Cooking through 2009

New Year’s resolutions come in various shapes and sizes; levels of commitment and duration. They seem to involve lots of diets, based on what’s in the grocery ads around the first of the year.

Resolutions aren’t something that I usually intend to make. However, last year I resolved to track what I ate in an attempt to lose the last 10 pounds of baby-fat from my three-year-old- and discovered the link between gluten and my health. I still haven’t lost the weight. At least I haven’t put any more on. There’s always 2009. Or 2010.

I do hope to cook my way through a couple of cookbooks this year: the first is James Peterson’s Splendid Soups http://tinyurl.com/86w2fy . It was a gift from my Grandmother. Well, sort of. She’s 102- she doesn’t get much shopping done these days (thanks, Uncle Doug).

I have taught from James Peterson’s fish book, and found it to be somewhat unreliable. My understanding from fellow chefs is that the soup book is a solid book. And let’s face it- soups are forgiving. The photos are bright and enticing, and the recipes are clean and easy to follow: just what I need to motivate me on gray January afternoons.

The second is Diana Kennedy’s From My Mexican Kitchen http://tinyurl.com/8d8yt5 . I don’t own this book, but since my local library is my second office, that shouldn’t be a problem. This is a techniques and ingredients book, so if I run out of recipes, I might have to actually purchase a Diana Kennedy book. I have space on my bookshelf now that I gave away some of my flour-covered baking books. Sigh.

I selected these for my sometimes series, Cooking Through, because they meet the most important criteria for me; they are topics I am interested in. Most recipes in both books can be made fairly economically, and both have many recipes that appeal to my family. Both books also contain lots of recipes that are naturally gluten free, or can be converted fairly easily.

My resolutions? I resolve to enjoy what I eat this year. No low-carb-vegan-low-fat-artifical-sweetner-metabolism-boosting-run-for-three-hours-on-the-hamster-wheel diets. I resolve to be more patient. I resolve to find more space in my life to sit and meditate.

Life is too short for things that just don’t matter.
Best wishes to everyone in whatever 2009 brings to you. May you find what you most desire in the New Year; be it more of something, or less.