Happy New Year!

Lorrie and I just returned from spending the weekend at a B&B up in Door County. We love it up there and go back whenever we can. The bed and breakfast is the Inn at Cedar Crossing in Sturgeon Bay. We stayed in the Anniversary Room and it was really nice. The restaurant is excellent and we ate there both nights. I had elk the first night and Filet Mignon the second; Lorrie had chicken risotto the first night and halibut the second.

This capped off our week-long Christmas celebration. We spent time with my family and her family while wildly driving all over eastern Wisconsin. Due to the generosity of our families and Lorrie's and my tendency to go overboard when giving each other gifts, it was a good year for Cookies, Et Cetera. Baking related gifts include a Oberon Design leather journal for my culinary thoughts, a homemade apron with a raven on it, a marble pastry board, a Sil-pin,KitchenAid food grinder attachment,and a Cuisinart stainless steel bowl set.

I also have a whole new slew of cookbooks and kitchen references: a membership to Cook's Illustrated online, The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelleby Kate Zuckerman, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchenby Harold McGee, What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explainedby Robert L. Wolke, Oktoberfest: A Fest Feast : A Book of Traditional Recipes,Baking: From My Home to Yoursby Dorie Greenspan, and Grandmother's Kitchen Wisdom Gold Edition by Dr. Myles H. Bader.

Since the new year is upon us and I'm now more prepared, I thought I'd come up with some resolutions and goals for 2007. Maybe some general things to improve on or specific items I can check off. OK, here it is:

• Incorporate more whole grains into my baking. I can still make cookies, muffins, and other sweets while using whole grain flour.
• More work with candy, especially things other than chocolate. I have a little tendency to focus on chocolate and there are so many other things out there to try.
• More fruit in what I make.
• More cookies. I think I need to live up to the name a little more.
• More healthy recipes. At most for every 3 or 4 posts that use a lot of sweet, sugary ingredients or feature an item with a lot of calories, include 1 that doesn't.
• Take better pictures.
• Specific things to make: a tart, a fruit pie with a filling not from a can (not apple or cherry), a custard pie (with meringue), ice cream, a pudding (not Jell-O), something using puff pastry, a torte, something using ingredients from a local farmer's market, jam (and use as a filling), and petits fours.
• Redesign the site. I used the basic template when I started because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do or if I'd be enjoying myself after doing the site a while. Well, I am enjoying it so I want the site to reflect that and me a little more. I will have to put my coding skills to work here.
• Have fun!