New Year's Resolutions

In September, someone asked me whether I would be willing to share my New Year's resolutions for an article that she was writing for a trade organization magazine. New Year's resolutions? I hadn't made decisions on Halloween costumes and decorations, much less contemplated what I wanted to focus on in 2022. And frankly, who knew what 2022 was going to let us do with our lives anyway?

Wanting to be helpful, I started typing a response, you know, saying I wanted to travel more and spend more time with friends and I stopped. I mean, what the hell? Everyone wants to do those things in 2022 - those aren't resolutions, they are activities that I really want to do - not challenges or corrections of personal shortfalls.  I deleted my word vomit and sat back in my chair, disappointed. 

In March, we moved into our home, a home that we built from the ground up during COVID. (Yeah. the timing was less than ideal) We had ample storage for the first time in my life, a large backyard with a raised garden and a gourmet kitchen. But I was failing at using all of that to its full potential. I'm not concerned about our haphazard storage - my plan was to deal with that once it turned cold and we became homebodies. And the garden, well, I had some ideas about that but being a seasonal hobby, I didn't see that as being a focus all year. But the kitchen. The gleaming, brand new appliances. The enormous island that screamed for dough and cookies. That's a year round project.

So, I started typing my honest reply. I am intimidated by cooking. People who have eaten at my house will likely tell you that they have eaten well here and that's because I am good at picking recipes and I have a couple of tried and true food bloggers that routinely steer me the right way. But I have caught salmon on fire more times than I can count. Under cooked cakes because I used a smaller pan and didn't think about the impact of that on cooking times. I burn nuts that I am trying to sugar, curdle milk and forget things like eggs in brownie recipes (we called it brownie brittle). All of these little failures have impacted any small successes I have had in the kitchen and cooking is now a little scary. This year, that's going to change. 

If you're reading this, you might be nodding now, knowing that you have had similar self doubts and wondering if you can assuage them. I don't know that I am going to be successful in this, in fact, it may just prove that I am not meant to be in the kitchen. But, what's the worst that can happen? I burn more food? I catch more oven mitts on fire? Provided I don't maim myself or burn the house down, I'm good. Giddy up.