Musings and the talk of resolutions, randomly stated

It's been over a month since I posted last and then I only posted once when I actually promised to post multiple times. We all see how that turned out. I have lots of reasons for not following through with regular posting in this blog, none of them really good enough except for one. Ten years ago I started crocheting a blanket for my daughter, who was five at the time. I gave up on the blanket and carried on with other business. She's been harrassing me for years about finishing blankets for others but not for her. This holiday season I decided to finish it and present it to her on Christmas Eve. It is no longer her style, pink and purple hearts, but she was very surprised and delighted to see this blanket in the box. It was a true labor of love. Adding up the hours it took me to complete this, the total comes to 65. Combine those hours with my full-time job outside of the home and my full-time job taking care of my family and you can clearly see why I had no time for blogging.I really don't care to look back at the past year and obsess over what I would have done differently. I don't care to look back and see if I have any regrets. I don't have time to focus on things like that. It is far more productive to look at accomplishments, to look ahead and plan for more good things. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you cherries, make a pie. We're dealt good things and bad things in life and it's up to us to turn all of these experiences into something positive. As for resolutions, I say that I hate them, but I always make a mental list of things I would like to do better, things I would like to accomplish. I'm not bound to stick to a mental list, it's not something someone else can read and I can make changes as I see fit without having to make apologies. What are my resolutions? If tell you, I will have to kill you.

This morning I sit in my living room, with my tiny little dog curled up in a tight little ball beside me, there is a fire going in the fireplace and a pile of cookbooks at my feet.It's friggin cold outside, but I am determined to keep my furnace as low as possible to keep the electric bill from exploding off the charts. My coffee is getting cold as I type. I'll reheat it when I am done. My handsome husband and my lovely teenage daughter are on their way to visit some of their family. I get to be here. I was up early with them this morning and while they were preparing for their journey, I cooked beans that I soaked last night. In the pressure cooker they take less than five minutes to cook. There are pinto beans simmering in the crockpot with onions and garlic and these will later be pureed into a lovely mash and frozen, ready for burritos whenever the mood strikes. The smell is heavenly.

Later today I will make up a couple batches of black bean burgers, cajun red bean burgers and my all-time favorite lentil burgers. Seitan and veggie pepperoni logs will be next. For lunch I will be making my favorite Mushroom-Barley Bake, the recipe for which I will be posting probably later today.

I finally sat down the other day and watched Julie and Julia. I love the movie, thoroughly enjoyed it, and will be watching it again today. Since I am alone, I may watch it twice. I think it's cool that Julia and Julie were both secretaries in a government agency and they both married nice guys. I am a secretary in a government agency and I married a nice guy. And food is our passion. I couldn't have found a movie more befitting. While I won't be going through a cookbook and making every single recipe and then blogging about it, the movie did inspire me to get my rear in gear and get started on a few things. Like the book review I promised my lovely friend Mylene from My Face Is On Fire. It's in the works, M, I promise. Now that the blanket is done I can focus on this and many other things.

The movie also inspired me to pick out a cookbook and start going through it. Other bloggers I know have done a cookbook challenge, opening up a cookbook and making one recipe a week for X-number of weeks. I am going to do this. I have a book I want to make serious use of, a book I truly love, but have only made two or three recipes out of it. I will talk more in a post specific to the challenge at a later date.

I asked myself one day why I do a blog. It's mainly a parking a space for all of my favorite recipes, a place I can come to find them if I forget. There's also the off chance that someone out there may find it, read it and learn something from it. I love to cook and I love to eat what I cook and I love to share it all. I also have the added bonus of a few friends who take time to read this blog now and then. Thanks to those of you who do take the time to read this. I think that's pretty cool.

My coffee is cold and so is my nose. It's time to put the coffee in the microwave and stoke the fire. The sun is shining, such a beautiful day to cook and then curl up on the couch with something hot to drink and watch a great movie. If you read this whole thing, thank you. You're awesome.