But I will not be deterred. MY Thursday Thirteen still stands, and when they get their act together I'll do the appropriate linking. So, I thought I'd share some of what I'm hoping to do in the food/nutrition/health arena in 2009. Some are ambitious, others not so. Mix it up, I say.
1. Continue to blog about food, but get healthier along the way. Gradual steps toward whole foods, less processed, for the whole family.
2. Be experimental in the kitchen. Perfect the omelette--either using Bittman's method or Pepin's, or maybe I'll come up with something all my own... Finally make my own marshmallows. And madeleines. And lavender lemonade (with my own lavendar).
3. Find more local sources for foods and ingredients. Shop where local sources are promoted.
4. Make a grocery budget and stick to it. Stop the spontaneous and impulse purchases, which are rarely worth it.
5. Expand the repertoire of foods Seth can cook on his own. He will have input on this, of course, but it's time to move beyond scrambled eggs and pesto to some of his more ambitious tastes like choux pastry (cream puffs!) and gelato (those were his two first requests). Note the sweet tooth; this apple did not fall far from the tree! But I'm also looking for him to be more self-sufficient in the kitchen, less dependant on "Mom, I'm hungry, what is there to eat?"
6. More and improved home gardening to expand our local food sources! I need to be more consistent in the care of the garden all the way through the season and preserve the overflow. (I have a tendency toward giving up around the middle of July--pathetic I know--when it hits 105 degrees in Walla Walla and I'm all about shade and air conditioning.)
7. Get recipes posted to foodgawker and/or tastespotting. Join foodbuzz. Be a part of the food blogging community.
8. Figure out a way to get the fig trees growing/living/thriving and not eaten by Ruby. This may prove to be the most challenging goal of 2009!
9. Continue to work on recipes that are in my head (from catering days) and get them out on paper, tested and scaled for normal proportions (as in, who needs chickpea salad for 50? Not most people, and not me, anymore!).
10. Pare down my recipe books and food magazines, decide what's really important and what will never be used and finally break the cord and get rid of them... even though it feels pretty painful to think about.
11. Food photography. While tangential to food itself, and more related to the blogging, I feel keenly about improving the quality of photos on my blog. I have some ideas on how to do that, and fellow food bloggers have been good about posting their tips, so I will take advantage of that. And then there's just practice, practice, practice!
12. Embrace Michael Pollan's mantra of: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. (Sher's version: Eat REAL food, not plastic-corn-chemically food. Portion control, please! And a steak every once in awhile is fine, just keep it local.)
13. Exercise more. I'd say "daily," but that might be a little too ambitious. But almost any exercise will be more than what I'm doing right now!
I love blank pages, fresh starts and clean kitchens ready for the next adventure! Wishing you and yours a yummy and wonderful 2009.
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1.) KEEP those books!! (store them in your crawl space if you must. There will be something in one of those books you will remember and then want later.)
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3.) Carefully prune your fig trees. Cover them with netting. This keeps critters and birds out. Also, put a tar-type formula on the trunk at the base, so critters don't climb up it. (see your local nursery for details). I prefer the mom and pop nurseries that have been around a long time. They know more than anyone else.
I am the same way with my garden. I am already getting my seed catalogs. This year I am going to plant heirloom tomatoes to try them, and plant far less tomatillos. I planted six and wasted half of my harvest out of sheer lazinesss. Three plants is enough for canning two dozen jars of green salsa. Oh, I have so many hopes and dreams for eggplants....but I can't get enough sun. My Aunt grew great eggplant in your zone, you lucky duck. Ah...now I'm going to go blog. You've inspired me!!