Hello 2015!

A new year is upon us and once again I'm dusting off the old blog and attempting to give it another go. I continue to impress myself and others with my food creations and it just seems selfish not to share it with the masses. Also, slightly selfishly, this is going to be a huge year and it deserves to be documented.

2015 is the year I finally take the plunge into 30. I'm not gonna lie, I've been dreading/fearing this birthday for years now, pretty much since I hit 25. Every year on my birthday I'm pseudo-hysterical about inching another year closer to the big 3-0 (and my younger sister's verbal taunts do nothing to help matters). As last year crept to a close, however, I began to make my peace with the impending birthday, and dare I say it, even look forward it. 

What brought about this sudden change? I think the real turning point was marathon day. Being the Type-A person that I am, I set a slew of pre-30 goals for myself back in my early 20s. These ran the gamut from graduating from law school to hitting a certain salary at work. One by one, they were checked off until the only remaining goal was running my first marathon. 

I'd been putting the whole marathon thing off for years, even registering twice for the Marine Corps Marathon, only to defer at the last minute. I have a love-hate relationship of sorts with running. Some days it's my absolute favorite thing in the world and I feel like I could run forever, while others I just want my run to be over sooner rather than later. 

Because I hate being hot, summers are my absolute least favorite time to run. This has always made training for an early fall marathon problematic as it requires me to do long runs in August/early September when the sun's heat rays are in their glory. I just can't get on board with that. After surveying some fellow runners, I ultimately decided to sign up for the Richmond Marathon. It took place on November 15th and the weather was perfection (low 30s at race time). Running in the cold brings a huge smile to my face and made 26.2 miles as manageable as possible. 

My favorite part of marathon training was long run Fridays. Watching the sun come up over the water became one of my favorite parts of the week.

Morning of marathon day. I proudly represented my alma mater (the University of Oklahoma) and my adopted homeland (Maryland)

Sister and mother kindly braved the cold and trekked around Richmond to hold up signs for me along the way.

Despite how much pain my body was in, I was in remarkably good spirits in the end

And because I'm back on meat, I celebrated the accomplishment with a delicious beer and an even better burger

As excited as I am to have my first marathon checked off the list, I will not be going down that road again any time soon. 13.1 is a much better fit. So, with my marathon done, I finally feel ready to usher in 30 (I'd be lying if I said I didn't already have a pre-40 list in the works) and shall be spending 2015 doing what I love, running and continuing to perfect my craft of cooking.

Keeping with that theme, Christmas brought with it a slew of new kitchen toys for me. I felt like a kid again! One of my favorite new toys was a complete surprise and has taken my cooking to a whole new level. I was gifted (actually, surprised with) a crème brûlée torch. My parents were terrified of me being left alone with a flaming torch [full disclaimer, I've never burnt anything down or caused a kitchen fire, so the fear was slightly irrational], so I vowed, at least for the first time, to use it in the presence of an assistance not named Baxter the Australian Shepherd. 

Saturday was the big day. With the help of one of my favorite Food Network chefs I found the perfect recipe and culminated date night with my first attempt at crème brûlée. It wasn't perfect [which my inner perfectionist is still a little sick about], but it was still good and the firing part was more fun than I could have ever imagined! I dream one day of finding a way to incorporate fire into every meal. Until then, crème brûlée for everyone!!

Crème Brûlée Courtesy of Alton Brown

Ingredients

Original Recipe found at Food Network

• 1 quart heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup raw sugar (this was an edit on my end that created a better texture)
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2 quarts hot water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F and slice and scrape out vanilla bean into a medium saucepan.
2. Add cream to vanilla pulp, as well as the vanilla bean, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. 
3. Once boiling, cover and remove from heat, allowing to sit for 15 minutes. 
4. Remove vanilla bean and reserve for additional use. This site has some great ideas!
5. Meanwhile, whisk together 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and the egg yolks until well blended, then add cream incrementally, stirring continually.
6. Divide liquid among ramekins (7-8 ounces in size) and place ramekins in a cake or roasting pan. 
7. Fill cake/roasting pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
8. Bake approximately 40-45 minutes, until the liquid is set but still trembling in the center.
9. Once finished cooking, remove pan from oven and remove ramekins from pan. 
10. Ramekins should be refrigerated for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days before serving. I refrigerated overnight.  
11. At serving time, top with raw sugar, spreading evenly on top, and torch until melted and crispy on top. Prepare for happy taste buds.