New Year’s Resolutions

by julie on January 2, 2010

Part of me really despises resolutions. First, statistically, they’re pretty much guaranteed to fail. Second, why not just change things midyear? I generally just change things as I go along, but as the end of the year (and beginning of a new one) is a time of reflections, I do have a “to-do” list for the new year. Here goes.

1) Relax more. I’ve gotten to the point where my life, between work, home and social obligations, is freaking insane. I need to relax and disconnect a bit. There needs to be more hot tea and baths and books in my future, and less constant connectedness.

2) Improve my photography. I’m still not a fan of bringing in a huge DSLR to a restaurant, but I really want to improve my food photography. Advice welcome on that one (and I do think I want a DSLR of some sort…).

3) Blog more. My travel for work and that whole “I just bought a freaking condo” thing has made me feel disconnected. Reconnect with the blog is a big priority.

4) Lose weight. Food blogging can be hard on the waistline, but with the help of the Losers (re-amped for the new year!) I can feel better (which will help with stress, I’m sure). I’ve done it before and I can do it again.

5) Cook more at home (which will incorporate a lot of my previous goals). I have a great kitchen, easy access to fresh ingredients, and I’m a darn good cook. Why not take advantage? You’ll see home cooking on the blog more, for sure.

6) Take a class at MCI. I’m not sure if I can fit in something like Drew’s Cooking 1 class with my travel schedule, but they have tons of great general cooking classes.  I’ll try one.

So what are your new year’s resolutions?

  • Tim Butz

    Don’t have any specific resolutions, though I do intend to mop up a handful of things that have been hanging over my head a bit too long. But on the topic of resolutions, I offer the following article…not to dissuade, but to assist in setting realistic expectations.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703478704574612052322122442.html

  • http://willflyforfoodblog.com Christina baita

    Good morning! I am working on my debt and also weight. I too think that New Year’s Eve resolutions or more of a self reflections and either you do it or not. You know you need to work out however, one get’s lazy and finds other reasons to not work out. You know you need to save money but it’s so much easier to simply go out instead of cooking oneself.

    If you want to do more at home and still stay connected, perhaps we can do a cooking class at home with the girls and then manicures. Yeah.

    When you are traveling, you can bring your own tea bags and ask for hot water. Bring your Kindle and some noise canceling headphones, sit back and relax.
    .-= Christina baita´s last blog ..Al-Qaeda and the Backscatter =-.

    • http://winemedinemecincinnati.com julie

      that’s a good idea, Christina. I always like my tea better. I need to get some tea bags from Aveda. I love their tea but I’m thinking the loose version might get me frisked.

  • http://www.drewvogel.com Drew Vogel

    The community classes at MCI are very good “intro” classes. Because of their limited length, they must be quite task-focused — teaching execution of a particular menu/etc instead of teaching transferable skills & judgement that you learn in the professional culinary classes.

    Some of the community classes are a bit broader in scope, which is great for developing some transferable skills. The community classes have another benefit — they are less expensive compared to the professional coursework.

    The invitation for you to attend one of my cooking classes as a guest still stands. I am teaching COOKING 2 (Stocks, Sauces, Soups) for the next 4 weeks (these next few classes would be good to attend, as we’re getting into Soups), then will be teaching COOKING 3 (Meat, Fish, Poultry) the following term.
    .-= Drew Vogel´s last blog ..Happy 2010! =-.

    • http://winemedinemecincinnati.com julie

      Thanks, Drew! I really appreciate it. I think if I did a community class, I’d want to do one of the more expansive ones (for example, the one on knife skills and braising) as opposed to one like “Make an Italian dinner”– that seems like something I’d pick up by reading a cookbook or three. I may take you up on your offer– this weekend I’ll be in Vegas, but next weekend may work. What are you teaching that day?

  • http://www.drewvogel.com Drew Vogel

    Yup… ANY community class is better than NO class. It’s less important where you decide to jump in … than that you decide to jump in!

