new year's resolutions

i'm not usually a resolutions type of person.

however, blogging has given me the opportunity to reflect on how my cooking, creativity, technique and skill have developed over time. and reflecting on my culinary life over the last year has made me realize i want to devote more time to improving my culinary skill, technique and knowledge; to not just be able to follow a recipe but to know why foods are cooked using specific methods and mastering those techniques.
to this end, santa has very generously given me these two books for christmas:

the professional chef
and the elements of cooking

blogging provides accountability for devoting time and energy to my passion, so in a year from now i hope to see development in my technique that will allow me to explore and enjoy cooking in new and deeper ways.

other things i hope to accomplish in 2008:

• get over my fear of baking. it can't be that hard, unless you consider that impatience is probably at the root of my baking issues. in which case, it may be very hard.
• take some classes. i'll have to seek out alternatives to the north market's classes, as they are sold out. good for them! bad for me. even though i think my knife skills are pretty decent, like i said, i'm building on the fundamentals, so i may take sur la table's knife skills.
  
• eat more indian food. this is one of the world's best cuisines and i know virtually nothing about it.
• learn to cook something from my relatives in sicily. we plan to travel to italy next summer and visiting family in sicily is top of my list of priorities.
  
• grow something this summer. i need to find a way to make our almost 100% shady back yard yield some produce.
• make stock, the right way. and maybe demi glace if everything goes well.
  
• eat more jeni's. (i just stuck that one in there so i'd be guaranteed to have at least some success when 2009 rolls around.)