MexiGoals for 2013

Oaxacan pasilla chiles were among my Christmas gifts. Photo courtesy of Luchito.

I'm taking time out from writing about my sweet tamales to say Feliz año nuevo to my readers and set out my plans for 2013.

Last year was my second year of blogging and it greatly exceeded my expectations.

I went from a few hundred pageviews to more than 2700, and got 129 likes for my Facebook page.

Also I cooked some great food, went to a tequila tasting at Lupe Pinto's, and discovered  Gran Luchito salsa made with the coveted Oaxacan pasilla chiles!

2013 has its work cut out to top that, but here are a few things I want to accomplish by the end of this year.

• Make another mole

My posts on making the famous mole poblano have led many readers to my blog, but there are actually seven kinds of mole, and I want to cook them all.

Plus, as Mrs MexiGeek got me smoked pasillas Oaxaqueñas from Luchito, I have the means to make Oaxacan black mole.

However, I may make a less challenging one, like the green mole or manchamanteles.

• Put up an ofrenda for Day of the Dead

An ofrenda is a little altar to your deceased relatives that you put up for el día de los muertos.

I didn't make one last year, but I'd like to have one for my grandfathers this year. I'll probably pay an e-visit to Between the Trees when Autumn comes round again.

• Cook for someone else

Last year my wife cooked a 1950s-style dinner for her food blog Cooking the History Books and we invited a friend to share it.

This year I'd like to cook a set meal for company as well.

My idea is actually to do three courses of non-spicy Mexican food, to counter the misconception that all Mexican food is hotter than hell.

Let me know if you'd like to come along, by the way.

• Do restaurant reviews

It's been a while since I've been to a Mexican restaurant in Edinburgh, so I'd like to see what they're serving and tell you what I think of it.

• Sell t-shirts

Yes, we have t-shirts now. Also mugs, notebooks, and other stuff. I'll be launching this by the end of January.

• Shoot a video

I'm overwhelmed by how my blog traffic has grown, but I feel the next step in developing MexiGeek is to add video.

I don't intend to stop writing and switch to vlogging, but I would like to document some of my adventures in a more live-action format.

I'm not sure what form a MexiGeek video would take, especially as I don't know if I'm presenter material, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

If you're into filming or editing and you live in Edinburgh (and will work for tequila), give me a shout.

Then there are some things I might not get around to this year, but I'll try to do in the near future.

• Interact with you guys

One of my favourite bloggers, Tiffany of Kitchen Conversations, does a Mexican supper club in London.

This inspired me to do some kind of direct interaction with my Edinburgh- and Glasgow-based readers.

I was thinking of calling it Fajitas Anonymous.

The idea is that if you want to cook some more adventurous Mexican food but don't really know where to start, I'll come over and help you.

I guess it would kind of be like doing my blog live from your kitchen.

Impress your friends with your mastery of regional Mexican cuisine. Or not.

Probably need to put some more thought into this one.

• Meet up with other Mexican-food bloggers

Besides me and Kitchen Conversations (based in London), I've recently discovered A Mexican Cook in Ireland (based in Dublin).

What do we all have in common?

We're all expats (a Mexican, an Arizonan, and a Californian).

We all cook Mexican food and blog about it.

We all are an hour's air travel from each other.

So we should totally get together and do some kind of event or something.

Obviously I'll need to ask them about this, but in the meantime check out their blogs and other activities, if you haven't already. 

• Write a book

This blog first started as research for a novel, believe it or not, but since the cooking had taken over I've been thinking I should write a different kind of book.

I doubt this would be a cookbook. There are already plenty of good Mexican cookbooks out there.

I was thinking something more like cooking memoirs or a Mexican cook's travel guide to Scotland (where to get ingredients, where the best restaurants are, etc.).

Again, this needs more thought, but it's something I'd like to get into.

Beyond that, we're expecting a visit from the stork next month, so if I suddenly stop blogging for a bit, you'll know why.

Now back to the tamales...