Pie Lady wrote:
How did everyone else's resolutions turn out?

I'm batting around .500, but Ive made some progress on all my resolutions:

Make more bread and pasta from scratch

Done. I've especially gotten much more comfortable making pasta from scratch.

Start a blog

I still have three days left for this one, and I do have a Blogger account set up (I think I set it up in 2008).

Do a few complete recipes from French Laundry or Fat Duck cookbooks

Done. I did the Beef Royal and Braised Pork Loin/Belly from Fat Duck, as well as the Steak w/Chanterelles/Potatoes Anna/Bordelaise Sauce, Lobster w/Leeks/Potatoes/Beets, and almost all of the oils and stocks from French Laundry. I have a lot of respect for both cookbooks, but to me they're more learning experiences than cookbooks.

Do a better job planning my garden (and build a hail defense shield for it)

Done. Much better luck with my garden this year (despite the Squash Bugs).

Build an outdoor brick oven

Still awaiting Donna's sign off on this one.

Forge a Chapa

I actually made some progress on this. For starters I learned that I need to cast it, not forge it. I learned to make molds this summer and cast a few lead and brass pieces. I'm hoping to have this one done in 2013.

Cook a whole cow on a spit

Another one with some progress made. The cow is going to be the easy part - throwing an event with enough people to eat the whole cow is trickier. Right now it looks like this may be happening in central Indiana next summer.

Attrill wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:
How did everyone else's resolutions turn out?

I'm batting around .500, but Ive made some progress on all my resolutions:

Make more bread and pasta from scratch

Done. I've especially gotten much more comfortable making pasta from scratch.

What kind of pasta maker, do you suggest/use?

pairs4life wrote:What kind of pasta maker, do you suggest/use?

I've been using the attachments for the Kitchenaid mixer, although I mostly just use the rollers and then slice by hand. Overall I've been very happy with it, but it can be a pain to clean it.

Also, a lot of what I've been making has been ravioli. I buy a lot of primal cuts of meat and end up with a lot of meat to grind.

Attrill wrote:

pairs4life wrote:What kind of pasta maker, do you suggest/use?

I've been using the attachments for the Kitchenaid mixer, although I mostly just use the rollers and then slice by hand. Overall I've been very happy with it, but it can be a pain to clean it.
.

I've been wondering about the kitchen-aid attachments. I think we are the only married folks who didn't get the pasta maker as a wedding gift 11 years ago.

pairs4life wrote:I've been wondering about the kitchen-aid attachments. I think we are the only married folks who didn't get the pasta maker as a wedding gift 11 years ago.

You're not alone.

Every item I pack and put in the freezer must be labeled and dated. I got sloppy with this and ended throwing out food as I did not know what it was. I have those little freezer labels but i have to use them!

I really want to learn to cook more creative vegetarian and vegan dishes, to get to the point where I am as comfortable throwing together a great vegan or vegetarian dinner as I am a dinner with meat. I am going to try compiling recipes from cookbooks and the internet and be deliberate about cooking with a wide variety of ingredients. I want to go beyond stir-fries with tofu, or example; understand what to do with seitan and edamame; cook more with beans and rice; expand my regular rotation of veggies to include more kale, collards, parsnips, butternut squash, etc.

I'd like to get to the point of eating meat in any form only two or three times a week. I just read Mark Bittman's book, Food Matters, and think his plan of eating vegan until dinner could be workable for me. I've already learned that I actually like soy milk better than cows' milk -- who knew? And I love vegetables, I just need to get comfortable with lots of new recipes so I can be as creative with veggies as I can be with meat dishes.

(By the way, what a badly written book, has anyone else read it? I agree with most of what Bittman says, and yet I found myself annoyed as hell by his writing.)

If you like vegan food, or vegetarian, maybe explore Indian food. They have really perfected the art of making vegetables tasty. Most other vegetarian food I have had is boring unless is has a lot of cheese. Not so with Indian food.

I also need to use my kitchen aid pasta attachment. Have not used it yet.

I eliminated a bunch of recipes from my file, and I'm down to 1304 from 1450+. Maybe I can get it down to 1200 by 12/31/13?

I did not post it, but one of mine was to acquire and learn to use a pressure cooker. I did the first; the second, not so much.

I have also been somewhat better about writing down recipes for the dishes I throw together, which was the resolution I posted upthread. Now, of course, I have to be better about not losing them once I write them down. I usually scrawl on a piece of paper in the kitchen, and I don't always get around to entering them into my computer.

toria wrote:I also need to use my kitchen aid pasta attachment. Have not used it yet.

Let me know if you want to get rid of it.

Pie Lady wrote:I eliminated a bunch of recipes from my file, and I'm down to 1304 from 1450+. Maybe I can get it down to 1200 by 12/31/13?

Done. I'm down to 1198. But can I make it to 1000? We'll see.

I still have not made the onion soup from scratch but I did clean out my old spices and rid my cabinets of old food.