Happy New Year

Oh!  The New Year has arrived and I am sure many of you are out there resolving all kinds of things.  Do’s and don’ts promises and vows.  Oh, how I feel for you all.  I gave up resolutions years ago because of the guilt. All I do now is list the things that I should do then I put the list into a drawer and forget about it until I “accidently” stumble across it the next year.  At that point it is to late to worry and, wah, lah, no guilt!

This would have continued to work well except now I have greater responsibility to you, my readers.  So it is because of you I have broken with tradition and will set down some resolutions that, maybe we can share.  I will call these my “when possibles to date for 2008 “.

“WHEN POSSIBLE”
1. I will sharpen my knives weekly and not blame my wife for their dullness.

2. I will use as many “real “ ingredients as possible, i.e. cream, butter, chocolate, so my guests and I remember there is a difference.

3. I will use fresh parsley, mint, and chives, grind fresh pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon so I can appreciate their origins.

4. I will teach my children that all bread is not white and that people who eat marshmello fluff every day may get brain damaged.

5. I will look at and appreciate the beautiful and varied colors of vegetables and herbs and try to remember it was man that said “We look at flowers and eat vegetables”.

6. I will remember it is my job, also to shine all that copperware I love so much.

7. I will not let supermarkets sell me what they think I need which includes all aerosols, because they cost twice as much as the same item in a spray pump bottle.  Anything whipped, like butter or cream cheese, remember, the size of the container goes up with the price but the quantity of the ingredient goes down.

8. I will not buy anymore old kitchen gadgets, grinders, or other food related items at flea markets. ( I had to put this in so my wife would let me continue going to flea markets ).:>)

9. I will continue to dine out at least two nights a week, so we encourage our food establishments to be successful and strive to keep us interested in their fare.

10. I will continue to use each season’s bounty in the way it was meant as there is no other way to truly appreciate a regions’ culinary gifts.

I think I have set forth enough responsibility for this next year.  If, somehow, I live up to these  I am sure I will be a better person for it.

To end this New Years’ blog I would like to tell you about a ten cent frame I bought at a flea market.  The size was 3X5 inches and the message inside written in quite old, beautiful script, said, “It is usually the fellow who doesn’t know any better who does the things that can’t be done.  The poor fool doesn’t know it can’t be done so he goes ahead and does it”.  I was so impressed with these sentiments that I have used them on my holiday greeting cards.  I think they are words to live by.

Oh! I got a new puppy for my Christmas gift his name is Cooper.