Daniel J Isom

  I was very ambitious with my goals for 2021 . There were some great successes, some decent accomplishments, and only one real failure. It's clear that with just how awful this year end up being, that this amount of stuff was just too much. My attention had to be in too many places, which is why I'm only setting a couple of goals for next year. Here's how things ended up:   Make 12 Pies I did a great job with this goal and successfully made at least one pie a month, ending with a total of 13. Here are the remaining 6 pies that I made. To the see the first 7, please check out my first update . From left to right: Cocoa Crispy Rice Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Pie, Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust, Pumpkin Pie , Mississippi Mud Pie, Tomato Pie, and Fresh Blueberry Pie . Read 12 Books I was confident during my last update that I'd get back on track and grind my way to get this goal done. Well that didn't go according to plan, but I am happy that I at least got halfway throug...

  Having pie recipes in the cookbook allows me to meet two resolutions every time I make one. This pie is the 9th of the year, which draws me incredibly close to my goal of 12 for the year. It is probably one of the easiest pies I've ever made. Normally you bake filling in the crust, but the naturally high levels of pectin in blueberries combined with cornstarch allow it to thicken without needing time in the oven. The crust gets baked until completely cooked and then you allow it to cool before pouring in the filling. After a couple hours you can cut picturesque slices that hold together incredibly well.  The recipe for the pie crust has a crap ton of steps and I just wasn't feeling doing all of them. In the notes it said you can use whatever crust recipe you want, so I decided to use the listed ingredients and just make it the way I normally make crusts. The only substitution I made was using vodka instead of cider vinegar. Both of them will curb gluten development and make ...

Rather than lumping my recap of the previous year's accomplishments and failures with my goals for the new year, like I've normally done, I'm trying something new. You can see how 2020 went for me and the things I wanted to accomplish by clicking here .  With that out of the way, this post can be focused on my goals for 2021. I'm going with "goals" this time around to set some hard numbers that I can work towards. I did this last year with "accomplishments", but that phrasing always sounded a bit off to me. I'm going to be very ambitious this year and set 6 goals in 2 categories. In the first category, each goal averages doing that thing once a month. The second category are more projects that I want to get done. These are all focused on me and take away any possibility of blaming others as to why they don't get done. No excuses. Find the time. Do the things.   Make 12 Pies Let's start off with the tastiest of the goals. Last year I wante...

     November was an uneven month when it came to accomplishments. Even though I only wrote two posts, they were more involved and a couple of my favorites for the year. The chance to succeed at the board game challenge is basically dead in the water, but I did some really good baking. 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month Did a little health update and things are going really well. Shared our Christmas traditions and some new ones we're starting. 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge We played none of our games for the challenge. That means we still have 7 total plays left to do before the end of the year. It's nearly certain that we won't complete the challenge. I'm sad. I've already decided not to include any board game related resolutions next year. 3)  Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month There's never a bad time to make biscuits. I decided to do a Twitter thread on the steps as I made them. I had a lot of fun doing it, so I ...

   The new school year brought a whole new set of headaches, as we navigated virtually learning. It was an overall better month than August for blog related matters, but not by much. 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month We went to the Jurassic Quest exhibit in Philadelphia. Shared my new favorite thing to watch: T90Official's Age of Empires II casts. 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge We got the first of two plays needed for Gold West in with Shawn and Kelly. I really like this game a lot, but Christine isn't really a fan. We now need to average 3 plays a month for the rest of the year. I've moved beyond concerned that we might not finish this challenge to seeing it as doubtful.   3)  Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month It took some time before baking commenced in September, but as the temperatures dropped I got more in the mood. I started the month off just making a couple loaves of rustic sourdough. They came out pretty...

March was certainly and interesting month for us. Christine and the kids were home for most of the month because the schools closed and then moved to distance learning. Working for the Division of Public Health, I've been rather busy dealing with COVID-19 related matters on top of my normal work. Despite the madness, it was a great month for all three things I wanted to accomplish. 1)  Write at least 2 blog posts each month It wasn't a long post, but I covered the new site layout . One of my most read pieces covered my new favorite sport, Marble Racing . I took some time and did the 10 Games Exercise . 2)  Complete the 10 x 2 Board Game Challenge We got back on track and knocked out both plays of Azul. I love how simple the game is, but I don't like how Christine beat my ass both times. With those two plays, we have 16 left to go by year's end. 3)  Bake at least 2 different baked goods each month March was another great baking month. There was no theme, ...

I had so much fun doing my top 10 board games and top 10 most unusual pizza toppings that I wanted to do another top 10. This one is inspired by my favorite time of year, autumn a.k.a. pie season. Sure, you can eat pie year round (and I do) but most of my pie consumption comes around thanksgiving and Christmas. There is nothing better than a slice of pie after a meal or even as your meal; pie makes a great breakfast. Whether it's served warm or cold and sweet or savory, pie is the perfect food. For the record, pizza pie will not be on this list. What you're about to find are traditional pies with a flaky or crumb crust. 10. Chicken Pot I wanted to give a shout out to all the savory pies with this one. I enjoy a pot pie from time to time, especially during the colder months. When I think about pie though, my mind goes immediately to sweet so the rest of this post is full of.....spoilers.....sweet pies. 9. Apple I know this is usually the top spot or at least i...

Cheesepie is one of my favorite desserts. What's that? You've never heard of cheesepie? Oh, that's because it's been going by the alias of cheesecake all this time. Well that ends today.