New Year, Similar Me
but with some small changes
Happy New Year!
Yes, it’s the last week of January (already!) but this is my first chance to say it to you. My newsletter writing has been slack - I only write it once per month and yet I still skipped the end of December. I could tell you that it’s because the usual posting date fell within that limbo period between Christmas and New Years. And I felt like I didn’t have stories to tell, or the mental capacity to form sentences. And I had zero energy to create a new recipe. But also, do you care? Probably not. Did you notice? Also, probably not.
But I’m back! I’m here! Waving to you from your email inbox, hoping you didn’t forget me! One of my new year goals was to reframe some of my internal chatter from negative to positive, and so I choose now to tell myself that you did notice I skipped a month and you’re really enthusiastic about my return. I’ve spent the month thinking about what write for my first newsletter of the year, and settled on the cliche new year, new me. Although it’s more like new year, similar me, with some small changes.
I say small, but really they aren’t that small. For a couple of years my only new year’s resolution was to form good habits. That’s it. I thought that that was positive and general enough, and if I met this goal, I’d likely become an improved version of my current self. I soon realised that this was far from specific. How do you tick off ‘form good habits’ at the end of the year? While I initially thought I’d come up with a fool proof resolution that prevented me from failing, what I actually did was give myself no direction. I wanted to be a goal setter, but also not box myself in. Most of us have new year’s resolutions, but to write them down? Make detailed plans as to how I was going to achieve them? Nah, no thanks. I do not want to do something that rigid.
Over the past several years, I’ve transformed. Not like a caterpillar into a butterfly though, more like a yellow banana into a more spotty, black one. The banana is perfectly acceptable either way, it simply depends on what you are using it for. I am making banana bread, in this analogy. I am the same person, but better. Good before, but in a banana bread - definitely better. I remain the same in my dislike for goal-setting rigidity, and have identifed a method that works for me personally. I am for the S.M.A.R.T. but flexible goal.
I’m not going to bore you by telling you all my goals. Don’t click away. Most of them are probably what you’d expect. I’m only going to tell you about one: I wanted to take a short break from my regular 9-5 job and see what it is like to work for myself full time. February will be my first month of giving the recipe development, digital content creation, photography, filming thing all of my uninterrupted attention. I’ve had Eatnik for 11 years now and throughout most of that time I’ve never taken it very seriously, or completely backed myself in making it something more than just a hobby. For the past couple of years, it’s become more than just a little food blog and so 2023 felt like the right time to give it a go. Will I like it? Will I struggle only having my cat and dog as work colleagues? Will I crumble financially? Stay tuned to find out!
If you’ve read this far, I thank you. Here’s a recipe for you - poached coconut chicken salad. It is a personal favourite of mine, particularly in this hot weather. It’s light and refreshing but packed full of flavour. I’m eating it for dinner tonight actually.
POACHED COCONUT CHICKEN SALAD
Serves 4
Poached coconut chicken
500g chicken breast
400g can coconut milk
Juice from 1 lime
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp palm sugar (or caster sugar)
2cm ginger, sliced thinly
1 stalk lemon grass, white part only, bruised
1 birds eye chilli, sliced in half
2 kaffir lime leaves
Salad:
1/4 iceberg lettuce (approx. 2 cups), shredded
1 bunch mint (approx. 1 cup), chopped roughly
1 bunch coriander (approx. 1 cup), chopped roughly
1 cup bean sprouts
3 spring onions, cut into 5cm pieces, sliced thinly
20 lychees, skins and seeds removed, quartered
6 kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup reserved poaching liquid, chilled
4 tbsp toasted, crushed peanuts
4 tbsp fried shallots
🍷 Suggested wine pairing:
I’d choose a gewürztraminer or chenin blanc to go with this salad. Something off-dry and aromatic. Alternatively, since many of the flavours in this dish are often seen in Thai food (coconut milk, chilli, lemongrass etc.), a riesling would be an excellent pairing as well.
Usually here is where I post The Crumbs, a little wrap up on what I’ve been eating, reading, listening to and watching over the past month. I figured because this newsletter is already lengthy, I’ll skip it and catch you up next month.
But let me wrap up! In conclusion, nothing much will change around here. I’ve got a couple of projects lined up ready to jump straight into, and I’m hoping to post more frequently across my blog and social media platforms. All of my recipes are posted on my blog here. Follow me on Instagram or TikTok. Also, YouTube! I’m planning on dabbling in longer forms of content this year! Will I change this newsletter to fortnightly?! Is that simply TOO ambitious? Who knows! The world is my oyster!
If you liked this newsletter, consider sharing it with a friend:
See you next month,
Andrea