the list: final wrap-up

this year has, without a doubt, been fabulous. i'm sitting here searching for the perfect words to sum it up, but i'm becoming convinced those words don't exist. or, at least, i don't know how to string them together properly. so, instead, i'll give you a quick rundown on how my goals turned out. that's why you're here anyway, right? :)

1. host a party. in october i had about a dozen people over for a Pumpkin Slaughter. we had a great time and proved that my house CAN hold more than five people. :)

2. attend a series of cubs games. this did not happen. beth & i drove out to denver, but only went to one of the four games. we decided to spend our time & money having fun in the mountains instead. so ... defeat, but definitely worth it. even if the cubs lost miserably at the game we attended.

3. organize my recipes. done! thanks to a nifty three-ring binder and some page protectors, my recipes are easily accessible and logically categorized.

4. take a trip with marlana for our 30th birthdays. so amazing. ireland is amazing. the scenery was amazing. our accommodations were amazing. marlana is amazing. i would not have traded this trip for anything. i can only hope we celebrate 35 with the same panache.

5. on time bloodwork & med refill. done! i'll need to get to the doctor in the next week or so to stay on time, but i did well this year.

6. secret. this was accomplished, but i'm leaving it a secret. :)

7. use my dehydrator. done! i used my dehydrator to dry both chicken bones & apples for halloween decorations. next, i'm trying some jerky.

8. finish catch 22. finally done! granted, the book is still sitting on my night stand, exactly where i tossed it when i was done ... but i finished it!

9. carry the french fry embargo through the end of april (with an exception for ireland). may 1, 2009 would have marked one year without deep-fried french fries. i made it until march 29, 2009 (excluding ireland). i had french fries in ireland, which was allowed, but i enjoyed them so much i had to eat them when i got back, too. :) almost 11 months though; that's impressive.

10. blog 260 times. done! did you get sick of me?

11. hang out with dave. done! dave came to the Pumpkin Slaughter!

12. secret. this one i will reveal. :) my goal was to take a photo a day for the entire year. the result? 342 photos. i only missed 13 days! i think that's pretty amazing. and you can see them here. if you view them as a slideshow, you may want to click "show info", as a few of them do have captions. i plan to continue to add to this photo album. and possibly even add older photos - one from each day i shot pictures. it's an interesting glimpse.

13. photograph the alphabet. done, three times over.

14. blog the tasting of a variety of cheeses. alright, it wasn't the "year of the cheese" as i'd hoped, but i did my best. :)

15. add three bloody games to my game closet. done! Falling: The Zombie Edition, Gloom and Unexploded Cows.

16. host a bloody game night. jonathan, laure, beth & i did some raucous bloody gaming in may.

17. send Christmas cards. done!

18. finish watching all the movies alan alda appears in that are available from netflix. done! it took me 8 months, but i watched 23 alan alda movies this year. and i love him more than ever.

19. take a trip to colorado. i spent a good long weekend in colorado this summer, and it was fantastic. i got to hang out with jonathan & laure. lynn came down to meet us, so we got to spend together. beth & i got to drive up through the mountains. *sigh* i could live in colorado.

20. plant some vegetables. last month i thought about burying a baby carrot in the dirt with my houseplant, but that seemed like cheating. :)

21. take a trip by myself. total defeat, and i'm okay with it. while i would have enjoyed a weekend away by myself, i was able to do so much traveling with friends this year that i could never complain. i wouldn't have traded a single one of those trips for a weekend by myself.

22. crochet a scarf. done! and the tree in my front lawn in warmer because of it.

23. eat pizza in 10 different towns/cities. done! this wasn't as easy as i expected, but in the end i actually hit 13.

24. make a muffuletta. done! it came out so tasty for new year's eve that i made baby muffulettas for hanging out with friends the next week.

25. journal my 30th year. done! well, mostly. :) it needs a couple of finishing touches (like a cover), but it's mostly ready to be bound.

26. attempt a traveling journal. can i count NaBloPoMo? there were 15 of us participating from around the country ... i have to be able to count that.

27. participate in illustration friday six times. done! and i had a lot of fun while doing it. even if it did make my blog pop up when my name is googled. ;)

28. finish a quilt for myself. at the beginning of the year i pointed out that i have three quilts for myself started right now. surely i could finish one of them, right? nope, shirley, apparently i couldn't. :)

29. customize the recycled table in the living room. another goal that bested me. other than moving the table into the living room & putting a plant on top, it's still the same as it was when i brought it home.

30. work on the california photo book. it's not much, but i do have the 500+ photos narrowed down to about 75 photos. and i have those 75 printed as thumbnails so i can pick my finals. i decided i didn't want to start printing full-sized photos until i finished the trip (before my 36th birthday). that way i could lay out the entire book at once. but i made progress. and that's all i was looking for.

now, onto the list for the new year ... :)

clog: butterkase & emmentaler

and the two cheeses that started it all: butterkase and emmentaler.

okay, so the cheese blogging was sad. but i did try some new cheeses. and learned that cheese is expensive. and, technically, accomplished the goal. :)

two days 'til my birthday!

clog: goat cheese

today's salad was garnished with goat cheese. i do love goat cheese. it's soft and moist. (moist. moist. moist.) flavorful, but not overpowering.

i want to try baking goat cheese. i saw a recipe that included roasted red peppers and olives. yumm-o.

clog: cotija

according to wikipedia, "Cotija is a hard cow's milk cheese that originated from Mexico. It is named after the town of Cotija, Michoacán. Cotija comes in two primary versions. El Queso Cotija de Montaña or "grain cheese" is dry and firm, with little taste beyond salt (the cheese is usually several times saltier than typical cheese, traditionally for preservative reasons). "Tajo Cheese" is a moister, fattier, and less salty version of the cheese that holds its shape when cut, with a flavor similar to Italian Parmesan and Greek Feta."

i'm going to say that chili's uses the latter cojita cheese on their tacos. and it is good.

hnf: food weaknesses

carbohydrates are my biggest enemy.


i like potatoes. i like them baked, fried and boiled. mashed, au gratin and buttered. hashbrowned. twice baked. i like them regardless of color. red, yellow, white, purple. i like potato chips. i crave the crunch, especially of a thick cut, kettle cooked chip. the salty, greasy feeling that left on my lips. mmmmm.

i like doritos. cool ranch, taco, sweet & spicy, nacho ... i like them all. i can polish off a bag in no time. and not feel a twinge of over-indulgence until i wake up the next morning feeling like i chewed a sock all night. and even then, i know it's worth it. i'm actually salivating a little bit just talking about them.

i like bread. toasted with butter & worcestershire sauce. grilled with melty cheese inside. holding together a tasty burger. smeared with garlicky butter. topped with pizza sauce, sausage and cheese. sliced thin with butter & chocolate. toasted into croutons for a salad. dipped in egg & fried for breakfast. bread is a beautiful thing.

the worst part of it is, i stink at moderation. when i have pizza one day, i want it the next day, too. and the day after that. and i can't just eat a serving of doritos; i want the whole bag. and if there's a bag of croutons in the house, most of them are eaten straight out of the bag.

and now you know why i don't keep bread in the house (unless it's in the freezer. out of sight, out of mind) and why i refuse to buy salty snacks for get togethers more than a day before i have people over. it wouldn't last until they got here!