Resolutions

Many of you know that I used to work, once upon a time, for a major culinary retailer in the States.  You also probably know that I love pottery, dishware, tabletop and cooking tools.  What you probably didn't know is that while I worked at that job that I really did love a lot, I didn't get to do much cooking.  Cooking for one person is really not that inspiring, and I worked long hours.  It was mostly easier to grab something quick or pre-made instead of cooking.  And the clean-up!  Yikes.

In my new life, I have found that I have been exploring cooking much more now that I have more time on my hands.  Often the Hub gets in late and really appreciates it when I have dinner on the stove or in the oven, waiting for him.  He can forgo the airport food and we have a chance to sit down and chat while we eat, together.  I have instituted a rule in this new life, and it goes like this:  "If I cook it, we sit at the table and eat together".  I feel like if I put in the effort to plan, cook and serve a meal then it and I deserve that.  In our first year here, we explored our neighborhood eateries.  We are lucky in that we have Thai, Greek, Turkish, Italian, Vietnamese, Indian, Bavarian, and Chinese restaurants (to name a few off the top of my head) in our immediate neighborhood.  But, this year I felt as if some at home cooking was on, well, the menu.

In general, it would be very safe to say that I am not any good at resolutions, ones that come in the beginning of the year especially.  I tend to abstain from these sorts of things~I mean, really, why set yourself up to fail?  It all seems like a vicious circle-one makes a resolution for their betterment, they have all and only good intentions, they start out well enough, and before the end of January they have given up in defeat, feeling really cruddy about themselves.  Ugh.  No thanks.

So when the words "my resolution for this year is..." popped out of my mouth while talking with my mum the other day on the phone-I was surprised that I had put it out there in a public way. Not that the resolution is one with boundaries and unattainable goals, because it's not.  I just am not a resolution kind of gal.

The picture heading off the post is my first attempt at a roast chicken-lemon and garlic in the cavity, olive oiled and seasoned on the outside.  Easy peasy.  And yummy.  So good, that I turned it into soup the next day!

The above pic is while it is simmering-I had just added the noodles...and the carrots and celery were starting to soften.  But tonight is where the real beauty shot comes in:

We ate the soup in our polish pottery soup plates that I bought at the festival this summer and talked about in this post , along with some hearty sunflower seed bread.  The bowl above is one of my favorites~you can't see it, but it has bee skeps on it.  Aw, heck, here it is empty, with another of my favorite purchases from that trip:

I think that when you have pretty things, cooking is more fun!  So wish me luck on this cooking adventure, and I hope that you will enjoy being along for the ride.