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I’ve been tagged by Ed over at Tomato for my first ever meme - Five Food Challenges for 2006. It is good to set some goals for the year. So here they are!

1. Cinnamon Buns
My mission in 2006 is to replicate the amazingly delectable cinnamon buns I was lucky enough to consume when I was in Vancounver, Canada. Solly’s is a small bakery that supplies Jewish delights such as bagels, noshes and schmears. Their crowning glory, in my opinion, would have to be their ooey gooey cinnamon buns.

I had ventured out of the CBD to visit a specialist travel book shop to pick up a new travel guide. The snow was falling ever so gently around me when the heady aroma of yeasty cinnamon goodness hit me like a ten tonne truck. I literally followed my nose - which I soon found was pressed against the steamy window of Solly’s. These buns are seriously the eighth wonder of the modern world. I think the dough is danish/brioche, with scrolls so finely worked to be as thin as a sheet of pasta. Each layer is sandwiched with a buttery/cinnamony gloop that caramelises on the outside during baking, but stays deleriously moist on the inside. There is the option of cream cheese frosting, but being a purist I find this somewhat sacrilegious. It must be consumed as crafted, and it must be ooeily gooeily warm. If I can crack the recipe I’ll be an extremely happy girl!

2. Mole Sauce
Mole is essentially a red chilli sauce from Mexico. It is thickened and enriched with nuts, seeds, fruits, tomatillos, bread, chocolate and various spices. I became addicted to it once again on my travels, and am yet to find a great mole in Melbourne (although I’ve heard whispers that a restaurant called Los Amates is meant to do a rather good version). The sauce has an amazingly long list of ingredients and the preparation is very involved. It is usually served with chicken, but can be used with seafood, pork and even vegetables. It may be difficult to source some of the ingredients, but that is half the fun!

3. Jam
I have never attempted to put fruit and sugar into a pan to make jam. And I love jam - whether it is pure on a slice of toasted sour dough, on scones with whipped cream, or partnered with peanut butter on a toasted bagel. Yum! So this year I would like to have a crack at a few different batches. Actually I should get cracking on this considering so much amazingly wonderful fruit is in season (and cheap!).

4. Sour Dough Bread
I have been inspired by quite a few blogs / recipe books of late to attempt making my own sour dough bread. From what I understand this is somewhat akin to rearing a child, and one must feed, burp and talk to the sour dough starter. Some even go so far as to name their growing little prodigy. Perhaps I’ll nickname mine “Little Johnny”.

5. Everything Else
I guess 2006 is going to be a huge cooking year for me. I will be learning many wonderful new things / techniques. I’m leaving number 5 blank for everything that I will learn and hopefully share on this blog.

Written by mellie on January 24th, 2006 | Tags: meme | Category: Uncategorized |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL