Good-bye 2012, Hello 2013!

At the beginning of this year, I listed off some 2012 goals for Fifth Floor Kitchen- and looking back I think we did pretty good!  I’m so humbled and proud of this little space we have created, and since I’m feeling a little nostalgic about 2012, I wanted to share a handful of favorite highlights from this past year.

2012 Top 3 Recipe Posts:
1. Indian Chicken Soup

2. Vegetable Coq au Vin

3. Seasoned Popcorn 2 Ways

2012 Top 3 Travel Posts:
1. Bonn, Germany
2. Boston: Sam Adams Brewery Tour
3. Warsaw, Poland

Other 2012 Highlights:
1. We got married!  We had a wonderful wedding near Charlottesville, VA (check out our posts about this great city here and here) and we spent an amazing honeymoon in Phuket, Thailand (blog posts: Pt 1, Pt 2)!

2. Where else did we travel? Boston (Posts: 1, 2, 3), Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

3. Food-wise some of our personal favorites were: Cowgirl Creamery Cheese Pairing, Lobster Mac ‘n Cheese, Birthday Fruit Tart, Crunchy Fish Tacos with Chimichurri Sauce, Brazilian Fish & Shrimp Stew, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, S’more Cookie, and Buckwheat Crêpes with Corn Salsa.  If you haven’t tried these, definitely add them to your “to-do” list for 2013!

3. Other fun stuff: Eat Write Retreat Blogger Conference, Slave-free Tomato Day, Holiday White House Tour, An Edible Mosaic Book Launch, and being part of the Food Matters Project.

4. We also started a series “Monthly Reviews”, a great way to see some of our iPhone photos and adventures we might not write about: May, June, July, August, and November.  A December one is coming up soon!

Over the course of 2012 we have had 116 posts- that’s a lot of words, photographs and recipes!

But I do love the feeling of a New Year- a fresh start, being able to look ahead towards all the new opportunities this year will bring.  We are looking forward to 2013 to continue sharing our culinary and travel adventures with you all- remember to keep up with us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram!

We wish you all a happy and healthy New Year!  Thank you so much for reading, commenting and being part of Fifth Floor Kitchen!

Warm wishes for a happy new year!

Many hugs,
Evi & Sam

*Our wedding photos were taken by our friend Meaghin Kennedy- check out some of her photos here, or her blog: These Salty Oats

Food Matters Project #2: Seasoned Popcorn

This is the 2nd week of The Food Matters Project, and the recipe is seasoned popcorn.  Check out everyone’s recipes here (under the comments are links to the various takes).

Kate has chosen this weeks recipe Seasoned Popcorn.

Also, today is the last day to qualify to win Mark Bittman’s The Food Matters Cookbook.  Leave a comment on why food matters to you or a favorite healthy meal- here.  The giveaway ends tonight!

Popcorn always makes me think of movie theaters and new movies.  There is the packaged popcorn, but I really have never bought it, mainly because I could never finish a bag in one sitting!  So my popcorn consumption has always been at the movies- but as prices are getting higher and higher, and Reese’s Pieces being so much tastier (and cheaper)- I rarely eat any.

I will admit, I don’t think I have ever made popcorn from scratch at home on my own.  So when this project challenge was added, I was excited to try something new.  Sam was the expert on this one and took charge immediately.

Since we had some popcorn, why not watch a movie, right?  We enjoyed The King’s Speech last night (I know, a bit behind on our movies)- if you haven’t seen it yet, definitely add this one to your list.

When it comes to popcorn, our tastes are a bit different.  So we decided to make our popcorn two ways- each to our own liking!

There are a million flavors of popcorn- the choices are infinite!  Needs some more ideas?  Mark Bittman suggests: garlic popcorn, fresh herb, Old Bay seasoning, toasted sesame seeds, brown sugar, or ground nuts and coconut.

In the March issue of Vegetarian Times, there was a list of favorite popcorn flavors from the readers, some of them were:

* butter, curry and paprika
* sugar, salt, turmeric and cayenne
* maple syrup and cinnamon
* truffle oil and Parmesan cheese (I want to try this next time!)
* sea salt, cracked pepper with chocolate chips

Seasoned Popcorn
Adapted from: The Food Matters Cookbook (pg. 38)

2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup popping corn

Pour the canola oil in a deep pot.  Turn on the heat to medium heat, and allow the oil to heat up a bit (1 minute).  Then add the corn kernels, cover the pot.

When the kernels stop popping (no more than 5 minutes), remove the lid and pour out the popcorn on a paper towel lined plate.

Then pour your popcorn into a container with a lid or a brown paper lunch bag.  Add in your seasonings, close the container or bag, and shake the popcorn with the seasoning.  The trick is to have a bit of seasoning on each popcorn kernel.

Pour it into a bowl, turn on a movie and enjoy!

Spicy Popcorn Seasoning
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp chili powder

Cheesy and Salty Popcorn Seasoning
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 tsp salt