persimmonfrost | On resolutions, New Year's and otherwise

I read this post this morning, and it really hit home. I'm a food hoarder. I could be said to be a hoarder in other respects, though I honestly think I'm more acquisitive than truly a hoarder. If I keep a lot of useless stuff around it's because I'm lazy, not because I fear what might happen if I get rid of it. It's where food is concerned that I get uptight. I don't even really eat as much as I used to, and yet I still over-buy when I'm shopping because I might need or want or crave certain things. And much of it rots in my refrigerator.

Now that's my own issue and I need to work through it, but I thought that since I hit upon this article on New Year's Day, I would make a short-term resolution based on what the author is doing. I resolve to live on what I have in the house through the month of January, with the exceptions of some perishables from the produce and dairy sections, but even then, only what I absolutely need.

This morning, over breakfast -- Mimosas made from leftover Veuve Cliquot, coffee and a quiche Florentine, because sweets? Ugh, had enough of those these last few weeks -- the housemate and I pored over a pair of cookbooks that Meester Jim gave me for Xmas. (I have to tell you, we made out like bandits in the cookbook area this year.) Both were from NPR's list of the year's best cookbooks (Specifically "Cook This Now"' and "Ruhlman's Twenty.") and the former is broken up into seasons, and then into months, using what's in season at those times. I looked over half a dozen of the January recipes and realized that with a couple of exceptions, all produce, I have everything I need to make about four of the recipes. One a week? Yes, that's another thing I need to do, I need to commit to actually cooking on a regular basis. I need to plan my meals. So we're going to try one recipe a week with what we have in the house with a bit of produce bought because I have plans to use it, not because I might use it. Sensible.

There are other, good-for-me thoughts about the future, things I want to do for myself, things that will expand my world, apropos of this post I made a while ago. Read more, eat better -- this one I've framed in an old practice where I would decide to get to know one unfamiliar fruit or vegetable every year. I learned a lot while I was doing that, but once a year isn't enough. Glinda and I are going to explore one fruit or vegetable every season. Something we don't like, something we don't know much about, or perhaps just new ways of enjoying things we know and love. But the point is that we'll be expanding our knowledge and possibly our tastes, and that's always a good thing. And if we plan for it, we won't bring in a lot of crap that will rot in the fridge. We will have focus.

That's not a bad resolution when you come to think of it. In 2012, I resolve to have more focus in my life. To see things more clearly, to see myself more clearly, to stop kidding myself about my shortcomings (You have no idea how hard it was for me to admit to being a food hoarder because it touches some really deep issues about food, weight, money, emotion.) I resolve to talk though my responses to things, (Don't worry I'm not going to share. I'll work through them in my head. I know you guys don't want to listen to my issues; I don't want to listen to them either, but I have to.)

I resolve to think better of myself.