Let’s take a look back at the year in food, shall we? Here are just a few of my favorite links from 2009. 

It was destined centuries ago that 2009 would be the Year of the Ox, but you could have fooled me. Another four-legged animal seemed to dominate – in fact, the same one that dominated 2008. Pig was everywhere. 2008 was also a good year for pigs, but the animal’s staying power seems almost herculean. I mean, swine flu? Though they say you can’t catch H1N1 from pigs, the unfortunate naming of the influenza strain didn’t ease our demand one bit. We still love bacon. Long live. 

When this 2006 NY times story ran about Amazon.com selling Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 gallon, 128 fl. oz, there were a few hundred comments on Amazon. Flash forward three years, and the comments have steadily grown to more than 1,100. (For those keeping track, Tuscan milk is the OG, coming way before this year’s Three Wolf Moon craze.) What I love? You can waste all kinds of precious time on Amazon reading about how peoples’ lives have changed worldwide over Italian milk. The latest comment is an expertly written poem that echoes of Poe’s “Raven.”: 

“Once upon a mid-day sunny, while I savored Nuts ‘N Honey, 
With my Tuscan Whole Milk, 1 gal, 128 fl. oz., I swore 
As I went on with my lapping, suddenly there came a tapping, 
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at the icebox door. 
‘Bad condensor, that,’ I muttered, ‘vibrating the icebox door - 
Only this, and nothing more.’” Read more here. 

Then there’s Nick from Foodie at Fifteen, who elfed himself into a Christmas hip-hop music video with Eric Ripert, Thomas Keller and Michael Ruhlman. Totally genius. 

Anthony Bourdain writes an Op-Ed piece for the Times, pinpointing 2007 as the year that put food and chefs on the map.

After Conde Nast announced Gourmet’s demise, I kept waiting for somebody — anyone — to announce they  were buying the mag and reviving it from its deathbed. It was wishful thinking on my part, but I’m not alone. Tributes and farewells popped up everywhere, including Thank You Gourmet, a site with sweet memories and tweets about the mag. 

After five years of trying, Adam of The Amateur Gourmet finally scores a reservation to El Bulli. It’s a lively post with all kinds of photos that seat you right at his table. 

Mobile food, paired with Twitter, exploded this year. Here’s hoping 2010 will continue the trend of restaurants bringing the food to us, or at least meeting us halfway. 

And lastly, I’d like to add to Bon Appetit’s Best of 2009 list by saying that this was the season for homemade gifts. Given the economy and the spike in food interest, everyone seemed to be giving homemade delights as gifts. Check out jam and cookies from the Chickenless Kitchen, a slew of Christmas goodies from Naturally Ella, Christina Eats’ chocolate covered pretzels, La Fuji Mama’s chocolate dipped caramels and homemade vanilla extract from the Italian Dish. 

And here are your top picks from my little slice of the Internet. These most-viewed posts on Furey & the Feast have a lot to do with brulee-ing and satisfying those sweet cravings. Starting in 2010, I’ll aim to give you a weekly double-dose of F&F, posting twice a week. 

1. Strawberries in bruleed marshmallow creme
2. A memory, bruleed
3. Bread pudding with chocolate and cinnamon
4. Like Home (Nutella brownies)
5. Gimme S’more (s’mores cupcakes)
6. Chocolate pots de creme, chocolate mousse
7. A Viet Hapa tackles (authentic) Vietnamese pho
8. Go for Croque
9. March Madness: Taylor’s Refresher
10. Green, velvety bliss

A safe and happy new year to all!

– Cynthia Furey

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon Drop In & Decorate, a fantastic concept dreamed up by Rhode Island-based food writer Lydia Walshin. The idea is that you have a party and set up a station for people to decorate cookies for the charity of your choice.

So I had a Christmas potluck last weekend with Drop In & Decorate as a focus. I supplied the booze and blank-canvas cookies, and my friends each brought a dish and their labor. As you can see from these photos, I’ve got some pretty talented friends — all whom have steady decorating hands and imagination to boot. There was a whole smorgasbord of royal icing, sprinkles and edible spray colors. All in all, 30 people dropped in to decorate 120 cookies (and, you know, to eat and booze it up).

Our charity of choice was the Ronald McDonald Family Room and House in Orange, Calif. The programs put in place at the family room and house allow for families to stay close to their children who are undergoing treatment at the hospital, which is just across the street. Some of these children are in there for weeks, and the House acts as a second home to their families.

The cookies would be served at a Christmas party the House was throwing for current and past families who’ve stayed with them over the years. Thanks to my friends who came to my potluck to spread some Christmas cheer to these families. If you’re thinking about throwing your own event, visit this link. It’ll tell you everything you need to know.

Hope you all had a great Christmas, and that the warm fuzzies and love continue on into the New Year!

– Cynthia Furey

I have in my kitchen what one local chef tells me is “the kiss of death.”

“An electric range?” she asks. “How do you ever get anything done with one of those contraptions?”

Well, I told her, it’s getting easier. But it’s still an uphill battle.

Moving from my previous apartment meant leaving the luxury and reliable power of gas, where everything cooked evenly and the oven temperature was always spot-on. What a dream that was.

Now I’ve got this shifty nightmare with hardened coils in place of those glowing rings of blue flames.

Simple tasks, like using the broiler to brown things like garlic bread and Croque Monsieur, are super tricky. This broiler gets points for reaching temperature at the drop of a hat, yet it’s one hell of an overachiever, blackening everything in its path within a matter of seconds. How odd that the familiar scent of garlic, butter and bread turns to that other familiar odor of char and carbon the minute you turn your back to the stove. Kiss of death, indeed.

This is why I say thank goodness for blowtorches.

Though one can toast garlic bread without a broiler under normal oven settings, the drama of literally taking matters into your own hands is kind of therapeutic when your counter is lined with pans of blackened oblong shadows of the meal accompaniments they once were.

A blowtorch means angry flames shooting out of your fingertips to match the anger in your heart every time you pull a charred one from the broiler. It means victory.

So maybe I’m not skilled enough for the technology of an electric range yet, and maybe I have a bit of an inner pyro. But despite the kiss of death, I do have my garlic bread. (Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for recipe.) (more…)