明けましておめでとうございます！今年もよろしくお願いします！

Happy new year, readers! There’s nowhere to go but up from here!

Top Posts of 2014

(That were published in 2014)

I spent my first sakura season in Seattle.

I’ve made a lot of fandom-inspired desserts, but the Rosette Apple Custard Tart is my favorite–and your favorite of 2014, too! I was also really proud of the Matcha Black Sesame Cheesecake, which is the first cheesecake I’ve made all on my own.

Two of my posts about gender and food seemed to resonate with readers:  “The Gender Binary in Health Magazines (Notes on ‘Are You Working Hard Enough to Achieve Your Natural Body?’)”, which addressed a contribution I sent to Sociological Images and got a mention by Fit and Feminist on social media, and “Feminist Foodie: Vetting Food Blogs,” which addresses problematic and pointlessly gendered food writing. (This post hilariously ended up in a subreddit of sad MRAs crying about misandry. Womp womp.)

I got to try some new Japanese Kit Kats, too!

Did I meet my 2014 goals?

Keep baking geeky cakes! I made a lot of good ones last year: Teen Wolf Cupcakes, Rose of Versailles Apple Custard Tart, Sailor Moon cake and brownies, Log Lady Cake, Hannibal-themed petit fours that I need to redo. I also took a trip to the Double R diner from Twin Peaks!

Redo my “The Great Game Cake” to test my shifter theory.  I need to recut the pattern since I was made to leave it in Japan, but someday I’ll get this project done. I have a shifter now, though, and I love using it.

Learn how to use American ingredients like kale and rhubarb. I never learned before I went to Japan, and here I am in the US again with no idea how to use vegetables all the food bloggers were obsessed with while I was gone… Rhubarb, check! Beets, check! Coconut oil, check!

Really explore Uwajimaya, International District, and the Japanese food scene in Seattle. I’ve been slowly but surely checking out the ID. I haven’t been eating a lot of Japanese food lately, but I have discovered so many cool restaurants and cafes all over Seattle. Check out my Instagram for that.

Be better about doing Kitchen Library posts. Even though they’re the least popular, I like to link to recipes I like and cool articles. Maybe monthly? Didn’t really get to this, but I’ve been posting more non-recipe posts about food and gender. I do want to make this a goal again so I have a non-Instagram place to share what recipes I’m cooking at the moment.

2015 Goals

I’m really excited for my new life in 2015. I’ve had more fun in the last two months than I have had in years. I feel like a huge burden has been lifted and that I’m finally free to be myself. So far, I’ve joined the opera young professionals group and got to see a perfect performance my favorite opera ever (Tosca); have started to learn how to sew my own clothes; and am re/discovering some amazing music.

Food-wise, here’s what I want to do in 2015.

-Cook with mushrooms. Faux-unagi was a great start, but I want more!

-Work with fondant, then make my own. I think this will take my fandom desserts up a notch.

-Cook with my new Sprinkle Bakes cookbook Robin got me for my birthday because they are a goddamn treasure.

-Learn to cook with local berries. I made some gooseberry tarts last year that never made it onto the blog, but I also want to cook with marionberries and huckleberries.

-Make rice-cooker cakes again. My parents got me a Zoujirushi rice cooker for my birthday, and I’m very pleased with it so far.

-Shop at the farmers’ markets more. I try to go to one every other week if I don’t have weekend plans, but I want to get more of my basic produce there instead of just fruit and wine.

Thank you all for another year of your support and comments. I can’t wait to see what this year holds!