We are just a couple of hours away from 2025 (and some of our Members are already in the new year), so it's time to reflect on the past year and look forward to our aspirations for the next. In 2024, I wrote that my intentions were to make more high reward/low effort recipes and to make better use of kitchen tools. I'm happy to report that I achieved both; I found a few recipes to make use of my oval cookie cutters and I made a lot of snacking cakes (thanks in no small part to Snacking Cakes by Yossi Arefi). In 2024 I also winnowed my cookbook collection, and my main intention for 2025 is to read or re-read every one of the books I retained. That is about 400 books so it is ambitious, but I am not holding myself to an in-depth dive on each volume, just a refresher as to what the book contains.
My related secondary goal is to tag at least one recipe from each book with the "I want to make this" bookmark on my EYB Bookshelf. I'll bet you can guess what my third goal is: to make more recipes from said bookmarks. Finally, since I received a lovely hardbound notebook from one of my coworkers, I plan to keep a journal of what I make. These goals are flexible because some of my cookbooks are more inspirational than practical, and because real life has a tendency to get messy. I may never make anything from Alinea by Grant Achatz or Room for Dessert by Will Goldfarb, but it's still fun to look through the pages for ideas on flavor or texture combinations. Likewise, while it is a grand idea to keep a journal of all of my cooking and baking, I know that sometimes I will forget or be too busy to document every recipe.
Allowing yourself grace when setting goals or intentions can help you stick to them. If, for example, you say "I'm going to make a new recipe every week" and then you miss a week, it's easy to give up because it seems like you have already failed. However, if you instead set a goal of cooking 50 new recipes, you can "make up" a missed week so you don't feel defeated just because a certain number of days have passed. I prefer not to set hard number goals because that fills me with anxiety, but I know that other people are more motivated by picking a number and working toward it rather than having a vague intention.
What are your cooking, baking, and/or cookbook New Year's goals? Did you achieve what you set out for your 2024 intentions? Oh, and Happy New Year!
15 comments
VeesVersion
I hope to follow suit. My Dacor range of 3 years has hung up on its ability to provide heat as of Christmas day’s demands. I’m extremely grateful for EYB’s extensive resources on stovetop venues. A fix is on the horizon for my range, I’m hoping against hope. 2025 must be a GOOD year, it just must.
JimCampbell
I try not to set resolutions for myself these days, and for a lot of the reasons you outlined.
This year I will take to heart a couple of the ideas you have put out. One is to re-visit the cookbooks in the collection. Another is to identify a recipe in each cookbook to cook. I thought about whittling down the collection from it's current 1530, but each time I review a cookbook, even an older one, I seem to see it through a different lens, and I always see something new, and, wonder why in the dickens I marked some of the recipes I did the last time I looked at the cookbook. I usually chalk these up to "I must of been in the mood for....."
Happy New Year EYB!
LeilaD
matag
I have so many tried and true recipes but I’m bound to try more new rethink year!
JaniceKj
eliza
Rinshin
Looks like I made 40 new recipes from books, magazines or blogs found on EYB. I probably made about the same number of recipes found elsewhere too.
My cooking is getting simpler with age. Since my husband is not a dessert person, I make very few desserts now. To get my sweet craving after dinner, I eat one Sander's sea salt caramel chocolate.
KarenGlad
averythingcooks
EYB is now a "lifestyle" (or better word??) for us...I can't imagine not having this resource that I use everyday so THANK YOU for all you do.
noumena12
I created a Goodreads cookbook reading group called "Cookbook Reading Group"...I know...inventive huh?!? But it is a great way to track my goals.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1260337-cookbook-reading-group
Julietcooks
dbuhler
Based on the discussion here I think I am also going to set a goal to read one cookbook a month to help me get into my books more. I do love reading my books cover to cover but I've gotten out of the habit of that and I would like to get back into it and one a month seems very doable. Good luck to everyone in their goals and hopes for this next year!
Jane
averythingcooks
A recent day of meal planning had me read several comments on potential recipes...that turned out to be me :)
TeresaRenee
For the past several years I’ve had a general “eat healthier, eat more vegetables, use more recipes from my cookbooks” goal. Our grocery stores keep adding produce I have no idea what it tastes like or what to do with. I’d like to try new fruits and vegetables to see if I’m missing out on something delicious. Definitely a challenge that EYB can help with!