Eat Drink Man Woman Dogs Cat We All Eat – Why Not Eat Well?

Resolutions are all about charting a course for change.  And I’m hoping to make some positive change in 2011.

I’d like to consume less stuff.  Gone are the days when it was enough to recycle. (In Boise, curbside recycling is much less comprehensive than in Seattle. I do feel really virtouous hauling my glass to the recycling center once a month. It’s very 1970’s.) Letting go of paper napkins was easy. I think paper towels and plastic produce bags are going to be a bigger deal.  I’ve been thinking about this goal for a long time, but reading this article in Sunset forced me to admit I can do a lot more if I try.

I need to do something productive with our food waste. You’ll be hearing more about this in a later post,  but this has been driving me crazy since I got here.  I was used to composing everything and having the city just pick up the bin every week. I can’t stand the thought of all this potential compost heading for the local landfill.

This year I learn to make pizza – really good pizza. I usually produce a great topping, or a great crust, but not both and that’s getting old. I have a friend who has been making spectacular pizza for more than twenty years and I think it’s time I took some lessons.

Ditto for bread. I have a history with bread – mostly sourdough.  I work on it every couple of years and then give up in despair, because the bread I can buy is so much better. It’s time to give the world’s simplest recipe, flour, water, salt  and some type of leavening, another go.

I want to grow more of the food we eat.  I’ve had vegetable gardens of one kind or another, going back to 1996, when I (okay, K.M.), built my first raised bed. But I’ve never really created the kind of garden I want – one that would feed us at least through the growing season. It’s a pretty weird goal to have while we are living in a suburban rental, but, I’ve been accepted as a gardening student with Peaceful Belly here in Boise, and I am hoping that working in their garden will be the spark that finally brings it all together.

I’d also like to post more often. I let last summer get away from me for a variety of personal reasons. But when I don’t sit down to write about this project, my goals slip away from me, and I miss the writing, at least now that I’ve loosened up and decided it’s okay to use the word “I” in every other sentence.

And I really need to improve my food photography. I’m not a half-bad amateur photographer, but  that hasn’t always been reflected in this space. I want to take a little more time, and plan my shots a little more carefully. This means ditching the instamatic I keep in the kitchen and making a commitment to my digital SLR. And I’m going to need a tripod. But it would so worth it to take a picture worth sharing on Tastespotting.

How about you – what are your projects for 2011? Whatever they are, I wish you success, joy and a very happy New Year!