I can hardly believe my calendar icon says January 3 as I write this, is it really 2011?! The past year was a tremendous time for me, changing my life, embarking on the journey of culinary school, life in the big city, etc. I am confident and excited as this new year kicks off, there is a lot of promise and prospects for me as I begin my career in the food world and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.
The holidays were supposed to mean a quick trip to Florida for me to see my family for Christmas, but as most of you know, the blizzard that shut down New York made a mess of holiday traveling. My flight back to the city on Monday was postponed to Friday (crazy!) and I decided to stay on through new year’s eve to celebrate with my best girlfriends. I unfortunately had to miss two nights of school, but don’t worry, there was plenty of cooking to keep me, and my parent’s kitchen, busy for the week.
Enjoy some tasty photos below from our Christmas day dinner at our dear friend’s Kathy and Steve’s beautiful waterfront home, where we cooked a feast fit for a king. I had the opportunity to whip up my new favorite appetizer—prosciutto, blue cheese, and fig jam wrapped in puff pastry—which I’ve promised to share with you and will be posting later this week. The break also gave me time to work on my menu project for school, where I prepared a 4 course meal inspired by Thomas Keller’s family-style cookbook Ad Hoc at Home. The finished product was all that I could have hoped for, and I’m excited to share the four recipes I prepared with you throughout the week.
I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday and is excited for what’s to come in 2011! Cheers!
Tara O'Keeffe