The first restaurant meal we ate in 2022: I had a solo meal at Fat Choy (sadly now closed), A had a solo meal at Summer Salt, but our first meal together was delivery from Pokebowl Station.
The first home-cooked meal we ate in 2022: A traditional Southern New Year's Day meal of hoppin' John and collard greens. It's my usual go-to New Year's Day meal, but the plan is to try something different this time around.
The last restaurant meal we ate in 2022: In person, it would be Mario Happy Meals and McDonald's, but our New Year's Eve lunch was a delivery of cheese oven pie, babaghanoush, spinach pie, and kibbeh from Ayat (more on them below).
The last home-cooked meal we ate in 2022: Mussels (surprisingly good prepared ones from Costco), fire-roasted vegetables (also surprisingly good out of the freezer from Costco), homemade French bread (A), and a failed homemade Algerian orange cake (me; failed as a Bundt cake, but tasted good).
# of different restaurants we tried in 2022 (together or separate): 73 in person and 57 for takeout and delivery. Huge jump for in-person visits this year versus last year.
Places explored (outside the NYC metro area): Chicago, IL. First time out of the metro area since 2019, and first time on a plane since 2018. Felt like a huge step after the isolation of the past few years.
Amazing vegan sushi from our Chicago trip
Most frequented restaurants of 2022 (together, in person): A three-way tie between the vegan burger joint Lekka Burger in Tribeca, Korean fried chicken spot Mad for Chicken in Cobble Hill, and Indian-inspired Malai Ice Cream in Carroll Gardens. Mad for Chicken and Malai were a common post-soccer lunch and snack combo, so not surprised that that's high on the list.
Chicken tenders from Mad for Chicken
Most frequented restaurant of 2022 (takeout or delivery): Putting aside McDonald's (because some of those visits were just for fries or breakfast, and because it's probably B's favorite place to eat so we're there a lot), we ordered from Ayat, a Palestinian spot in Bay Ridge, more than once a month. That makes two years in a row now that this has been Ayat, which doesn't surprise us at all because of the way they can accommodate B's allergy.
Mezze filistini from Ayat
Progress on WorldEats challenge (posting): 57/196. I'm confused because I count 57 countries on our summary list, if we include the new post we wrote this year, but it's been 58 in this year in review for years, since before the pandemic, so I have no idea what the missing two are. It's 82/196 for where we've actually been, so maybe we can do some catch-up in the coming year whenever Swarm reminds us of places we've been.
Progress on Around the World Cooking Challenge: Alphabetically, we're almost done with "unit" 5, Algeria, but we have a lot of post catching up to do.
Favorite overall meal of 2022: Our first in-person visit to Ras Plant Based, a vegan Ethiopian spot in Crown Heights. We'd ordered some of their delicious food earlier in the pandemic, but this was a lovely, warm spring day, right after our visit to the botanical garden to see the cherry blossom trees, and we sat outside enjoying dishes at a table in the sun. B was feeling adventurous that day, and ate some sambusa along with trying some of our other vegetable dishes (more than he would eat on subsequent visits), and we got to indulge in Ethiopian cuisine for the first time in a long time. Any visit to Ras is tasty, but that lunch felt special.
Looking forward to new adventures, and wishing you all the best in 2023!
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