In My Kitchen, January 2019
Happy New Year, I hope your 2019 is filled with enticing aromas, fresh ingredients and delicious food.
IN MY KITCHEN I’m making New Year resolutions.
Resolution number 1 : Be more disciplined about blogging.
There has been a shift in my daily routine I’m finding difficult to fathom. The indecipherable change happened about 6 months ago. It robbed me of the time for small pleasures like reading, writing, and messing in the kitchen, the stimulus I need to post on these pages. That has to change.
Sony a6500
Resolution number 2: Keep the camera at my side in the kitchen.
I have a fantastic new camera, a super lightweight mirrorless Sony a6500 which replaces my heavyweight Nikon DSLR. The change may seem like a backward step to a serious photographer, but after travelling through Asia with my new equipment, I’m convinced that it’s minimal weight makes up for any the perceived loss of versatility or function. It’s not unusual for me to say in the middle of consuming a meal, “I forgot to take a photo”. There really is no excuse.
cookbooks
Resolution number 3: Use my recipe books for inspiration.
I’m guilty of cycling through a list of safe dinner time options, a never ending list of stir fries, curries, pizzas and salads. I freewheel based on the ingredients I have in the fridge and pantry and while most of our meals are tasty and nutritious, they’re at best, pedestrian. I need some inspiration, some excitement in my kitchen. I need a household menu.
Resolution number 4: Plan and stick to it
As I age I find I’m more easily distracted which is probably accounts for the need for these resolutions in the first place.There was once a time when I used a weekly planner to help me focus, to give my days structure. I even went as far as to create a rough guide to weekly meals which then interrupted the boring dinner circuit I mentioned above.
Resolution number 5: No more excuses, just get on with it.
I have already initiated all of the above. I seriously hope that these changes don’t go in the same direction as most New Year resolutions. Only time will tell……
I am linking this In My Kitchen Post with the monthly international forum hosted by the lovely Sherry @ SherrysPickings. Click the link below to see what’s happening in other food bloggers kitchens, or better still, why not join.
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27 comments on “In My Kitchen, January 2019”
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Happy belated 2019! and good luck with the resolutions. One of mine is to be a bit more pedestrian and use up what we have on hand for dinner. So far it’s been frugal and delicious. Enjoy your new camera!
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Thnaks and happy 2019 to you. So far so good with the resolutions, glad yours are working out
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Happy New year Sandra! Your resolutions have hit home with me, as they have with other readers. I have been struggling with pictures, I also use my Iphone but I am unsatisfied with the results. These days the pictures seem to have become more important than the post itself. Food photography has become a big deal. A camera may be on my 2019 birthday/Christmas list so I will watch you blog for upgraded pictures.
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Happy New Year Liz, photography is in my blood, so somehow using the phone has always felt “lazy.” I’m loving my new Sony mirrorless and while we’re still getting to know one another, at this point I think it was a good choice. It certainly proved to be a great travel camera..
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Sandra, this is stellar advice and I can’t thank you enough for your inspiration. Life has a tendency to slip by unless we’re intentional about it. LOVED your intentions — congratulations on implementing them. You GO, girl! xo
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Aw thanks Kim. I needed to do something positive, life seemed to be all over the place. I think a sense of purpose is essential, that can disappear when you retire…
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hi sandra
happy new year to you! and thanks for joining in IMK this month. i know what you mean about maintaining focus. i get distracted like a small child these days:-) I find things in weird places that i’ve put down for who knows what reason and left sit there for hours. Love the look of your new camera. i only use my mobile camera – i mean in the mobile phone – so my photos are fairly ordinary but it does me. never enough time for everything! the days fly by …. good luck with your resolutions. cheers sherry
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Happy New Year Sherry. You can’t replace the camera phone for convenience but I do get frustrated that it doesn’t have greater flexibility, hence the camera. Keeping focussed is a big issue for me, so far so good with the resolutions
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After years of faithful use from a compact Lumix point and shoot, we upgraded to a larger Lumix DSLR hybrid after the small one failed. It has an excellent zoom but is so big to lug on holidays. I often revert to my phone, which defeats the purpose! Resolution #3 – for me, it’s going straight to the internet rather than my treasured books. I’ll have to ween myself off Google. Happy New Year.
