Spinach Tiger Bloopers: The Posts that Never Made it in 2010

Are you ready to say hello to 2011 or are you like me and you are still back in 2010?

I feel like I left so much unfinished. I wish I could go back to December 1st. On that day, I was not behind in sending out my Christmas gifts. I still lived with the fantasy that on my ten-day vacation I was going to paint the kitchen, and completely redo my blog, including exporting it to word press. I was going to re-organize my office and my closest, and finally finish painting the baseboards in my bedroom. And, did I mention a complete redo of the guest bathroom to match the redo of the guest bedroom I completed in November. I was a professional faux finisher for ten years and I have to paint something every few months, just like I have to cook something new every week.

But, none of that got accomplished in December. It was my least productive blog posting month ever. A bad virus attacked everyone. All of us got sick on different days and mine was the worst, being on Christmas Eve. It still doesn’t seem right or fair to miss Christmas Eve, one of my favorite nights of the year. So a part of me wants to go back to 2010 and finish my projects and get my lost time back.

2011 snuck up on me too fast. I hate anything unfinished, like selected dishes I was going to redo for the blog. Those dishes that didn’t photo right or needed a tweak in the recipe.

I thought it might be fun to share with you a handful of the blog posts left on the cutting floor. Also known as bloopers our outtakes, they are the posts meant for the blog, but never made the cut.

Take Heidi, the cow, for example. She should have been here in July, when I toured the Hatcher Family Dairy Farm. But, I never got around to posting it.

Lemon Crab Crepes. I was inspired by a chef to make these lemon blue crab crepes, but my recipe ended up being too vague.

Tomato Soup, cut for being too ordinary.

Cafe Zuni Flourless Chocolate Cake (this was a true winner that disappeared too quickly before any decent pictures were taken) and I do intend to make this again for Valentine’s Day.

This was just as good as the piece I had at the restaurant, which means it’s a perfect recipe.

Whipped cream, raspberries, glass of port.

I had great plans for a mascarpone sauce to go with my chocolate pasta.

Oatmeal cookies, dried cherries, chocolate, but I never wrote down the recipe.

Grape Tomatoes and Orange Panzanella made for a Nature’s Pride bread contest, but never submitted.

2010 was the year of the meatball.

A Cooking Italy Selection: Meatballs, with Blueberry Compote over Poppy Seed Pasta (original dish was supposed to be a poppy seed pastry basket holding the meatballs. I meant to come back and do that, and it never happened.
These were made during my trip to California, stuffed with Sheep’s Ricotta cheese.

Another cooking Italy dish, chicken with mushrooms, that tasted good, but even after making it twice I couldn’t make it look good.
Bay Scallops, white wine, almonds, parsley. This is better than it looks, but I have a problem photographing off white food.

A cherry pastry with an almond glaze that I made no less than six different times this past summer. By the time I was ready to post, cherry season was over.

Sauce Verdi, a cooking Italy selection that I never posted.

Poached Egg with Sweet Potato Hash with Leeks. I remember thinking that the sweet potato should be used more often for breakfast.

A steak and potato sandwich made for a contest I never entered. Maybe I’ll enter it this year.

I found the very best video for pavlova and struck success on my first time. Only problem is that it was just not a day I could get a great picture, and I had every intention of making this again. This deserves a future try as soon as berry season hits.

So tell me readers, are you ready for 2011 or are you still back finishing up 2010?