What happened this year in your kitchen?  Did you learn something new?  Re-discover something old?  What was the best new thing you tried a bite of?

Two new foods entered my life this year.  Every winter I teach a course called “Cooking Demonstration” where students design and practice teach a cooking class.  One of my students chose fermented vegetables  as her project.  I had made them, but never gotten into the rhythm of the process.  Eliza made it seem so easy.  I pulled my crock out again and haven’t stopped using it.  I adore the fresh-tasting sauerkraut and kim chee that I always have either brewing or jarred in my refrigerator.

Another lovely student that was in my class spring quarter brought in her homemade tempeh to share.  It was so much fresher tasting that anything I had purchased in a store.  I bought the very inexpensive culture online this summer and started cooking soybeans and making my own tempeh.

All those probiotics from fermented food keep my belly happy.  And thank goodness I teach!  My students keep me perpetually learning.

How about you?  What did 2009 bring to your food life?