Our Year in Food: 2021

2021 was an interesting year. It started very similar to most of 2020, isolating at home, trying to stay safe from COVID. Spring and early summer brought vaccinations and warmer weather, the hope of moving back towards pre-pandemic life - seeing family, dining out, going on vacations and adventures. But as we all know, first delta, and then as we started relaxing once again, omicron, continued to make this year stressful, especially for those around people who can't yet be protected (like our little ones). Add on to that, all the "garden variety" illnesses circulating among preschoolers, and we continued to spend a lot of time at home. But we did have a lot of food adventures this year, even if we didn't geographically go as far as we thought we would at the dawn of 2021. 

The first restaurant meal we ate in 2021: Sushi rolls from Daigo Sushi Roll Bar in Gowanus, which were delicious as always.

The first home-cooked meal we ate in 2021: Nutella banana liege waffles for brunch, and hoppin' John and johnnycakes for dinner. 

The last restaurant meal we ate in 2021: Some pies and baba ghanoush from Ayat (see more below).

The last home-cooked meal we ate in 2021: Air fryer crispy tofu (recipe from Sweet Simple Vegan that we make all the time) with some peppers and onions, accompanied by my air fryer experiment making tostadas with vegan cheese and pico de gallo. (Not counting my New Year's Eve cooking experiments because they weren't really "meals.")

# of different restaurants we tried in 2021 (together and separate): 27 spots in-person (although at least a third of those were not together), and 64 spots for takeout and delivery. Far more than last year, but that's not unexpected. Very thankful for vaccines and also for delivery services.

Places explored (outside the NYC metro area): None, but we at least went to New Jersey twice, unlike 2020 when we never left the city.

One of our trips to New Jersey was to pick up some Anderson's Ice Cream

Most frequented restaurant of 2021: Ayat, a Palestinian place in Bay Ridge. We've ordered takeout and delivery from them a lot. They were really responsive to our questions about food handling and allergies, and B loves their pies (both the cheese pizza-like ones and the spinach pies). Everything there is delicious!

Progress on WorldEats challenge: Still 58/196. We were not very good about writing posts about all those past adventures this year (or any new ones).

Progress on Around the World Cooking Challenge: Technically, we've covered 14 different places, but I still need to tell the story of our journey so far. I really need to do that next year. As far as our alphabetical progress, we finally finished Alaska (apparently this took the entire year to do), and will be moving on to Albania in the new year.

Alaskan fish cakes

Favorite overall meal of 2021: Outdoor fall brunch at The Baklava Lady in Englishtown, New Jersey. We stopped by on our way to the pumpkin patch and apple picking to try their vegan Turkish dishes and desserts. It was so nice to have someplace completely safe for B's allergy, and all the food was fantastic. We especially loved their Turkish breakfast board with simit, butter, feta cheese, olives, tomato, and cucumber. It was a hit with all three of us, and we could eat that for brunch all the time. It was just a nice afternoon, and one of the few days all year we really got to get out of the city and go on an adventure, so it's a very special memory for us.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2022!