iron stef

Wow, what a year it's been. The winter darkness and cold had started to creep into my psyche lately, making me feel like I'm in a funk. Looking back at the year and even at the recent holiday, however, has reminded me how lucky I am, and what a great life I have! A supportive family, fantastic friends, the Best Boyfriend Ever™, great food, interesting adventures... SO LUCKY. See? It's good to do these kinds of lists every year... I believe Oprah calls it a gratitude journal.

I am grateful for BALLS. 2012 was the Year of the Balls. So many balls, so little time! Food in spherical form is good for many reasons: easy to eat, fun to eat, unlimited possibilities, versatile (can be appetizers or part of a main dish or even dessert!) Seriously, balls are a well-rounded food category. :p Here are all the balls I made and/or ate this year.

Year of the Balls

• Corey Woodruff's Andouille Ball Po-Boy

• Curry Potato Balls

• Balls Class! Featuring Italian Wedding Soup

• Holiday Gift Balls

• Chicken Sausage balls with fennel and waffled polenta

• Gnudi with chicken ragu

• Chili Meatballs Whoopie Pie Sliders on a stick

• Moroccan Chicken Balls with Skillet Grapes

• Moroccan Lamb Balls with Figs

• Hummus Balls

• Ham Balls

• Chocolate Salty Balls - 3 Ways!

• Watermelon Chickpea salad

• Liver-cleansing balls

• Crawfish Boil Balls

• Cashew Chicken Balls

• Salsiccia Balls with Peppers

• Fish Balls with Pork Filling

• St. Louis' Best Balls, Installment 1: Pita+ and Gokul

• St. Louis' Best Balls Installment 2: Acero & Mango

• St. Louis' Best Balls Installment 3: Pastaria and Completely Sauced

• Goat Cheese Stuffed Lamb Balls with Spinach Cumin Pesto

• Sesame Salmon Balls

• Black Bean Balls with Avocado Buttermilk Dipping Sauce

Non-Ball Adventure Posts

Speaking of well-rounded, this blog has been about more than just balls this year. I have had some talented guest posters, made some sexy-ass food and had some fun and informative adventures this year. Some of the highlights:

• Bryan's guest post about his favorite Taiwanese street food.

• An epic upper-Midwest road trip visiting lots of great breweries.

• My 500th post! What a milestone!

• A guest post about cooking with beer by Every Little Thing blogger Stacey.

• I met Gale Gand!!

• Organizing first Food Media Forum with some of my favorite food friends.

• Learning to make apple pie from author Beth Howard at the American Gothic House!

Sexy Food Posts

The following dishes will get you laid:

• Vanilla scallops with pumpkin risotto

• Savory Stuffed French Toast!

• Bacon Jalepeno Beer Poutine

Welp, that was a glimpse of what was... bring it, 2013! I am ready for you! Happy New Year, everybody! Thanks for reading.

Previous New Years Posts:

• 2011 Iron Stef recap

• 2010 Iron Stef recap

• 2009 Iron Stef recap

• 2007 Iron Stef recap

(this is not to say other years weren't good... I just didn't write recaps...)

Balls make great gifts, duh! While the possibilities are endless, I went with these two ball recipes, Bourbon Balls with Eggnog Coating from Farmgirl Gourmet and Peanut Butter Pretzel Candies from Martha Stewart (Martha never lets me down!)

Since these aren't my recipes, I will send you to the websites where I got them instead of posting the recipes here (though I will probably add them here in a few weeks, because I've been burned before... sometimes links disappear and I lose the recipe forever! Saddest story ever told.)

Farmgirl Gourmet's Bourbon Balls
She uses vanilla wafers, but I subbed that for Biscoff cookies, because, ALWAYS SUB BISCOFF COOKIES WHEREVER YOU CAN. Love the heck outta those mofos. This required adding a few drops more of Bourbon. Darn the luck. These are fantastic... bourbony to be sure, they will warm your belly and soul. I found the eggnog melting chips at Micheal's craft store. If you can't find them, I bet white chocolate chips would be almost as good, or if you like butterscotch (I do not), try those.