A New Year’s Smackerel

Hello, friends, and Happy New Year–January 4, to be precise.  I trust your holidays were lovely. Ours were.

The first of the year is the traditional time to Take Stock and set some goals, to close one chapter (or book) and open another.  I have never been a big one for resolutions. I can recall that a friend of a friend used to host a New Year’s Party and as part of the festivities, everyone was asked to write down their resolutions and then share them with everyone else at the party. Further, they would contact all the Party-Goers every quarter to remind them of their resolutions so they could Take Stock and Adjust as Necessary. Really?! Downer, right?  More like a shareholders’ meeting than a party.  Not festive at all.  Decidedly disgruntled, I Refused to participate on the grounds that any resolutions that I Might make were nobody else’s business, and I didn’t need a group of (subdued) revelers to Hold me Accountable.

Let’s just say that that particular tradition faded quietly away.

So, I don’t have any resolutions to share with you. I do have some Items to share, however.

Item 1: since I felt all Give-y last month and ended up giving away a Chemex coffee maker, some wee prep bowls, my favorite hot sauce and a kitchen scale, I have decided that I shall be Give-y at least once a month.  Some stuff I may give away, as Enumerated by some facebook fans: Microplanes, offset spatulas, Useful Gadgetry, Silpats, Keen ingredients, more scales, thermometers and whatever else seems Fun.

Item 2: I haven’t made any videos in awhile, but I think they are a Useful Tool, especially for visual learners.  If you have any ideas for instructional videos, let me know. Nothing too specific–I’m not going to make a video on how to make a coconut cake with lemon curd filling and coconut cream frosting. But I will be happy to make one on how to make fruit curd or even on how to frost a cake, if you want.

Item 3: With every post, tweet, status update, email, video and Interaction, my intention will always be to help, to teach, to support.  And maybe to be funny.  But never to be mean.  I will never make you feel dumb because you ask a question.  I will never get all Snobby on you. I won’t ever be that Overblown Food Blogger who makes you think you can’t Possibly make the Awesome stuff that I make. You guys should just know that.  So, please, ask questions–I’m here to be a teacher and a friend, not some kind of Weird Pastry Oracle.

Item 4: My fundraiser for Johnston County Animal Protection League is ongoing. There’s a button for donating over in my side bar, if you’re feeling give-y.

Okay, so that’s that. And now, I want to share with you the Smackerel that The Beloved and I shared on New Year’s Night.  Easy, tasty and–Bonus–on Sticks!

 The components: cubes o’ bread, cheese, sticks. Oh, and fire.

  And if we’re gonna play with fire, we’d better go outside…

 Bread on stick, stick in fire.

 Add a dab of goat cheese or a wee slice of havarti.
Back into the fire. Or not. Put in face.

What better way to spend the first evening of the new year,
and what better company?

And that does it. If you’ve never put Bread in Fire, you really should. And then smear it with cheese. It was rather Heavenly. Take care, and have a lovely day.

The post A New Year’s Smackerel appeared first on Pastry Chef Online.