New Years Resolution Dilemma

New Years is upon us again, and I have been asked about 4 times if I have a resolution to keep.

I do not.

Last year I thought of the ususal resolutions, lose weight, be less temperamental, eat better, go to the gym more, etc. Some I kind of kept, others just fell to the wayside.

I get that January means a fresh start for a lot of people, but do we really need a resolution to feel complete? Why are we so compelled to have something that we plan to achieve but wait until the beginning of a new year to begin to accomplish this?

I think that whenever we decide to set a goal for ourselves, whatever it may be, it should be done when we feel ready and believe that we can accomplish the goal. When we decide to set that goal is irrelevant. You may set a New Years goal to lose weight, but unless you are ready to make the necessary changes, it’s not going to happen. The same with quitting smoking. Unless you are ready to put down that pack and buy some nicotine patches, your chances of quitting are slim. Just because it’s the new year doesn’t guarantee that you will feel ‘ready’ to achieve your goal, or to even begin taking the small steps to get to the starting point.

I commend everyone out there who has set a goal at any point and was able to follow through and achieve what it is they were aiming to do.

I set a goal for myself back in March. My goal was to be kinder to animals by not eating them. Sure, I have the odd bit of fish here and there, but have completely cut out beef, chicken and pork. That was my goal, and I am so proud to have done that. I feel so healthy, so much better about myself, and have taken quite an interest in nutrition and health, and am constantly looking for different things to try, different recipies to make, and just expanding my knowledge of vegetarian cooking. Recently a friend told me that she was quitting drinking coffee and drinking more green tea. She said after the coffee detox (which sucked) she began to feel really good, and reccomended I try it. I think it would probably be good for me to give it a shot, since I am somewhat of a coffee addict. Even if I cut back on my coffee during the week and had a Saturday morning coffee, I am sure I would see improvement.

So, to everyone out there regardless of resolutions: Ring in the new year with happiness. Focus on all the things that are ahead of you, the opportunities you will come across, the friends you will meet, the things you will accomplish. If you have a resolution, I hope you succeed! If you don’t have one…..well, don’t sweat it. I don’t have one either, and couldn’t be happier.

Cookie Exchanges

This past week my coworkers decided to have a cookie exchange. We do this around Christmas, and most of the staff jump on the cookie exchange bandwagon. Last year there were 17 of us, each making 1 dozen cookies for the other 16 participants. This year there were only 15 of us, and we decided to only make 1/2 a dozen cookies per person. Why anyone needs 7 1/2 dozen cookies is beyond me, but hey, I’m not the one who organizes these things. I would be happy dishing out 4 cookies per person. This means less baking for me.

Last year I made white chocolate chip and cranberry cookies, and it was an absolute nightmare. I ended up in my kitchen around 1am, still baking, flour everywhere. I was tired, cranky, drinking coffee like a madwoman so as to be able to stay awake to bake the last 3 batches rather than give my coworkers a bowl of raw cookie dough and the baking instructions, which at the time seemed extremely tempting. Hey, nowhere does it say the cookies actually have to be baked and edible at the time of the exchange.

Did I mention I hate baking? Baking is like a science. If you are off by even 1 tbsp of an ingredient you are screwed. But you don’t know it until your product comes out of the oven. It may look wonderful, but it’s when you take that first bite that you realize that something is not quite right. If you are doing it for a cookie exchange (such as I was) you are then stuck with a double batch of whatever it is you are making that tastes like crap.

This year I had a plan. I decided against the traditional cookies and opted for mini banana breads. I armed myself with a cookbook and headed to my grocery store to get all the necessary ingredients, as well as a mini loaf pan.

4 hours later and I had 45 tiny banana breads. They looked good. They smelled good. They even tasted good! I bagged up 14 little packs of 2 loaves each (I figured that each loaf was the equivalent of 3 cookies) and my husband I did quality control on the remaining loaves.

I am now in possession of 84 different types of cookies. Eighty Four!!!! This includes no less that 3 types of shortbread,  2 batches of chocolate chip cookies, 1 package of fudge, chocolate balls, oat fudge bars, and I have no idea what else. What am I going to do with 84 cookies? Eat them, sure. But even if I have 2 cookies a day that will still take me over a month to eat the entire lot. Just under a month if my husband helps.

So, my December question is this: Cookie Exchanges – A good idea for getting tasty treats, or the worst idea in the history of man?

Here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends, good food, good wine, and lots of holiday cheer.