2010 Challenge Unveiled

As you very well know, although Peter pretty much bombed his AP Restaurant Exam last year, the experience provided him with an invaluable opportunity to explore restaurants he normally would have never considered. Luckily for us, somebody cheated on the AP Exam, so we get to take it again. Thus in 2010, the challenge bestows itself upon me. Now, prepare to be let down as we unveil Rene's 2010 Dining Challenge.

For Christmas I got this book.

So in 2010, I am going to cook my way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and then record my successes and failures on this here web log! It will be a blast, and with any luck we can get a movie out of it.

What? Ohh. Well, never mind.

First, let me tell you what will not happen. Nothing will be given up. As a devout, lapsed Catholic, breaking promises to abstain only happens approximately three days after the truck parades roll. So unfortunately this will not be the year I become a Ovo-Lacto Raw Food Vegan. As you may have guessed, the picture of health, I ain't. So despite the awesome suggestion, eating bacon at every meal will not go down.

Not drinking the same wine twice was the best choice, but Peter vetoed that one saying, "I almost ran out of Vietnamese places, no way you will exhaust the world's wines." He then fell into a chargrilled pork dream and took off for the West Bank.

My days of bathing in sinks have long since expired, so that option is gone. Someone else suggested, privately, that I go under cover and work the line at a Donald Link restaurant. While it is a great idea, unfortunately this pesky, unjust thing called a "restraining order" prevents me from doing so.

As you have noticed, Peter and I have both begun writing more and more on the things that really interest us. Eating out remains a favorite past time of mine, but my interest in cooking has grown stronger and more enthusiastically. In an attempt to Ronnie Lamarque the situation, I have decided to use restaurant meals as an opportunity to try and cook something similar at home.

When dining out, I will photograph and/or describe a restaurant dish and the resulting food that comes out of my kitchen. While exact replication of a dish is not the goal, a meal/snack/sandwich inspired by, based on, or related to the dish will emerge, hopefully. The blog welcomes your suggestions throughout the year on where to eat and what to eat. And if you think you had a better idea for how to turn a roast beef po-boy into a soup, let us know.

A caveat before we begin, based on the lesson Peter learned the hard way. If I run to Between the Bread to grab a sandwich, that will not count, but could. All other meals eaten in a restaurant must be turned into a home dish.

Let the let down begin!