A brave decision by Springwood native Rachel Roberts to blog every detail of her attempts to cook all recipes in the 2015 De Bortoli Calendar - even if she made a meal of them - has already caught on beyond her wildest expectations.
And it's only the second week of March.
Absolute honesty and much humour have been the hallmarks of her cooking experiences so far.
And while there have been some proud success stories when cooking the recipes for January and February plus a nervy practice attempt in December, Ms Roberts has been happy to blog about her disasters in the kitchen too.
"I have to date almost burnt my hair off, went close to scalding my left arm leaning too much over the oven, set off fire alarms - I'm always desperate for a glass of the recommended De Bortoli wine that matches each dish by the time I've finished serving dinner to my guests," she said.
Ms Roberts - who divides her time between her Potts Point apartment and her childhood heritage-listed house in Springwood, complete with an antique and fully-functioning Simplex cast iron wood-burning stove - said she was always thinking, talking and dreaming about food, and approached the De Bortoli family about tackling its cooking calendar solo and writing about the experience, having tried the challenge five years ago as a team of four friends.
"I decided to use platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to post about my progress and the De Bortoli family were so supportive they created an entire page on their website devoted to my journey.
"Since then it's just taken off.
"Highly-regarded chefs from across Australia have jumped on board by agreeing to contribute recipes for entrees and desserts to accompany whatever main meal I happen to be cooking from the calendar.
"Matt Moran [ARIA and Chiswick restaurants] gave me a prawn and fish pie which I managed to burn in January and Colin Selwood [The Cottage Restaurant, Scone] provided a fig tart recipe for dessert in February which I accidentally dropped onto the carpet in the dining room.
"Matt's going to help me out again for my September dinner I'll be cooking and serving in Seoul [South Korea] by coming up with a recipe based on a strange idea I had . . . a fish lamington.
"Matt just looked at me and said, okay, I'll get on board with that.
"I'm thankful for all their support.
"There's probably a bit of the curiosity factor in it for them too, in terms of how I actually go attempting to knock it off."
Among her most successful cooking adventures this summer were making Emori De Bortoli's zucchini salad matched with De Bortoli's La Bossa sauvignon blanc and a traditional Italian warm summer pasta served with a glass of Yarra Valley Estate chardonnay.
Ms Roberts' De Bortoli recipe challenge for March is zucca alla parmigiana with a bottle of La Boheme.
Helping her out this time will be Bar Hugo mixologist Bobby Aydogan "who will try to teach me how to make a matching cocktail featuring citrus foam", Claire De Lume with her mini souffle entree suggestion and Omri Godjin who will be assisting with dessert.
To follow Ms Roberts' cooking journey, visit www.debortoli.com.au/cooking-the-de-bortoli-calendar-2015.html.
