Your growing edge is the part of you that is still learning, trying new things and experimenting. It’s the area of your life that you are improving and working on. To push my growing edge as a foodie, I wrote a list of foodie tasks I wanted to achieve over the cold months.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring so let’s look at the “To Do” list I wrote at the start of Autumn. I completed 8 out of 13 tasks I set for myself. Not amazing, but an ok first attempt.

I wrote a blog entry on all the tasks I completed and links can be found below.

1. Learn to make Chinese soup.

Done! I shared my recipe for this here.

2. Hold a cheese and red wine tasting party.

Done! Photos of the event as well as the colourful tasting notes on the cheese and wine.

3. Overeat at a steamboat.

Done with pleasure on a cold winter’s night. See here.

4. Get a slow cooker.

This didn’t happen. I did a lot of stovetop slow cooks and braises this winter, but our kitchen is too small for another piece of equipment on the counter. If I find a rice cooker that doubles as a slow cooker, we’ll be cooking!

5. Send The Koala to work with a hot lunch once a week.

The Koala is on the road all day with no access to a fridge or a microwave and this winter, I wanted for him to have a home made hot lunch to take with him.

I bought the Koala this cute red insulated lunch box from Trademe.

This lunch box isn’t water tight (soups and curry will leak out if tipped) and the keeps food only just warm by the time lunch rolls around.

A lukewarm lunch isn’t appealing so the flurry of enthusiasm I began with at the start of winter waned.

If I can find a reasonably priced insulated lunch box before next winter, I will give the weekly hot lunch another try.

The other option I looked at was Mr Bento lunch box which was around $100 at our local Japan store. I thought that was too much to pay for a packed lunch.

6. Make a lasagna.

Done! Evidence here and here.

7. Cook with squid ink.

I really cooked with squid ink instead of using store bought squid ink pasta. It was pretty striking.

8. Have a mid winter feast.

I guess you could count a few meals over winter as a feast, but when I wrote this goal, I imagined an exquisite table laden with hearty pot luck dishes. Perhaps with a Christmas and a Medieval theme. It didn’t happen. There’s always next year.

9. Glaze a ham.

Ham glazed and gobbled over Easter. Yum.

10. Make macadamia and coriander pesto (using garden bounty).

I sowed several coriander seeds at the start of Autumn. They never sprouted. In fact, my whole garden died back over winter.

I’m putting this one back on the list for spring.

11. Make polenta.

I gave polenta whirl but I didn’t like what I did with it. See here.

I did get some great suggestions from you on what to do with the rest of my polenta. I will revisit polenta again sometime. With a better recipe.

12. Make Oysters Kilpatrick.

There was a severe lack of oysters in my life this winter. I’m putting this on the list of things to do this spring.

13. Cook duck.

Blazing success. Divine. See here.

Conclusion…

I really enjoyed ticking stuff off my list this Autumn and Winter and I’m going to start up another list for next season. Spring related foodie things would be cool. It’s a way of forcing myself to do all those foodie things and ask those foodie questions I’ve read about or seen on TV.