Wrapped up with a Bow

Posted on by

Let me wrap up for you what this first year of the Parsley-Lane Blog has brought me.

It has been a full and interesting year on this path with you, and I have learned a lot.

First of all, I was amazed at the vast universe of ingredients and flavors out there. I mean, I’ve always been inventive with my food experiments (I was once banned from the kitchen as a kid for baking buns with cooked rice…). But once you really start exploring, the only limits are what makes you feel satiated and avoiding potential food waste. I still really dislike the latter, so never throw away food that is still edible.

Second, food is not a product, it is a journey. If you are looking for ways to maximize the good feeling in your stomach with a minimum investment of time and money, you will inevitably look at cooking from a different perspective. Of course, our food budget is as limited as that of any family or person. So is the time I have to shop, cook and clean up. And my refrigerator is not infinite, it has normal dimensions. So in order to fit all that in, I had to find a way to optimize things. I did that mainly by putting variability of ingredients and dishes as well food waste prevention at the top of my list. Then comes inventiveness. I do not want to be the person who tells you about the thousandth version of a dish. Instead, I try to create modular recipes that work for different situations in everyone’s life. Because food is an important part of our lives and our culture.

This brings me to my third discovery: I realized that everything to do with culture, shared traditions, holidays, celebrations etc. is somehow connected to cake. Which convinced me that there can never be a discussion about the value of cake. Maybe about the nutritional density of a particular dish called ‘cake’. But that is another story I might get to later.

Concerning my favorite ingredients for this year, of course there would have to be the classics:

  1. Apple pulp, because it is just so versatile (for background, see [‘The Apple Pulp Connection‘])
  2. Banana – the most elegant way to fill an open oval shape with a colorful replacement (for details see [‘NoegkX – no Fun‘] and [‘Don’t Freeze Those Eggs‘])
  3. Hoccaido pumpkin: I love these orange balls, you can make them into any kind of dish: soup, sauce, cake or dessert (search the term ‘hoccaido’ or ‘pumpkin’ on this blog and you will see how).

And there are new (re)discoveries when it comes to more excellent ingredients:

  1. Millet – there is a reason why 2023 has been declared the year of millet (for more information, see the [‘InfoByteSized‘] page under ‘M’).
  2. Bear’s Garlic – it tastes like a cross between garlic and chives, but is so much easier to use (there will be an ingredient special on Bear’s Garlic at the end of March 2024).
  3. Sweet Potato – I have definitely fallen in love with this one. It works just as versatile as the Hoccaido Pumpkin (you can even pair them). And they are obviously good for a long and healthy life (more on this in [‘A Helping of Happiness‘] and the background given on the [‘InfoByteSized‘] page under ‘H’).

But if you inquired about my favorite recipe of the year, I would have to pass. I try to be very fair here and not put one before the other. Working on the [‘Lake Trail‘] was definitely very fascinating, though. It’s one of the reasons why I’m going to be looking at other food cultures more in the future.

So that’s it for 2023 on the Parsley-Lane Blog. I hope you will join me next year for more expeditions into the uncharted territory of mindful eating and good food.

Side Notes:

  • I have nothing more to add to this except to wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!