Foodie Goals I Met/Failed to Meet in 2010

So, we're come to that time of year when many people like to look back and see if they've managed to accomplish any of the things they set out to do over the last twelve months ... If you're me, however, you kind-of grit your teeth and only allow yourself quick, sideways glances back over the year! 2010 was a bit of a doozy and there was much of it I would as soon never experience again.

Seriously, 2010, you were pretty shit. Yes, you brought me solar panels and a sweet slow cooker. You also brought me to the attention of more doctors and surgeons than any one woman wants to see in her lifetime and, oh, I begrudge you that. Solar panels and slow cookers don't begin to make up for it.

Anyway, for 2010, I picked ten foodie things I wanted to try (or get better at). In a blind fit of optimism, I said I would:

1. Add more interesting fruits and vegetables to our diet
The is was mostly a fail. We're eating more fruits and vegetables than ever, but we tend to eat the same ones over and over again -- we basically find something we like and eat it until we are sick of it.
2. Experiment with yeast doughs
What possessed me to write such a thing? Yeast breads come from the bakery!
3. Explore more kinds of sustainable, safe seafood
While I try to buy "best-choice" fish (as defined by Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch), I am not always as careful as I should be -- more out of laziness and "who's going to know?" than anything else, unfortunately.
4. Learn how to make sausage
Well, I've ground beef and borrowed many library books about home sausage making ...
5. Make home-made yoghurt once a month
Not even once in the past year.
6. Make meatloaf more often (per The Husband)
This I did succeed at. Score one for me!
7. Master my food processor
Was doing quite well mastering the machine, but then I was given a julienne disk in November and I just cannot master it. I have ruined so many carrots and potatoes on that spinning disc of Fail.
8. Try cooking different kinds of whole grains in my rice cooker
Still haven't gotten beyond pearl barley and different kinds of rice.
9. Use my cookbook collection more
Succeeded pretty well with this -- mostly because I ran out of bookshelves and had to weed my collection!
10. Use my slow cooker once a week
Oh, this I did brilliantly. Haven't used my slow cooker so much in years and have gone from hating it to thinking it is my favorite small appliance! It helped that The Husband gave me a new, smaller slow cooker larded with very useful features like a timer and warm setting. Still using the ginormous, unsophisticated old one for soups and stews, though.

I do not feel I accomplished nearly as much as I hoped, but I made a start and plan to continue with these goals into 2011. So help me, I will master my julienne disk and I will bake yeast bread.