Purpose

Over the last few years, I've found myself becoming a half-decent cook. Not a great cook, but a good one. I can look at a recipe and use it as a base for my own ideas; I can even freestyle with generally good results. I'm not super-creative, but I'm a decent kitchen craftsman.

I have a few blind spots, though. I can't bake for crap. I'm really bad at timing a meal. And I know absolutely nothing about spices. Not that I can't use them; I have a decently-stocked spice cabinet, and can follow a recipe. I can even infer, based on similar dishes, what spices I should use. But I don't have a feel for them, the same way that, let's say, I can tell when a dish might want Cheddar versus Parmesan cheese.

This is fixable. And, since I work better with structure, I'm giving myself one. Fifty-two weeks in a year; one spice a week. My Year of Living Spicily. (And I'm not going to nitpick the definition of spice, either. Herbs and other flavorants count.) And since I'm starved for things to write about, I thought it might be fun to blog about it - to not only share results and recipes, but to see what other people might have to offer.

The Year of Living Spicily

All right! The Year of Living Spicily has begun, and, as I planned, on January 11! (We have always been at war with Eurasia.)