Yucca Pun Intended Last Letter and Ingredient of the Year

My final challenge of the year was yucca.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to really figure out what to do with it and with back to back business trips after Thanksgiving, it made it increasingly difficult to put the yucca on the plate.

I wasn't able to get a picture of the boyfriend's plate before he started eating this less-starch like root vegetable and so to that, picture unavailable.  I sauteed the yucca in some butter and salted it.  To add a little bit of flavor and color, I added some turmeric.

The results were well, tolerable on my end but the boyfriend liked it.  I'm almost starting to think he's being a bit too generous in likes this year.

As a result, it made picking our top dishes of the year rather difficult.

In the year 2013, I set out to do 52 different ingredients for each week of the year.  With the number of issues we faced, the boyfriend's apartment getting remodeled due to mold and a quick move, and new job of mine having to travel virtually every other week, we completed 34 of the 52 ingredients.  We narrowed it down to our top 10.

Want to know what our top 10 were? Well, that's a going to be for another blog to close our the year in style and to help us ease into a new challenge for 2014.  The theme of 2014 will be reveled at that point too.

Meanwhile, my final challenge of the year: cooking a belated Christmas lunch/dinner for my parents.

Eggnog is an Egg Not

Southern Style Eggnog from the American Women's Cookbook 1938

Thanksgiving came and went after getting back from a business trip and I found myself with the challenge of preparing Eggnog.

I have never been a fan of eggnog but since it was part of the challenge, I had to make it.  I found a recipe out of one of my vintage cookbooks (The American Women's Cookbook) that I thought I'd experiment with and to say I actually have used my investment in American culture.

That's one thing I have learned about American culture that I can truly appreciate.  There are many things but this is one of the things that I really value.

I'm an avid reader and when it comes to reading about this hobby of mine, I am overwhelmed with the amount of information that is out there.  I am also amazed at how much of the American culture is overwhelmed with the release of food trends.

In any event, written record is a great way to get an indepth look at a past culture.  I couldn't say the same of my Indonesian roots so any time I see a book designated specifically for Indonesian cooking, I'm in, but for now my shelves are filling up with American and various other cookbooks.

Blast from the past. The result of the eggnog round one was a lot better than the round two I tried to prepare for the boyfriend's brother's in-laws.  We all determined it was a bit too egg-y and too much brandy.  I also told the boyfriend I don't intend to make eggnog again due to the stress involved.  Separating eggs just ever so slightly only to get them to come back together, eh, not exactly the most least-stress involved recipe.