We challenged ourselves to do more recipe creation in 2011, and more importantly, to document our results. Improvisational cooking has never been a challenge for us, but writing recipes that can be shared and recreated was not our strong suit. So we made a list of goals — ways in which we wanted to learn and grow in the kitchen — and challenged ourselves to 3 new recipes per month.
We named it the Cucina Fresca Challenge of 2011. That’s Italian for “fresh kitchen” for those of you keeping track of our fake Italian-isms. With only two months to go, we’re (mostly) on track, and writing our own recipes has been a boon for our kitchens, our tummies, and our taste testers. There have been a few missteps, of course, and a lot of creative scheduling.
As the blog went bi-coastal in the summer of 2011, our recipe planning, and even some of our cooking, became an activity accomplished largely through the power of video chat and other technologies. Still, we roll with the punches, and we think you’ll be pleased with the results.