New Year Food Resolutions

Happy New Year!

I am not really one for making New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I don’t think I can remember the last time I made any. However, I often decide that I should start to do more of this or more of that in my foodie life. So, I decided to make some food-related New Year’s resolutions, as it will be a useful way to record my thoughts, and interesting to see if I actually manage them.

So, in no particular order, in 2012 I would like to:

1. Grow Better: I already grow a lot of food, but this year I resolve to try to be more organised in the garden, so that my stuff  gets sown on time, and I actually manage to reach the holy grail of good successional planting.
2. Go on a permaculture course, hopefully to help me with number 1
3. I am going to investigate more asian and middle eastern food. I was lucky enough to get a book of recipes from the Philippines, from a friend of mine, but I want to understand more about Thai, Vietnamese, Philippines, Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Lebanese, Afghani, and many other cuisines from these regions.
4. I am going to source and try to grow Morning Glory to help me with number 3, but I will be otherwise adapting the recipes to use ingredients that I can source locally.
5. I am going to cook bread more regularly. I love making bread, and actually a lot of it can be quite easy. I have made some wonderful English muffins that don’t require a lot of proving, and make the perfect brunches. I  have made spelt bread that takes two hours from the time you tip the flour into the bowl to the time you take it out of the oven. With just a little planning, bread baking need not be an arduous chore, and it need not take hours and a lot of kneading. Expect this to appear on these pages sometime soon.
6. I would love 2012 to be the year I manage to source half a well-reared beast, and butcher it myself. However, I would need to go in with friends on this venture, so I may also need to find some friends with a large freezer!
7. I want to continue on my adventures in brewing. Elderflower champagne is a must for this year, but I also want to try my hand at beer from scratch, and many other things. I also intend to brew me some interesting vinegars this year, from start to finish.
8. I am absolutely going to eat at Heston Blumenthal’s Dinner, but would also really love to give Michael Caines’ Gidleigh Park, Matt Moran’s Aria, Marcus Wareing at the Berkley, Ron Blaauw, La Rive, Marius, and Ciel Bleu a go. I intend to go back to Texture, which I thoroughly recommend if you are looking for a high-end London restaurant. I also want to start blogging about them here.

There are many other things I want to dabble with. I am currently being persuaded by friends to get into supper clubs, which I would love to try, but I am really scared of doing, but who knows, maybe 2012 will be the year when I pluck up my courage. However, the above list seems to be enough to be getting on with.

So have you made any New Year’s food resolutions? What are they?