Since my last post many months ago, many adventures have occurred, jewelry has been created, and hundreds have been fed from the fruits of my kitchen.  My mother learned she had ovarian cancer, endured aggressive chemo, broke her hip, and is now in remission.  My father in-law passed away, my daughter turned 16, and my son turned 18.  I've watched dozens of tennis matches by my son, Mitchel, and thankfully, he committed to University of Northern Colorado's tennis coach to attend there next year. (Yeah!)  Since my last journal post in March, I've traveled to Grand Cayman, New York, St. Louis, Kansas City, Joplin, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Los Cabos, Del Ray Beach, Toronto, New York (again), Bologna, Italy, Athen, Greece, Santorini Island, Dallas, and Phoenix.   It was a fabulous year, and I look forward to more adventures and opportunities for learning in this new year, 2012.  

I'm not one to make "new year's resolutions" for a variety of reasons, but I have decided to make a few changes, including downsizing on clutter, organizing my kids' memorabilia, reading my bible more often, attempting to be calmer, being a kinder wife and mother, and using my cookbook collection much more than the internet when trying new recipes.  The latter of these changes will be discussed in detail on this blog throughout this year.  I have many cookbooks that I dearly love to look at and dust off, but seldom use for the actual recipes.  My goal this year is to prepare two recipes from each book that I currently own, and write about them on this blog.  I've already made two recipes from Anne Burrell's newest book, Cook Like a Rockstar, which my sister gave me for Christmas.  Both the grilled pizzeta and the big fat chicken soup were a hit at my house, but the pizza was voted the best, and the soup was not something anyone would beg for again.  This week I plan to cook from Ina Garten's Barefoot In Paris to "kick off" the planning of our family European trip this summer.  My teenaged kids are picky eaters, and I'm trying to get them excited about French food that they will actually eat.

So, here's to a prosperous, fun-filled, and flavorful new year!  Let's get it started..........