Culinary Bucket List

We frequently talk about all the cool food-related things we’d love to do some day… but we never thought to write them down! Here’s to hoping that writing out this list will encourage us to actually accomplish some of these things! {You have to have a list before you can cross things off of it…}

1. Eat at a Michelin 1, 2, and 3 star restaurant.

   • We’ve crossed a 1 star restaurant off the list with Metamorfosi in Rome, Italy. If this is what gets you 1 star, we may die of sheer bliss at the 2 and 3 starred places.

2. Host a formal dinner party.

3. Make soup dumplings from scratch.

4. Taste wine in the following places:

   • Bordeaux, France

   • Burgundy, France

   • Tuscany, Italy

   • Napa Valley, USA

5. Prepare an entire Thanksgiving feast.

   • Not quite there yet, but we did make Thanksgiving Stuffing & Pretzel Bun Stuffing

6. Stop buying pasta. Make it from scratch.

   • (Almost) never again. See: Homemade Pasta Carbonara, Pappardelle with Braised Ragu, Cacio e Pepe, Golden Goat Pasta, Prosciutto & Basil Topped Lemon Ricotta Pappardelle, Pasta with Clams & Sausage

7. Shuck our own oysters.

   

8. Conquer my great-grandmother’s famous Sour Beef recipe.

9. Figure out how the Italians’ make pasta cacio e pepe a million times better than we can. Also, master that twirling the pasta at the table trick.

   • Still haven’t quite figured out the twirling of the pasta, but the recipe is pretty good – Cacio e Pepe

10. Host a vertical wine tasting with friends.

11. Grow our own herbs and actually use them.

    

12. Make ice cream at home.

13. Eat a lobster roll in Maine.

    

14. Bake homemade donuts.

15. Bake homemade bagels.

    • Do bagel chips count? No, probably not…

16. Bake homemade soft pretzels.

17. Bake challah.

    • Not as hard as I thought! Challah

18. And naan.

19. Sample street food everywhere we go around the world! (Also, go everywhere around the world!)

    • Simit & roasted chestnuts in Istanbul
    • Pizza al taglio in Rome

20.  Flambé something.

21. Make gravy from from scratch that tastes almost as good as my grandmothers’.

22. Perfectly sear scallops.

23. Roast a goose.

24. And a duck.

25. Have a signature dish.

    • We might just have one: Homemade Pasta Carbonara
    • Add a second signature dish to the list: Selim’s Cream Biscuits
    • And a third? Crispy Duck Legs

26. Make churros.

27. Hand roll dolmas.

28. Hand roll sushi.

29. Make the trifecta of Chinese soups: Wonton, Hot & Sour, and Egg Drop.

30. Celebrate world-wide holidays with traditional foods.

    • Started out with the American South’s lucky New Years dish – Hearty Hoppin’ John
    • Check out our 2017 Hanukkah feast – we made Potato Latkes, Wine & Honey Brisket, & Chocolate Rugelach
    • On St. Patrick’s Day 2018, we made our version of a traditional Irish dish – Our Dublin Coddle
    • In honor of Nowruz – Persian Spiced Lentil Soup
    • How about some Homemade Margaritas (Two Recipes!) for Cinco de Mayo??
    • We celebrated Carnival in 2019 with Cypriot Carnival Bourekia
    • Seven Vegetable Couscous for Rosh Hashanah 2020 (and to honor RBG)

31. Also, celebrate random food-related holidays.

    • Hummus Egg Salad during National Egg Salad Week
    • We honored World Food Day 2017 with Syrian Mini Meatballs (Dawood Basha)
    • Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup [National Slow Cooker Month AND National Soup Month!]
    • It’s easy to celebrate National Peach Month in August – like with this Peach & Burrata Salad
    • October is National Apple Month and National Dessert Month – check and check with this perfect-for-fall Apple Cinnamon Galette
    • For Mac n Cheese Day 2019, we made Corn Cacio e Pepe

32. Make our own sausage at home.

33. Embrace baking.

    • Still a work in progress, but check out our efforts so far: Challah, Savory Casserole Bread, Spiced Blueberry Pie, Cinnamon Buns, Garam Masala Spiced Lemon Loaf, Strawberry Streusel Bars, Pumpkin Roll, Chocolate Rugelach, Dinner Rolls, Lemon-Lime Ricotta Cookies, Apple Cinnamon Galette, Cheese & Herb Monkey Bread, Lemon Blueberry Skillet Cake, Lemon Blueberry Muffins, Chocolate Cupcakes with Rosewater Cream, Salted Maple Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Chip Bread, Cream Biscuits, Berry Pavlova with Chocolate Drizzle, Banana Chip Muffins, THE Chocolate Chip Cookies, Mini Clementine Cakes

34. Make traditional Turkish manti.

    • We did it! Turkish Manti

35. Copy Selim’s dad’s spaetzle.

36. Become such frequent patrons of a restaurant that staff greets us by name.

    • Does takeout count? We became pandemic life takeout regulars at Billy Pie.

37. Make baklava from scratch.

    • Baklava, yum!
    • A Southern twist on baklava

38. Continue to make and share family recipes.

    • My Aunt Bobbie’s Dinner Rolls & Cinnamon Buns
    • On of my favorite childhood dinners – Meatloaf with Beef-Onion Gravy
    • Aunt Townley’s Herbed Shrimp Pasta Salad
    • Aunt Ann’s Pinch of Crab Egg Dip
    • Aunt Lori’s Baked Brie with Caramelized Onion Chutney
    • Mom’s Roasted Potatoes, a simple and classic side dish for almost any meal
    • Muzzie’s Dip – the family favorite
    • Aunt Townley’s White Bean & Tiny Pasta Soup

39. Join a local farm and/or frequent the local farmers’ markets and create dishes based on what’s local & seasonal.

    • Spur of the moment purchase of pineapple tomatillos led to Chunky Pineapple Tomatillo Salsa
    • Our first adventure with garlic scapes was easy and delicious: Garlic Scape Compound Butter

40. Stop avoiding recipes out of fear of failure.

    • First attempt at empanadas came out pretty well! – Baked Beef Empanadas
    • We successfully made Southern Fried Chicken!!
    • Still a little terrified of deep frying things, but Shrimp Beignets were a success too!
    • A few months later, still scared of deep frying things, but we tried again: Cypriot Carnival Bourekia
    • See #34 – Turkish Manti
    • We bought a wok and are learning how to stir-fry! Our first attempt was Stir-Fried Ginger Broccoli
    • Why is duck such an intimidating protein? Is it just us? Our first attempt came out AMAZING: Crispy Duck Legs

41. Cook with new-to-us ingredients!

    • We love Aleppo pepper, but it was once new to us – Muhammara
    • First time using loomi or dried lime – Bahraini Chicken Machboos
    • Cooking Indian-ish for October 2019’s Cookbook Club, we bought several new Indian spices to try!
      • Indian-ish Chicken Breasts – amchur powder
      • Chaat Masala Smashed Potatoes – chaat masala
    • We used fresh curry leaves for the first time with Potatoes Vindaloo
    • The first time garlic scapes came in our Farm Share, we made Garlic Scape Compound Butter