My late addition: http://www.tiffinbitesized.com.au/2019/01/07/in-my-kitchen-january-2019/
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I think we’re all guilty of picking up our phone to google recipes for dinner when really it’s much more gratifying to open a book. I’m keeping a pile of recipe books by the couch and so far it’s working a treat as is keeping the camera in a kitchen drawer. Happy New Year to you too
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Focus! That’s what I need, too—in all aspects of my life. I love the Fresh India cookbook (and her first one, too). Happy new year, Sandra.
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I suspect focus is a victim of the times we live in, thrown out the window because it slows us down. Happy New to you too Michelle.
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Happy new year, Sandra. I hope it is full of delicious food! i would imagine that even your ‘pedestrian’ stir fires and pastas are very tasty, but I get what you mean about needing more adventure in your cooking.
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And a happy New Year to you Anne. It’s Definitely time to give my recent cooking habits a bit of a shake up
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Happy New Year Sandra, and great resolutions! I’m not sure if you already use it, but Eat Your Books is a fabulous resource for using your cookbooks more, I use it almost daily 🙂
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Happy New Year Beck. I think my EYB membership is under utilized, something else I need to make better us of
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The best camera is the one you have with you and if it is heavy you don’t tend to take it or use it. Good luck with the resolutions! Best wishes for a joy filled 2019!
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Happy New Year Ardys, you’re spot about camera weight. The first thing I did when I decided to move on from the DSLR was to weigh it with my preferred travel lens attached. It was 1.8kg. The Sony mirrorless with almost exact same function is a little over 700g. I know which one I’d rather carry around
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Your discipline is really impressive. I like your choice of cookbooks, too — I can see that you’ll be eating very interesting dishes when you cook from them. I’m a big fan of Claudia Roden though I think the book you pictured is published under a different title in the US.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
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Thanks Mae, not sure how long it will last though. I love Claudia Roden’s work and have most of her books. The one pictured is a pictorial excerpt of her New Book of Mediterranean Food
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A wonderful post Sandra. Can I steal your list? I could happily adopt each of these resolutions and have been thinking along the same lines- with regard to more frequent food blogging, taking pics when I’m out and about and using cookbooks more often. I’m in the midst of another resolution- the great freezer emptying to make way for this seasons fruit. There isn’t too much waste this year- most will end up in the compost or go to the chooks. Love the look of that camera- I may be due for an update on my almost significant birthday this month and shall sound large hints. I am really looking forward to your inspiring cooking posts this year. Remember when your daughter Leah ran the Cookbook Guru club? I wish it would come back- I loved choosing something from a book each month and often searching for them in libraries.
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Thanks Francesca and please do. I need to take advantage of the freezer more because the convenience of pre preapred or part prepared meals cannot be over stated. I miss the Cookbook Guru too. Perhaps you and I could cobble something similar together as Leah has well as truly moved on from food blogging. I concluded after discussing it with her, I don’t want to be tied down to the admin aspect.
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Oh Sandra – SO glad to see you ‘back’ ! Happiest of New Years to you !! Somehow I have always believed in New Year Resolutions even if some (hmm!) get broken 🙂 ! You have absolutely hit on my weakness of ‘discipline’ : I know full well what I have to do: so often it is just simpler not to follow one’s plans . . . .may I smile when I say that I DO hope both if us, so close together in geography, but in our separate worlds, somehow manage to fulfil our respective plans . . . for me, I surely hope to hear from you just a tad more often , , ,
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Happy New Year Eha, I appreciate your comments and encouragement and hope we both stick to our resolutions. For me it’s about good overcoming bad habits…
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I can understand the need for a lighter and smaller camera. I used to use a point and shoot that I loved, but now, it’s my iphone. I don’t get the best photos from it, but at least i have it on me, and I can use it inconspicuously. Good luck with everything! and Happy New Year!
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Happy New Year Mimi and thanks, I’ll need every bit of luck to get me through. IPhone has enormous photographic potential, you photos are testament to that. I’m loving the Sony mirrorless and enjoying discovering it’s capabilities. I shifted it to the kitchen last night, now I just need to remember to use it
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