I’m sure I’m not the only one looking forward to seeing the back of 2020. It’s been a universally shit year for everyone, some more than others. We’ve made it to the end though, just about, and although 2021 is likely to start no different to how 2020 ended, I’m hopeful that by this time next year, things will have changed. For the better, I might add. And who knows, we might have more chickens!
Usually, I write a list of new year’s resolutions – things to quit, impossible targets to achieve. they rarely work. I’m still addicted to crisps and no closer to a svelte size 10 than I was in 2015. So this year, I’m not going to list out what I want to improve, what I want to stop , the weight I want to lose. Instead, I’m going to make some positive goals. They won’t be written down and I won’t hold myself accountable or admonish myself if I fail.
Family and friends
If there’s one thing this year has taught us, it’s to keep friends and family close. If not physically, emotionally. So that’s what I’m going to work harder on doing. Texting my friends, my Nanna, my parents, remembering birthdays and the little things. Just generally be a more communicative version of myself. And that’s it really. Face to face time right now is an absolute treat and when it returns, I’ll try not to take it for granted.
From a food point of view, it would be nice to go out for dinner again. Since March I’ve been out three times. THREE TIMES!! But that’ll come in good time. And zero travel, just one night away at my mum’s! Who even am I?
For now, I’m settled into a much slower pace of life, slow cooking, gardening, chilling for yet another night on the sofa. And I’d say it’s done me good. I’m one for saying yes, even at the expense of my own energy levels and so, having cut back to just a full time job, podcast and blog without everything else, my life feels achievable. I’m sleeping, reading and spending a lot of time in my garden! Muddy boots, hands and face seem a standard part of life now.
In the kitchen
Perhaps this will be the year I finally start using my pasta maker? It’s been int he cupboard for several years now. I’m also keen to get better at being more self-sustainable. Not just with the vegetables we’re planning to grow in our garden but in other, more imaginative ways. For example, recent podcast guests inspired me to start growing Koji to make my own miso and soy. I’ll get back onto my fermenting and pickling journey too and make an effort to carry on eating seasonally and locally as we’ve done over the last few years. And I’m encouraging Dave to get back on the sourdough train.
I’ve enjoyed spending time in the kitchen, cooking many recipes from my myriad of cookbooks, finally making sauerkraut and coming up with more and more ways to eat the eggs our chickens are laying daily.
So there you have it – some loose goals for what is likely to be yet another wildly different year to those we’ve known before. Do you have any new year goals? Food or otherwise? I’d love to hear them and perhaps we can help each other along too?