Celebrating 1 Year of The Culinary Librarian!

Today marks the 1 Year Anniversary of The Culinary Librarian! 

First and foremost I would like to thank all of you! My readers! It is a complete pleasure to write knowing I have a great audience to read my work. I hope you have enjoyed 12 months of food and photos. May your mouth water for the next 365 days to come! 

In honor of the anniversary I have collected my favorite photos/stories from each month of 2010 for this celebratory post. Some come from blog posts, some from Facebook posts. Enjoy this look back at a year in the life of The Culinary Librarian! 

January

Fallen Chocolate Soufflé Cake

Last year around this time a few of my very good friends went off to my beloved Paris for a visit and since we like parties so much we had a little French-themed send off for them! I provided the dessert-- this decadent (yet very easy to execute!) soufflé cake. Making chocolate soufflés has been one of my favorite things to do since I fell in love with them at my old resto of employment, the now closed Carmine's Restaurant in Albany (replaced with the fantastic Grappa '72). Since I knew individual soufflés to be a breeze, I selected this cake  as the perfect start to a Parisian vacation. I also love the black & white tiles of my old apartment's kitchen and the butcher block that provide a very French background to the rich cake. 

The full post from January 2010: Les Joies du Chocolat-- sans peur!

February

For the Love of Duck

Happy New Year! Let's make 2011 even more delicious than 2010!

I hope you are all resting up and recovering from the past month and week of Holiday celebrations! If you are like me you may be looking forward to 2011 with a list full of resolutions for yourself and a heart full of promise in the newness of a fresh year and a start full of potential!   2011 can be the best year yet should we choose to live with vigor everyday. Let's make another memorable year, a great start to a new decade and an even more delicious 365 days together. 

New Year's always holds an extra layer of promise for me because it is not only a new calendar year for me every January 1st but also a new year in my life as my birthday is also the first of the year. This year I rang in a new beginning with friends at a pre-party at my house then off to a rockin' Black 47 concert just a block away from the hub-bub of Times Square. 

I served some delicious prepared appetizers from Whole Foods but also made mini beef wellington appetizers to add that special taste to the evening. I call these "Poor Girl" beef wellington because I used eye of the round steaks, which is a much much less expensive cut of meat than the traditional filet mignon but has the same shape and limited marbling. Also, phyllo dough is usually less expensive to get than puff pastry. Maybe you will make these for your next special occasion or birthday! Enjoy!

Poor Girl's Mini Beef Wellington Appetizers