2018 - A Look Back

2018 was not a good year for the universe, but for me personally, it was pretty darn great. I didn't update on here as much as I intended. I could have at least 2 epic posts about my honeymoon alone! Alas...

I do want to use this space more often. I think the past few years I have just gotten overwhelmed whenever I start planning a post. In 2019 I will keep it casual, make the posts more newsletter-like. Updates on what I'm eating, what I'm reading, what I'm we're cooking. There will be recipes, of course, but not every week like I did for years on this blog.

But first, a look back at 2018. Probably the most major thing that happened was that I married my best friend. We had a magical brunch-themed ceremony and party for our friends and family. I did manage to make a post about it: Check it out if you haven't already.

A month after the wedding, we took the honeymoon of our dreams: a culinary adventure to Paris and San Sebastian, Spain. So much cheese, bread, pintxos, ham and and and and... yeah, too much to fit into one blog post. But, here are some photos to give you an idea of how spoiled I am now:

In Paris, there was pretty much cheese with every meal.

I had a list of places in Paris that Julia Child frequented.
Here is my husband enjoying some prose at
Shakespeare and Company!

Ice Cream at Berthillon and a typical Paris street scene.
What a beautiful city!

Our first priority in San Sebastian (besides replacing our
lost umbrellas... it was rainy season) was HAM.
I have never had ham so good. Will I again? God, I hope so.

We took a high-speed train from Paris to
San Sebastian. We had the most cutest AirBnB
with a gorgeous view of Zurriola beach. Our first
morning we assembled a brunch from wine and
cheese we brought from Paris and ham we
picked up at a market in San Sebastian. Heaven.

Another pic of our AirBnB view. There was a
bar downstairs that had some local Basque beers!

So yeah, that happened, and maybe one of these days I'll find the stamina to do proper full posts about it. If not, just know that you should definitely go to Paris and San Sebastian if you ever have the opportunity.

I didn't do as much writing in 2018, but I did do much more reading. I made one post here about all of the food history books I read. I've read loads of other food related books, also, and have some posts in mind for those, too. Stay tuned. I plan to keep reading, and also to utilize my cookbooks more. Like, actually cook out of them. I got this one for Christmas and I am stoked about it: 

2018 was also the year of the cheese board. I love love love making a pretty spread of snacks and cheese. One of my resolutions in 2019 is to convince my husband that a cheeseboard counts as a meal. Here are some I've made:

Just for me! A solo dinner doesn't have to be boring.
Make yourself something colorful and fancy on an
ordinary night!

This was for a Halloween craft night. It's supposed to be a
jack-o-lantern but it looks more like Winnie the pooh :)

In the summer, we eat all the tomatoes and basil.

Classy date night cheese plate with some French goat cheeses.

A clean out the fridge snack board.

In 2018, I also stepped up my Christmas tree game. We had a kitchen-themed tree and I am so effing giddy with how it turned out. I spent a couple months prior hitting up thrift stores, antique malls and my Mother-in-law's cabinets to find cute kitchen utensils. Look at this gorgeous baby!

Tiny cleaver!

Oh and that baby colander and cute teal tongs
were from the dollar store.

I painted some of the wooden parts with teal and red acrylic
paint and sprayed them with food-safe shellac so I can
still use them if I want. That's my favorite part of this tree...
all the ornaments are functional year-round!

Well, that's about it (not really, there were lots of yummies and adventures and such I could have written about in 2018, but I'm trying to keep things under control here). Looking forward to 2019. Hope yours is delicious. Cheers!