So, it’s January 26th and I’m just now posting this annual ode to a new year. This feels a little like this area I know where you drive into Missouri and they wait until you’re like 100 miles in before you see the welcome sign. But I’m going to just dive in.
Last year, I set some goals. I stated at the time that many of them couldn’t be achieved in a year and boy was I right! I set a goal to improve my Spanish. I did a pretty good job on this one. I’m still working on being more comfortable conversationally, but I’ve definitely worked on it. While I didn’t do it every day, I’m currently on a 172 day streak! There was that time I went to Spain and skipped like a whole week…because I was practicing with live humans! Mi Español no es perfecto, perro puedo hablar mejor que el año pasado! I’m hoping to have practice sessions this year with a friend who also wants to work on her Spanish.
I also set a goal to build my business. I’ve definitely done that one. My business revenues grew exponentially this year and there is a plan brewing to take new steps to really keep growing, in a little different direction than I envisioned last year. I can’t say more about that now, but more to come later. But this year, I added a business credit line, a merchant card processor service, and I ended the year by signing a contract with a service to help rebuild my website and help me with marketing. My goals this year include taking that new step I mentioned and getting comfortable with the Spanish and really offering services in dual languages.
Okay, for the blog I set a goal to post at least weekly plus the food diary. I kept the food diary pretty well. Unfortunately, I didn’t post a lot otherwise. We only have so much focus and so much was going on with the business that by the end of the day, I just had no energy left to put into the blog. I’m kind of sad I didn’t do better on this one. I have a long list of blog ideas jotted down and I so need to get them on the page. Also, blogging is really good for me. So, this year, I’m going to set the same goal. I want to try to post a blog a week in addition to the diary. Although, I don’t know if the diary will keep going. We’ll see. For now, I like having it.
I also set some cooking goals last week. I was going to get to that Russian cookbook and try to improve my Indian and Thai cooking. I’m not sure I cooked anything Thai, and I definitely didn’t touch that Russian cookbook. But I did do some Indian cuisine. My favorite was definitely the daal and naan. Those were huge hits with the family too. I tried a red lentil thing and definitely prefer green lentils. I also did some curry recipes and those were damned good. This year I really want to figure out that Korma dish without coconut milk.
I didn’t get to the prime rib I’d hoped to try, but I did do a ribeye roast in a prime rib style, and it was pretty good. I also did manage to get to that rack of lamb. It was heavenly and I would definitely do it again. I also managed to cook a duck by the end of 2020. That wasn’t even on my goal list. I might try it again. Honestly, the roasted duck was meh, but the broth I made from the carcass is amazing and adds so much flavor to everything I use it in. This year I’d like to get to that prime rib and maybe try that duck again.
I don’t know if I developed many recipes this year. Don’t get me wrong, I tried some off the cuff stuff and it was great, but I didn’t spend a lot of time writing them down or posting recipes this year. I’d like to set a goal to post at least 10 recipes in 2022. I have several that I just haven’t put on paper because they need another test run. They were close, but just not exactly what I wanted. So, I’ll make them again and then I’ll share them!
So, now, do I have any other new goals for 2022? I don’t know. That seems like a lot already. New business adventures, improving my blog productivity, making new food, and writing recipes. I think I’ll leave it there for now. I hope 2021 brought you some joy and I hope 2022 is going to bring us all even more joy.
Foodie's Delimma 