Cooking, eating and writing my way through the year

The first week of January is in the books, and I’ve mostly recovered from the holidays. Mostly. Looking back, the year feels like a blur, and after reviewing what I actually wrote, I now understand why it flew by so fast.

In 2025, I published 25 recipe columns, each one requiring research, cooking, photographing and, of course, tasting. From Sharon’s Italian Beef in January to Sugar Plums just before Christmas, the kitchen stayed busy all year long. Along the way, we tackled everything from Dutch Baby pancakes and Sunday Cinnamon Rolls to Pretzel-Crusted Smoked Walleye, Cod Poached in Court Bouillon, a third-place chili recipe and more than a few dishes that tested both my patience and my smoke alarms.

If you’d like to revisit any of those recipes, you can find them by heading to our parent company’s website, yourohionews.com, clicking on Print Editions and selecting Medina Weekly. Every issue we published is archived there.

While I loved writing all of the recipe columns, a few came especially close to perfection, at least in my book. Sunday Cinnamon Rolls, Pretzel-Crusted Smoked Walleye, my third-place chili, Dutch Baby/Pfannkuchen and Cod Poached in Court Bouillon are the ones I find myself going back to again and again.

The non-recipe columns may have covered even more ground. We explored the history of chicken wings and where to find the good ones, lingered over meals at Keller Market & Café, cooked with beef tallow, celebrated CSA boxes from Richardson Farms, hunted down the best Lenten fish fries and got a little carried away on St. Patrick’s Day. We talked about ramps and the Peninsula Ramp Festival, farmers markets, grilling season, chili cook-offs, apple cider donuts, Oktoberfest, roasted pumpkin soup, Pizzaween and holiday traditions.

There were memorable events, too – Steaks by the Lake supporting the Medina Arts Council, where I cooked alongside Chef Tony from the Medina County Career Center’s culinary program; the Oddfellows Feast at The Farm, where I cooked alongside Chef Ryan Marino of Corkscrew Saloon; giving away free Father’s Day smashburgers at Richardson Farms; the Medina County Fair and the importance of 4-H; cooking with Kayleigh Keller for hundreds of Wadsworth eighth graders visiting the fairgrounds while she spoke on the importance of healthy eating; and, yes, serving up 17 pounds of my Italian beef at the Oddfellows Halloween party. I also gave a lunch talk to a senior group at St. Francis Xavier and a demonstration on how to make sourdough bread to a senior group at Medina United Methodist Church.

As we head into a new year, I plan to do more restaurant reviews and introduce even more new recipes. Most importantly, I’d love to hear from you – what you want to see more of, what you could do without and what you’ve enjoyed the most.

You can always reach me at karl@medinaweeklynews.com, and I promise I’ll respond.

As always, I urge you to eat fresh, dine local and be happy.