Part 1 of 28

Last year was the year of monthly resolutions, which for me worked pretty well. It turns out I could do a lot of things daily on a short term basis. I didn't completely build or change all the habits I was after (I still don't exercise every day, and I still don't eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables every day, I must confess), but I went some distance toward the changes I wanted. This month we repeated last January's theme of no buying anything new (with two exceptions: Jim bought a camera-related app for his iPod touch, and I bought some dinosaur-related presents for a five year old's birthday party). And this February, I'm going to repeat last February's resolution of a post a day. Because it's a short month! And there's a lot going on!

We also have had a habit of eating out too much, which I was going to say was a bad habit, but probably not according to the restaurants who've been getting our money. We cut back on that a lot this month, and I even tried to do a week with no grocery shopping, cooking entirely with what had been lingering around in our pantry and freezer for an indefinite period of time. I didn't make it a full week, though our pantry does have fewer old oddities in it.

It's pretty easy to cook at home regularly once you...start cooking at home regularly. We have a lot of (yawn) standards, and those standards are matched by a lot of frozen meals from Trader Joe's. Jim and I agree it's time to add a couple of dishes to the menu. I got a Jamie Oliver cookbook for my birthday (thanks, J.!), and we have yet to try any recipes from that, and there's also the second Jacques Pepin fast food book, which has gone largely untested so far. Yep, lots of new cooking to do.

So, while I am not saying that my post a day resolution will result in a recipe and/or food report per day, I am hinting that I hope to include a couple of posts about food, including a couple of recipes. See, I have given myself something easy to write about! Now keeping my resolution will be a cinch! In that spirit, look for Jim's famous (and my favorite) catfish recipe tomorrow.