    My own introduction to cooking classes was through a community course taught by Chef Doug. It was a good class — very task focused (when we left each day, we knew how to make one complete menu), and was the hook that got me, well, hooked.

    Class on 1/16 is on cream soups. Very tasty class, that one. Good for flavor, bad for resolution #4.

    Let me know if you’re interested in attending and we can go over details offline.
    .-= Drew Vogel´s last blog ..Happy 2010! =-.

  • http://thesensitiveepicure.blogspot.com/ Erin Swing

    These are great resolutions. I think most of ours cross over to some extent: keep up w/ blog; make time for self improvement; etc. This year for me posses new challenges and opportunities that will force me to keep my resolutions in my internship at Ferran Adria’s Alicia Foundation in Spain: immerse myself into 2 foreign languages at the same time; realize internal resourcefulness with no income; be active & walk with no car; appreciate my husband & family more; and make progress on gluten free baking formulation for those who have to suffer w/ crappy gluten free baked goods. I guess that is the best way to do it: throw yourself into it without any fear or remorse.

    On classes: you really cannot go wrong. Upon my return from Spain I am teaching a class the Party Source “Gluten Free Italian Feast” which will focus more on techniques, rather than recipes. That will be Tuesday, April 20th. MCI Classes are always a good thing. Cookware’s apparently have some great classes, too. My friend, Chef Rhonda Clark (Flash in the Pan) teaches a class on knife skills there.
    .-= Erin Swing´s last blog ..Vanilla Panna Cotta with Blackberry Coulis =-.

  • http://www.vandeneynden.biz/blog Rose

    I just posted my goals on my blog, too. I tend to make broad goals, which helps me to focus on them better and not become discouraged if I get off-track.

    I think your goal of spending more time “disconnected” from the outside world is a vital one. I’d classify that as connecting more with Julie–and that’s really, really important for taking care of yourself. :-)

    Happy 2010! xo
    .-= Rose´s last blog ..Musings About 2010 =-.

  • GERRY

    I just got a new Panasonic Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 digial camera for christmas. It is very nice and has a wide angle lens which means you do not have to step back very far to get a picture of a group or in your case pictures of food. I have had cannon and nikon cameras before and this is the best one so far. Easy to use, intuitive screen instructions and good battery life.

  • missy

    I really enjoy your blog and have become addicted to reading your blog and other blogs listed on your site. I used to be able to click on ‘view all’ and get updates. Any chance on adding that feature back to your blog page?

    • http://winemedinemecincinnati.com Julie

      Where did you see “view all”? I still see it on the right hand side under the blogrolls. Is that what you’re referring to? I did some tweaking over the weekend.

  • http://www.UrbanCincy.com/ Randy Simes

    You don’t necessarily need a DSLR to get high quality photographs. A simple point and shoot camera has many terrific settings that can be used to your advantage to take excellent photographs. The trick is to hold that camera steady in low light situations when you don’t use a flash. You can set the camera on something (i.e. purse or whatever) to help with this since you most likely won’t have a tripod on you.

    Also, if you get something like Photoshop Elements you can do some post-processing work in a jiff and make average photographs look a lot better. Elements costs less than $100 so it is a much more economical way to get to high quality photographs than buying a DSLR camera which will cost you several hundred dollars at the least.
    .-= Randy Simes´s last blog ..3CDC makes transformative impact over last decade =-.

  • Robert Muncy

    Julie did you hear the Vinyard in Hyde Park closed??? I saw a twitter from the guys over at uncorked. Wondering if you heard anything.

    • http://winemedinemecincinnati.com julie

      I heard– not sure of details, however.

  • amyb

    Julie,

    Am just now reading your post on NY resolutions. I coordinate the Creations community classes at MCI. I’d be happy to make recommendations, or if there’s something you really want to take and could get some friends to attend, I can put that on the Spring schedule. Let me know–dm me on Twitter @baydar or email direct.

    thanks and Happy New Year!
    amy

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