Here’s the thing. Sometimes follow through on my cooking and crafting goals loses priority over… almost everything else. 🙂

Still, I have high hopes for this year. Or, maybe I should say that I have practical hopes for this year. This is what I’m going to focus on (with maybe a little exposition – it wouldn’t be an blog without exposition, right?):

Cooking

For Christmas I received a desserts cookbook, BraveTart, from my sister (thanks, C!), and I’ve already tried a couple of the recipes with success, and I want to try more. But I’m not going to be able to just make desserts for the whole year, no matter how much I may want to, or how much my coworkers may enjoy it! So, I went looking for other options. In the process of reading through my Italian cookbook, and a couple others I had laying around, I came across a small notebook that had my Grandmother’s handwriting. It’s filled to the brim with all sorts of recipes, desserts, salads, main dishes, appetizers, and more. I’m so excited to try some of those! So here’s the plan:

• 20 new recipes
  • 5 from Essentials of Italian Cooking
  • 5 from BraveTart (probably won’t post the recipes themselves, as they’ll either be in the book or on a website I’ll link)
  • 5 from Grandma’s notebook
    • Stretch goal: Make them Grandma’s way, posting about the experience, then maybe update them a bit…
  • 5 from anywhere

Crafting

I want to up my enjoyment a bit more, so instead of waiting for a gift opportunity, I’m just going to make what I want when I want. So bring on the stuffed animals, bags, table runners, picture albums and collages! 🙂

• 2 new bag patterns
• 3 new stuffed animals

Here’s to a new year, new challenges, and remembering loved ones along the way.

How are you going to stretch yourself this year?