Happy New Year!!

Wishing everyone around the foodie world a happy 2008. I encourage all of you to set five food/drink challenges to complete this year. Mine are:

1. Make espresso-based drinks as good as the coffee houses - I want to be able to make lattes without spending $3 each time and without leaving my house.

2. Make Baked Alaska - I have made one before, but that was...3 years ago?

3. Eat something new - Let's see, in 2007 I've eaten kangaroo, springbok, and goat.

4. Bake a pie from scratch - That includes the dough crust.

5. Bake biscotti - I may be Italian, but I've never made biscotti.

A big thank you goes out to Marye of Kettle and Cup because I won her big giveaway. Not only do I get some of her custom-made coffee, I also get a few of her favorite things.

Also, I'm going to be a bridesmaid in January 2009, and I agreed to bake cookies for the wedding to cut down on catering costs. I'll find out for sure later how many people will be attending, but I'm thinking 80-100 people. I have one year to gather my cookie recipes. Preferably ones without nuts because I don't know who has food allergies. I'm thinking one tray of basic cookies such as chocolate chip, oatmeal, sugar, snickerdoodles, etc. and one tray of fancy cookies. If I need a third tray, then maybe I'll do a nut tray so I can include peanut butter. What do you think I should make for the wedding?

And I love Michael Symon as the new Iron Chef, but damn he laughs too much. I'd love to meet him. And everyone else on Food Network, even the runner-ups in The Next Iron Chef and The Next Food Network Star.