I seem to make the same things over and over again. I'll have to check out a bunch of cookbooks from the library and photocopy a bunch of recipes. Then, actually make the dishes in them.

Then I look up recipes online to use those things - I like AllRecipes.com since I can search by ingredients for recipes and read the comments for tips on making the recipes better.

preserving/cooking. We want to have a better garden in 2016 and make better use of our land. We also want to preserve more foods and decrease our need to depend on Kroger. Last year, we had good luck with field peas and green beans and were able to put a large amount into the freezer to see us through until next summer. We would love to have more tomatoes. 2015 was a very bad year for tomatoes in Georgia. We want to have more peppers and squash. Gardening and eating go hand-in-hand in my family and we hope to do better in 2016.

In the Pacific NW, every year is a bad year for tomatoes, unless you are lucky enough to have exactly the right sun exposure. Even then, they don't much care for chilly nights.

When it gets above 95 degrees, tomatoes stop setting their fruit. When I gardened, I would have two crops, one that died out in July, then another that I planted in August for fall tomatoes. The only steady producer would be the little cherry tomatoes.

When I lived in Alaska, I tried to grow tomatoes keeping them under plastic except for sunny days when it would get in the 70's. And I had a heat coil in the soil. It was a heart breaking experience. I did get tomatoes, but they were sour pitiful things.

I had the best luck growing tomatoes when I lived in Western Kentucky. Had them from July until frost in November. I canned and canned all those lovely tomatoes, felt like I was capturing summer in a jar.

Given that the single most disgusting cookie in the known universe is the fig newton.

They in no way resemble the commercially made fig newtons. A completely different cookie.

Plus I love figs.

The commercial version is all I know, and it is horrid.

It's mainly just the two of us now and there are lots of restaurants I'd like to try. We usually cook 6 nights a week and raccoon the other night. Eat out every now and then.

As for the kitchen, I need to pare down again. I have stuff I never use and I'd like to organize the stuff I do use in a better way.

i'm not a master chef, but i can make some tasty food. baking, however, is something i don't have a full grasp on. my cookies are ok, my brownies are passable and my no-knead bread is good (hard to eff that up, though).

my gluten-intolerant sister gave me her bread books for christmas and i can't wait to get started.

I need to bake more bread, and learn how to get the different consistencies (chewy, airy, or crusty).

I'm ticked that I can't find a decent bakery where I live, so...time to learn and experiment this year!

i live in the land of gentiles.

Reduce food waste.

Use my kitchen appliances more.


Cher