meals

• Roast Turkey -I'm not sure if I really get to tick this off, but I honestly believe that it should count.
• Yorkshire Pudding -I was very pleased with the results here...
• Baked Beans - A whole lot easier than I expected them to be!
• Steamed Pork Buns - These didn't quite have the look I was after (I suspect it had something to do with the flour I used) but the taste was perfect
• Egg Rolls 
• Massaman Beef - LOVE!
• Eggs Benedict - This was a whole lot simpler than I expected
• Thai Green Curry - Happiness from a blender, how much easier could it be!
• Vegetarian Lasagne - This passed Rory's expectations for lasagne so I call it a win!
• Mexican Lasagne - Not much to look at but the taste was good!
• Spinach and Ricotta Pastries - Deliciously simple
• Tandoori Salmon - A commonly revisited recipe in our house!

Breads

• Sourdough 
• Braided Fruit Loaf  - Favourite bread ever...
• Spinach and Ricotta Pull Apart Loaf - Or maybe this was the favourite...
• Tattie Scones - No breakfast would be complete without them
• English Muffins 
• Crumpets 
• Peshwari Naan 

Desserts

• Irish Car Bomb Cup Cakes - The recipe that started it all, these are still remembered by those who ate them!
• Lemon Meringue Pie - I've made this a few times now, I've even branched out into muffin size ones, a never-fail YUM!
• Rich Chocolate Truffle Pie - Happiness is this
• Chocolate Meringue Pie 
• White Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies - Not as white as it should have been thanks to the cherries but still yum!
• Rhubarb Pie 
• Swiss Rolls For all my fears of this, I have to say it wasn't so bad after all
• Key Lime Pie - Again I blame the LMP...

Fun Stuff

• White Chocolate Peppermint Bark - Nothing says Christmas quite like it
• Rudolf Tartlets 
• Cream Cheese Penguins 

EXTRAS!

Over the year I found a few other things that seemed list worthy so I added those on, here they are

• Beef and Guinness Pie - Yum
• Honeycomb Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake - As someone who doesn't love cheesecake, this was still really good!
• Orange and Poppyseed muffins - Best muffins I've ever made
• Sushi - Another thing that's become semi-regular in our house!

What next...

I still have a few things that need my attention, but here's a new list with a whole lot more added on (you can see I have left on the stuff I still haven't made from last year). I also own a slow cooker now, so I think as I experiment with that I will be sharing a bit more...

Meals

• Egg Rolls - I think I may have just forgotten about these... I will get there I promise!
• Asian Style Beef Pot Roast
• Honey Lime Tilapia
• Chilli Jam Chicken
• Honey Chicken
• Chicken and Asparagus Risotto
• Mustard Pork with Roasted Pears
• Proscuitto and Eggplant Bake
• Potato and Spinach Frittata
• Balsamic Roast Vegetables
• Broccoli Bake
• Veggie Burger

Breads

• Sourdough - I haven't braved this yet, give me time I'll get there I promise!
• English Muffins - I cheated and bought these when I made eggs benedict, I will make them though
• Crumpets - I've avoided this as I just don't know that they'll live up to my childhood memories of crumpets
• Peshwari Naan - Without a tandoor oven this will never work out as well as I would hope for but it stays on the list
• Focaccia
• Zucchini Bread
• Easter Bread
• Pumpkin Bread
• Herb and Garlic Pull-apart

Desserts

• Chocolate Meringue Pie - I haven't got to this, I got distracted by mini LMP's... It's coming though
• Rhubarb Pie - I'm still on the hunt for rhubarb (I've seen it a few times but never when I've had time to make a pie)
• Key Lime Pie - Again I blame the LMP...
• Pear Tarte Tatin

Fun Stuff

• Rudolf Tartlets - I was away at Christmas time, I will have to try again this year
• Cream Cheese Penguins - Anyone having an Antarctica Party soon?
• Piñata Cookies

What else is there that I've forgotten? Ideas/suggestions are more than welcome!

