The Rest of the Best of 2013
Ok, I confess, I really enjoy writing these year-end posts. Yesterday, I continued the ritual of writing up all the books that I read in a given year; here are The Books That I Read in 2013. Now it’s time to dig into the rest of the best, posts that shined in specific ways (best cake, best comments, best use of chickpeas) that didn’t make sense for any of my other round-up posts. You’ll also find out which movies, TV shows, albums, and plays Craig and I enjoyed the most this year. Away we go!
The Best Slice of Cake That I Ate This Year:
The 7-Layer Coconut Pecan Cake at Bottega in Birmingham, Alabama
Most Memorable Muffins:
Marion Cunningham’s Last Word in Nutmeg Muffins
Best Sandwich That I Ate This Year:
The Captain’s Daughter at Saltie (pictured at the top of this post)
Favorite New Cocktail:
The Kingston Negroni
Weirdest Thing That I Ate That I Actually Enjoyed:
Burnt Brioche with Homemade Ricotta and Blueberry Tarragon Jam at SQRL
Best Cheese Plate:
Bar Covell (I had it multiple times!)
Best Hot Dog:
The Ultimate L.A. Street Dog with the Big Gay Ice Cream Guys
Biggest Culinary Break-Through:
Charcoal Grilling
Recipe You Probably Didn’t Make But Really, Really Should:
Sweet and Spicy Pickled Peppers
Favorite Original Recipe:
Braised Chicken Thighs and Cauliflower with Olives and Capers
Favorite Recipe Re-Discovery:
Marcella Hazan’s Immortal Tomato Sauce
Best Chickpea Post:
Cook A Pot of Chickpeas, Eat For A Week
Weirdest Grapes:
The ones that taste like cotton candy
Dessert That I Made The Most Often:
Al Di La’s Chocolate and Pear Cake
Prettiest Meal of the Year:
Lunch on the beach on Rottnest Island in Australia. I mean, come on.
Best Post Suggested By Friends:
10 Big Pots of Food You Can Make To Eat For A Week
Favorite New Kitchen Fixture:
My pot rack
My Biggest Cooking Disaster of the Year:
Disgusting, Inedible Curry
2nd Biggest:
Chocolate Cups
3rd Biggest:
Caketastrophe 2013
Most Popular Post That I Wrote This Year:
The Best Brownies of Your Life
The Post That No One Really Reacted To Even Though I Thought It Was Really Good:
Mystical, Magical Curry Leaves
Another Post Like That Only This One Involved Flying For 18 Hours and Using All My Hotel Points:
48 Hours in Sydney
Most Comments on A Post:
Do Any Young People Eat Cottage Cheese?
Most Agonizing Confession:
My Paper Towel Problem
Best Dinner That Didn’t Look So Hot In The Picture But Everyone Loved It In Real Life:
Chicken and Hummus Together On A Plate with Pita
Best Celebrity-Scandal Related Recipe Post:
Reese’s Criminally Drunk Blondies
Worst Celebrity-Scandal Related Recipe Post:
Miley’s Tongue Cookies (Though, funny enough, my friend Kyle actually interviewed Miley and showed her this post! She said the cookies looked good.)
Favorite Revelation:
My cake stand is also a punch bowl
2nd Favorite Revelation:
How easy it is to make corn tortillas
Hardest Letter I Had To Write:
Dear Ina
2nd Hardest:
Whatever, Martha
Most Controversial:
An Open Letter To The New York Times Magazine Food Section
Saddest Attempt at Pescatarianism:
Mine
Angriest Group of Commenters:
People Who Salt Their Food Without Tasting It First
Most Articulate Group of Commenters:
The ones on the post about the coffee shop that doesn’t offer sweetener
Most Exhausting Thing I Tried To Do This Year and Failed At:
Weekly Top Chef Cartoon Recaps
Most Exhausting Thing I Tried To Do This Year And Really Stuck With For Several Months:
My Clean Plate Club Podcast
Grossest Post (At Least Based on the Lead Image):
I Ate Bugs at Billy Kwong
MOVIES:
Favorite Food Movie That I Watched This Year: Babette’s Feast
Favorite Movie Movie: Much Ado About Nothing
Craig’s Picks: Mud, The World’s End, 12 Years a Slave (with the caveat “I haven’t seen Inside Llewyn Davis yet.”)
ALBUMS:
My picks: (Note: many of these albums didn’t come out this year, I just discovered them this year.) Paul McCartney’s Ram, Janelle Monae’s The Electric Lady, Lou Reed and John Cale’s Songs for Drella, Rilo Kiley’s Under The Blacklight, Neko Case’s The Worse Things Get, Steve Martin’s and Edie Brickell’s Love Has Come For You, Leonard Bernstein’s On The Town, The Sundays’ Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, Joe Iconis’s Things To Ruin and Taylor Swift’s Red.
Craig’s picks: John Grant’s Pale Green Ghosts and Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires of the City.
BOOKS:
My pick: Lionel Shriver’s We Need To Talk About Kevin
Craig’s pick: Michael Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue
TV:
My pick: Orange is the New Black (still haven’t finished it, I’m savoring it!)
Craig’s picks: Breaking Bad, Enlightened
PLAYS/MUSICALS:
My pick: Fun Home
Craig’s picks: The Flick, Fun Home
And that’s it for round-up posts in 2013. I promise!
