Happy New Year! With 2012 behind us, a new year of adventures begins. I’m not a big New Year resolution person. Like most people I vow to lose weight or eat healthier, and it sticks for a bit. One of my favorite things about a new year is watching how crowded my gym becomes (can it really fit that many people?!) and then seeing how quickly it tapers off. By the end of January, at the latest, things are back to normal and my favorite machines are wait free.

Rather than creating a set of resolutions, how I’m going to “live better” in the new year, then beat myself up for breaking them all, I thought I’d take a different approach. It’s impossible to live perfectly all the time, to say you’re going to do something, and follow that regimen day in and day out. Instead, let’s set some goals as to what I want to achieve or try this year–food related of course.

When I think of new things to try, two things pop into my head–making new recipes and eating at new restaurants. Both food related, it becomes hard to blend the two. It’s much easier to show up at a restaurant and eat your heart out than it is to break out that new kitchen gadget and spend hours making something new. When making something new you actually do feel a sense of achievement, while when eating someplace new, well, you really just feel full and satisfied. So I’ve decided I need TWO bucket lists. What I want to make and where I want to eat. I’m thinking if I put it all out here on the internet, it’s published and PERMANENT. Hopefully someone (thing?) will hold me to my lists. Let’s keep it to 10 each. Better to under promise and over deliver I always say.

PS, you have to promise not to laugh at the Restaurant List…I know there’s a few Brooklyn joints that it’s pretty pathetic I haven’t been to yet.

Brooklyn Locavore’s 2013 Kitchen Resolutions

1. Actually use my mini blow torch to make Crème Brûlée rather than just toasting marshmallows

2. Dust off that Cheese Kit and make some cheese!

3. Attempt to make Sourdough Bread

4. Break out that Ravioli attachment and USE IT

5. Learn to make rich flavorful broth like I just had at Talde

6. Make an entire meal from scratch (including bread, beverages, condiments, etc)

7. Make 1 recipe from each of the 40 cookbooks I own, including the Eleven Madison Park cookbook

8. Figure out creative ways to use all that jam I canned this summer instead just eating toast

9. Master 3 favorite takeout dishes (Pad Thai, Chicken Tikka Masala, Egg Drop Soup)

10. Get my hands on some venison and make something amazing

Brooklyn Locavore’s 2013 Restaurant Bucket List

1. Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare

2. The Good Fork

3. Buttermilk Channel

4. Traif

5. Governor (RIP due to Sandy, but visit their other venture Colonie)

6. Beer Table

7. Bistro Petit

8. The Vanderbilt

9. Seersucker

10. Pok Pok NY

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