The new year is here – 2024!
And to welcome in 2024, NY’s Eve is a good time to raise a toast with your beverage of choice.
This Purewow article on Champagne Cocktails seems to include a range of drink ideas that could work with or without Champagne! 50 ideas for making cocktails, punches, margaritas, spritzers, sangria, and my favourite Kir Royale.
And if you are going to start Dry January before or AT midnight, here are 25 Mocktail recipes from a fun article from Brit&Co.
Happy 2024!
Today is National Pi Day, not PIE as in fruit pie but the number. Pi Day is a celebration of the mathematical constant, π (pi), or 3.14159265359! This fun article from Thrillist goes into great detail on the difference between this day and January 23rd National Pie Day.
Since it is not a traditional dessert pie day, why not consider a non-traditional pie to celebrate. Many pies may not fit the predictable “pastry & filling” model but all are Fun Foods! I had two types of Pizza Pie today and I added pickles as toppings to both.
One may also consider Shepard’s Pie (lamb + mashed potato!) or Cottage Pie (beef + mashed potato!) or Pasta Pie. I found this fun sounding/looking recipe by Gail Simmon on Once Upon a Chef for Pasta Pie – pasta, cheese, sauce and more cheese, ALL Fun Foods.
Actually it is pickle ON pizza. This PureWow article advises that a trending pizza topping in 2023 is PICKLES! They suggest a garlic sauce base and then mozzarella cheese then dill pickles & sometimes ranch for dipping but I tried it on a good ole pepperoni pizza and it was REALLY good.
AND soon I plan to try adding pickles to my usual pineapple & olives – Deadpool Pizza!
More & more of my fave Fun Foods are going vegan – Reese’s peanut butter cups are coming soon per One Green Planet!!
And March 1st is Happy National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day – Good news for vegan peanut butter lovers!!
The Super Bowl is a giant Fun Food Fest! Both inside the State Farm Stadium and outside at the giant 2023 “Players Tailgate” event being hosted by Bobby Flay at the Food Network.
Recovering untouched Fun Food post Game will avoid it going to waste PLUS help some food insecure people. This detailed CNN article outlines what is planned once the Big Game is finished.
NFL Green is partnering with Waste Not who is coordinating with 85 local Arizona Nonprofits to ensure that Fun Food will go to the Phoenix Valley. The celebrations are not over yet – whether you are a Kansas City fan or not!
Poutine Week has expanded to 2 weeks – February 1 – 14th. This is the 11th year for La Poutine Week which is celebrated at 983 restaurants across Canada – outlined in this detailed Dished article! La Poutine Week has it’s own website and instagram account! I’m not sure where the idea originally came from but I am in full support of Poutine, a Canadian Fun Food AND the celebration of Poutine for 1 OR 2 weeks!
Now there seems to be some debate about Poutine’s origin but I believe it was compiled in Quebec – and I believe the correct verb is compiled as there is a base of french fries, then a layer of curds/cheese and finally a drizzle/douse of gravy.
And there also seems to be a debate around the correct second layer – chewy squeaky curds NOT grated cheese… While I prefer cheese curds, I once did have killer poutine at the Templeton in Vancouver where they used a layer of grated old aged cheddar that was VERY memorable. Their current menu indicates that they are now using curds for their poutine!
AND there are some that find the various additional toppings that have been added to traditional Poutine an outrage BUT I say they have just never tried Breakfast Poutine or Butter Chicken Poutine. The RecRoom (now gone) was where I first tried Breakfast Poutine and now I try it whenever I find it on a menu! And when I am craving Butter Chicken Poutine I go to The Spud Shack Fry Co. – they have great traditional Poutine as well as 10 variations.
I think I may add Poutine to my Horizontal Fun Food Tasting Chart!
Lunar New Year 2023 got started on Sunday 22nd and I just learned that the Vietnamese Zodiac varies from the Chinese Zodiac for this year – it is both Year of the Rabbit as well as Year of the Cat! 10 of the 12 animals of the zodiacs match as this chart from CBC shows. And I still need to find & try the Vietnamese Bahn Chung cake too!
Happy New Year: 新年快乐 xīn nián kuài lè – Chinese New Year starts tomorrow January 22nd and this is The Year of the Rabbit. The Rabbit is associated with peace & prosperity and is the luckiest animal of the Chinese Zodiac.
Wishing Good Fortune for the coming year is key to this celebration of the Lunar New Year and you can do it with Red Envelopes of cash OR Fun Food! Food is said to bring Good Fortune and especially if you eat it whole. Culinary Backstreets has shared a list of 12 foods (some Fun!) and the Good Fortune they bring.
Today is CNY Eve! It can be VERY peaceful to eat your own WHOLE orders of Chinese dumplings & spring rolls to bring on the prosperity!!
Are you seeing left over Eggnog OR Oat Nog on sale still? I’m happy that I can still find my fave Oat Nog but know it will soon be gone…
Here are some fun ideas for Eggnog if you love it too and don’t want to see it go to waste or can’t resist a bargain! Eggnog ice cream is one suggestion from Thrillist with the recipe for making it. Perhaps you can still find The World’s Best Egg Nog ice cream by President Choice in your grocer’s freezer and see if you agree with the name. OR perhaps make Happy Hour Eggnog drinks using these 17 eggnog cocktail ideas from Purewow – some may work better as dessert!
PS – Don’t forget about Fruit Cake! Drastically reduced right now too and a kinda Fun Food with cake in the name… Perhaps it’s not appealing to everyone as it is #32 on PureWow’s list of 32 Classic Christmas Foods – may be not Top 5 or even Top 10 but dead last…
Each New Year is an opportunity to look back and forward – and make plans for the coming year. Add eating these good luck foods to your New Year’s Eve plans – thank you Thrillist for these Lucky Food traditions. I think round cakes are Fun Food and perhaps eating them daily will continue the luck all year!
I also like the idea of eating 12 lucky grapes right at midnight! However this Gastro Obscura article outlining the background on the grape eating has got me nervous about not finishing on time and bringing on bad luck…
Eating a good luck orange has always been a New Year tradition – good to know it is an EXTRA lucky fruit!
Whitney's Fun Food Suggestions! 