My Kitchen Bucket List

I'm having a "stay-at-home" weekend right now and for anyone who knows me, knows that this will equate to kitchen time. I love my kitchen, I'm by no means a whizz in it, but I like trying out new recipes. Having lived in Singapore for the 2 years before moving here I was exposed to some amazing food and well quite frankly, I miss it! So, I scour the internet looking for something that sounds vaguely like something I once ate, or somedays I type a few ingredients into google and see what comes out, oh and my other trick, flicking through my bookmarked recipes and seeing what interesting stuff is linked off those. 

The result: A fairly varied list of recipes that "one day" I am going to try my hand at. The list is not final, I'll come back to it as time goes by add more things that I find, or you can set me a challenge. Some of the items on this list already have been set to me as a challenge by my friends/family and I like a challenge so feel free to suggest something and I'll give it a go.

Meals

• Roast Turkey (I’ve never cooked a turkey before, those memories of my mother getting up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning and the tension in the kitchen that day has always scared me and made me think I wouldn’t succeed)
• Yorkshire Pudding (My Mum is from Yorkshire and I feel like I should be genetically programmed to be able to cook these)
• Baked Beans (I don’t actually like these but Rory does so I feel I owe it to him to give it a go)
• Steamed Pork Buns (I loved these when I was in Singapore, they’re not easy to make though, so they’ve been saved in my bookmark folder for a while now)
• Egg Rolls (I have made these using rice paper as I can’t get the proper casing here, but if I can make dumpling dough surely I can make this too…)
• Massaman Beef (Rory likes my attempt at cooking Indian so he figures I shouldn’t go too far wrong with this)
• Eggs Benedict (Rory loves these too)
• Thai Green Curry (My favourite...)
• Vegetarian Lasagne (The pressure is on with this one, Rory has high standards when it comes to Vegetarian lasagnes...)
• Mexican Lasagne (see above)
• Spinnach and Ricotta Pastries (Yummmmm)
• Tandoori Salmon (Two of my favourite things in one dish, how can you go wrong?)

Breads

• Sourdough (I have a breadmaker now but I feel like this is the kind of thing I need to make by hand…)
• Braided Fruit Loaf (I adore bread and it’s hard to come across good bread in Bogotá without paying a fortune so I am determined to succeed at my own varieties)
• Spinach and Ricotta Pull Apart Loaf (A favourite from home that no one here makes…)
• Tattie Scones (A request from Rory, not necessarily hard to make just not something we bother to do)
• English Muffins (You can't have Eggs Benedict without them...)
• Crumpets (I love these more than words)
• Peshwari Naan (If I succeed at this Rory might never ask me to make anything else ever again)

Desserts

• Irish Car Bomb Cup Cakes (I found this recipe this morning and it was from that site that I then built my bucket list idea)
• Lemon Meringue Pie (Kathryn and I were discussing this at work the other day and she told me I should give it a try, so here it is on the list… It’ll be one that has to wait until we have yellow lemons in the supermarket again)
• Rich Chocolate Truffle Pie (I love chocolate ‘nuff said?)
• Chocolate Meringue Pie (see note above)
• White Chocolate, Cherry and Almond Brownies (I think I found this while searching for nice Christmas cooking ideas so we’ll give it a go) 
• Rhubarb Pie (I'm concerned about this one as I don't know I've seen Rhubarb here, but hey)
• Swiss Rolls (I'm petrified of this, every time I think of it I see cake crumbs all over my bench)
• Key Lime Pie (Rory has never eaten it but when I asked him if he had any requests this is what he came up with, best part of that is that even if I mess it up, he won't know)

Fun Stuff

• White Chocolate Peppermint Bark (What did I say about loving chocolate earlier… add mint and I am in heaven!)
• Rudolf Tartlets (Chocolate…)
• Cream Cheese Penguins (These are too cute, how can you not want to make them…)