Top 10 BellyGlad Moments of 2009

1. Food Fit for an Inauguration. The bill of fare from Abraham Lincoln's presidential inauguration in 1865, as well as this year's menu for President Obama.

2. A Band of Female Food Bloggers Descends Upon Fleming's Steakhouse. As PR reps recognized the utility of food bloggers for spreading the word about their restaurants, free dinner invitations flowed, and even the FTC got in on the fun with a (well advised) full disclosure requirement.

3. Julia Child Was My Neighbor. Five years since her death, 2009 was a banner year for Julia Child. I reviewed the movie Julie & Julia and was lucky enough to hear her former editor, Judith Jones, speak in Harvard Square.

4. Recession-ipes?Brian McFadden of the Phoenix is the genius behind recipes for Napkin Soup and Hampster Foie Gras. For my part, I recommended inexpensive but satisfying experiences like Soup Dumplings for the Soul.

5. Regrettably, the world of food publishing fell victim to the economic meltdown, and 2009 was the year that Gourmet died. We paid tribute to the magazine with a Thanksgiving dinner prepared from the last ten years of November issues.

6. But as the global economy changed, new movements like Urban Agriculture emerged. I met city farmer Novella Carpenter of Oakland, Ca, and learned that people are raising chickens right in my Cambridge backyard. It could also be said that reality TV and the Food Network influenced our eating and entertaining habits this year: An Iron Chef Competition Among Friends in Porter Square.

7. And in spite of the Recession, several worthwhile new restaurants opened in 2009--including Coppa in the South End. So did the imaginative new wine shop known as Central Bottle.

8. Because a year without travel would be a year without sunshine, two of my favorite far-flung gastronomic adventures of 2009 included Portugal and the Pacific Northwest.

9. Part of the fun of writing about food is the occasional opportunity to be snarky. Hence, a list of popular 2009 Food Terms That Annoy Me. Just Because. Plus, my worst dining experience of the year: Barbequed Jackfruit.

10. But in the end, perhaps 2009 was really about...roasted poultry. It was the year I roasted my first chicken in the first apartment where I've lived on my own, and also the year I experienced my first roast goose at Christmas.