Resolved

Man, I am being lazy about photos this year. This is why you'll just have to trust me when I tell you that pita stuffed with eggplant, cucumber, and onion in yogurt sauce is unusually photogenic, for my food (Also, I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: soak raw onion in ice water, changing it once, to make it more palatable and more harmonious with more delicately flavored foods).

One of the reasons I'm being lazy--aside from the fact that school restarts tomorrow and I'm already slightly behind on my homework somehow--is that I feel like I'm in a rut, food-wise. Part of it is that class is getting progressively more intense, and as a result I have less time to cook or experiment with new foods. My inability to bring lunch to class for the last month or so (Who wants leftovers that smell like formaldehyde? What, no takers?), combined with the usual holiday expenses, has also led to some restrictive budget issues. Nevertheless, I shall resolve that for 2011, I shall stray from the usual "pasta with vegetables and some sort of sauce," "soup made of a root vegetable," and "look at me I can make a curry!" paradigm. Foods I hope to make include:

-French lentil and fennel stew (Lentils aren't repetitive at all, no, sir)
-Red wine truffles (need a candy mold...)
-Msemen
-Tempeh of some sort
-Mushroom cakes with red pepper coulis
-Pho
-Gyoza
-Escarole soup
-Popovers
-Dukkah
-Polenta lasagna

Maybe this year I'll find my new "pasta with stuff in it."