The beginning of each New Year brings on a flurry of gastronomic predictions by food writers, chefs, journalists and diners.  Some of these ideas do foreshadow reality, and more often than not, they reflect the personal wish list of the author.  This year, the climate is more complex, given the unusual marriage of a slow economy, paired with a culinary landscape in America that is unparalleled.  The breadth of restaurants, specialty products, books and food education is currently at its peak, and yet, the economic crisis threatens to curb the rapid progress we have seen in recent years.  It appears that some journalists, rather trying to crystallize a formula out of such complicated circumstances, have taken a more lighthearted approach, while others have held to the tried and true suggestions that typically accompany a shrinking economy.   Reading all of these, I could not help but consider what my own