New Year's Resolution

I really don’t do New Year’s Resolutions. They always seem to be about depriving yourself, or making yourself different. How often have you seen anyone resolve to Like Myself The Way I Am, or Stop Trying To Make My Spouse Into Something They Are Not? No, people resolve to make up for perceived deficiencies. I’ll Read More Books, Go To The Gym, Lose 20 Pounds, Donate More To Charity, Volunteer More, Balance My Checkbook More Regularly, Quit Smoking, Stop Drinking, Make More Money, Meet Mr/Ms Right And Not Screw It Up This Time. Bah-humbug.

A study on teh intertubes ( probably not terribly scientific http://www.quirkology.com/UK/Experiment_resolution.shtml) , showed that typically 52% of people who make resolutions feel optimistic about their success in attaining the goals of their New Year’s Resolutions, really only about 12% actually end up succeeding. Now I’ll admit that I would buy a $1 lottery ticket with worse odds than that, but New Year’s Resolutions just seem like setting yourself up for failure on something you really care about. If you want to make a change in your life, make a change, but don’t tie it all up in one big giant all-or-nothing last chance.

All that being said…..this year I’ve got a New Year’s Resolution.

Someone I follow on Twitter who shall remain nameless (@Uncucumbered) had a really great resolution last year– to try a new barbeque sauce every month. Now how cool is that? There’s not even really any pressure, I mean if you fail it just means you don’t get to enjoy barbeque that month!

So, this year, my New Year’s Resolution is (drum roll, please) every month I will add some new dish to my cooking repertoire, whether it be a new recipe I find, or something new I just make up. I’m not saying any of these will be culinary masterpieces, but that’s not really what’s important here, at least not in my mind. And since it’s my resolution, off we go!

Here are the rules:

1. Every month I’ll cook something I haven’t made before, or
2. Cook something I have made before but in a totally different way
3. There are no roll-over recipes, so if I try 2 in one month, that doesn’t get me off the hook for the next month.

I’ve already done 2 new things in January, and I look forward to sharing them!