Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

I have a tendency to get into a little bit of a funk in January. The holidays are long gone, the weather is rainy and dreary, and it makes me want to hibernate in my little shack with a warm fire until February comes along. During this month I definitely need a bit of inspiration to get me off the couch and get my creative juices flowing again. Luckily, I received some new cookbooks for Christmas, and inspiration is not so hard to find in this stack of loveliness:
Oh how I love me some new cookbooks. I can't wait to read them all the way through when I first get them, and mentally pick out dishes that I'm dying to try. I even like to read the recipes in bed before I go to sleep, thumbing through the pages until I can no longer keep my eyes open. Unfortunately as much as I love reading and gathering ideas from cookbooks, I am horrible at actually going back to those books on a regular basis and making new recipes out of them. I think it has something to do with the onslaught of cooking magazines I receive each month, when I tear out the glossy pages and place them in a folder that is always overflowing and easily accessible. Instead of reaching for a cookbook, I tend to reach for that folder instead. Not to mention the recipes I get inspired from off of other blogs and cooking websites. With all those other forms of cooking inspiration, I forget about the books that are tucked away in my cupboard, begging to be opened and used.

So I made a pact with myself after obtaining the most recent additions of cookbooks, that I would cook at least one recipe out of each book in the next couple of weeks, and make sure that they don't get put away before that happens. Which is how this delicious bowl of shaved Brussels sprouts with egg, almonds, and a citrus vinaigrette appeared in my kitchen.

Carrot Soup with Dungeness Crab

While I was growing up, having cracked crab for dinner was always a special meal. My family and I would sit around the table, silent at times while we concentrated on getting the precious meat out of its shell, dipping our treasures in melted butter. And yes, maybe it has something to do with the melted butter, but that's still my favorite way to enjoy crab. In fact, it's kind of difficult for me to eat it any other way. I'm so used to eating it straight from the shell that making a pile of it and waiting to consume it just goes against my very nature.

So to go against my typical crab eating style, it would have to be for a darn good reason. And this soup just happened to be it. I absolutely adore creamy vegetable soups, and the idea of topping one with a pile of freshly cracked crab seemed too delicious to pass up. And I was right. The combination of the warm and creamy carrot soup with the coolness of the fresh crab is a wonderful combination. The addition of lemon juice adds a wonderful acidity that cuts through the sweetness of the carrots, and there's never anything wrong with a sprinkling of fresh chives.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Last night John and I hosted a dinner party to ring in 2010. The food was good, the company was great, and the bubbly was flowing (as evidenced by my headache and greasy burger cravings today).

While I think I was a pretty good hostess, I was a horrible photographer, so I'll be adding pictures as I poach them from friends' Facebook albums in the coming weeks.

Here was our menu:
Crostini with pesto and parmesan cheese
Mixed greens with apple, walnut, and red wine vinaigrette
Braised beef short ribs
Parmesan risotto
A "wintry mix" of roasted vegetables
Vanilla roasted pears with maple ice cream and wet walnuts