Wow, is January really almost over? I can’t believe how the time has gotten away from me. I started this post at the same time I was working on my 2009 year in review post, but somehow it got lost in the shuffle. Better late than never right? Here goes.
Steve and I rang in the new year in lovely Santa Fe and we were sure to partake in the tradition of eating black eyed peas on the first for a year full of luck. This was not a simple task, turns out black eyed peas were no where to be found on the menu’s when we dined out. So we had to get creative and warm up a can of beans (which thankfully Steve’s mom had insisted we take with us) in the hotel fireplace.
“roughing it” in our super cushy hotel room
It was probably one of the more memorable meals we had in Santa Fe. The whole production was hilarious and sweet, and I know we’ll laugh about it as we eat black eyed peas in the future.
Instead of making new years resolutions, I thought I would set some goals for myself and for my blog in 2010.
-Entertain more often: There is nothing I love more than to entertain my friends in my home. I know I got this trait from my parents, who have always been wonderful hosts. I have many fond memories from my childhood of cookouts in our backyard for their coworkers, or special dinners for the family around the holidays. In high school, our house was totally the hang out house. And I loved it. I would like to set a goal to entertain at least once a month in 2010. Dinner parties, showers, wine tastings… whatever. I just want to make sure I try and do it once a month. I can tell you that I’m already doing well on this goal because I’ve entertained once in January, more on that soon!
Organize My Recipes: Oh goodness. This one is a doozy. I’m admittedly not the most organized person, and I’m currently feeling a little overwhelmed at the thought of getting my recipes in control. My cookbooks are neatly arranged in our bookshelves, but the stacks of food magazines has gotten out of control. Last year I used all of my credit card reward points to get magazine subscriptions and I now find myself drowning in a back log of Food & Wine, Real Simple, Food Network Magazine, Cooking Light, Everyday Food… um the list gets longer, but I’m actually getting embarrassed, so I’ll stop. I also need to address the dozens of food blogs I follow faithfully. Suggestions on how to tackle these organizational tasks are welcomed!
Make Dinner Once A Week: I fell into a bit of a cooking slump last fall, and it negatively impacted my waistline, my wallet and my blog content. I went WEEKS without cooking anything, and developed a bad sushi delivery addiction. If your new to the blog, you might not know that this waspy redhead works in fund development by day and attends grad school by night. Makes it pretty hard to find time to whip up tasty meals, let alone to document the process for you folks. This year it looks like Steve’s and my school schedules are much more in sync. This will allow us the luxury of eating dinner together twice during the middle of the week. I really want to try my best to make dinner for us at least once a week! I know this goal will be the hardest for me, but I’m going to really try to cook dinner once a week. I think a good strategy will be to make a big meal on Sundays that we can enjoy leftovers from throughout the week. I’ll keep you posted periodically.
-Broaden My Baking Horizons: Steve doesn’t have a sweet tooth. And I sooo do. While I’m pretty proud of my cooking skills, I also know that baking is true passion. I’m a total chocoholic, so intense, rich, dark chocolatey treats are what I’m most often drawn to bake. Steve isn’t so much a chocolate man, and I’m all about strengthening my skills, so this year I’m going to try and bake a broader variety of treats. But don’t worry, I won’t be kicking my chocolate habit all together!
-Post More Regularly: People, I love you! I love that all 10 of you read my blog so faithfully. I need to do right by you. In 2010 I hope to be able to bring you new content at least 2-3 times a week. I would love to challenge myself to post daily, but until I wrap up this masters… that just isn’t going to happen (lest I win the lottery and quit my day job).
I would love your feedback. Feel free to leave a comment here or shoot me an email (elizabeth at the waspyredhead dot com) and let me know what you would like to see more of here on the site.
Happy New Year Readers!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi E! Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy reading your blog and staying updated on how things are going for you. You’ve got a great balance between recipe, entertainment, and personal entries. And your writing skills are fantastic! Keep up the good work!
Sounds like we share many of the same goals for 2010. Numbers 1 and 2 will be much easier for me to achieve once we move into our new (and bigger!) place in two weeks. I can’t wait to organize all of my cookbooks onto shelves in the kitchen. As for magazines, I’ve considered tearing out the pages of the recipes I want to save and sliding them into a binder. Thoughts? As for cooking more often, that one will be tricky for me because both my husband and I will have longer commutes once we move. Hopefully I can be organized enough to plan meals and shop for groceries on Sundays. Wishing luck to both of us!
Just found this site…but the funny thing is ..we live in this great house that my SO built 32 fullmoons ago…we have a very central fireplace..and Gary is cooking steaks over the fire as we speak..or email or whatever. He uses it all the time to grill steaks, fish, chicken etc. So I was intrigued by the black eyed peas over the hearth..thinking ..oooh a new recipe to use..alas its in a can! Too funny…Thanks for sharing..If anyone is interested let me know I will show you how its done!