Happy New Year 2012!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you had a great Christmas and New Year. We did. Now the festive season is over, its time to look at resolutions. Here is mine from last year and whether I achieved them or not.

1. Post on my blog at least once a week – managed most of the time except for when being pregnant/having a newborn baby prevented it.
2. Get fellow bloggers to get post on my blog and do some guest posts for people in return – did not really happen.
3. To create a regular series of events for the Midlands Food Bloggers (with help of fellow Midlands based bloggers) – managed one main event with a couple of smaller events. Plans for more in 2012.
4. To set up a blog for the Midlands Food Bloggers with a list of members, people/companies who support us and get people to regularly contribute - was set up in March 2011, looked after by myself and Louise of Comida Y Vida.
5. Make more use of the lots of cookbooks that I already own – did not really happen.
6. Expand my cooking repertoire – I now know how to make pasta so want to start making it regularly and cook more seafood dishes – have cooked a greater variety of dishes, not really seafood dishes though.
7. Get better at food photography – my Dad is making me a food stage with a white background so that I have something to put my dishes on to take a photo of them. Stuart and I have just purchased a second-hand Canon EOS 400D Digital SLR Camera, so with practice I am hoping that the images on the blog will improve. – I am hoping this has happened. I think the images have improved but do you, my readers agree?
8. Meet Sarah and her goats at Brockhall Farm - I met Sarah but not her goats at the Ludlow Food Festival in September.
9. Go to The Wild Garlic Restaurant in Dorset - I went there twice but have only blogged about it once.
10. Take part in more blogging challenges especially Fresh From The Oven and Forever Nigella – managed a few at the start of the year but did not really happen once I got pregnant. Hoping for better in 2012.

Therefore, my resolutions for 2012 are:

1. Clear the large backlog of posts I have including my day learning to make bread at Loaf, my visit to the BBC Good Food Show Winter 2011, my visit to M Kitchen and various review posts.
2. Keep making Midlands Food Bloggers bigger and better and host many more events in and around the Midlands.
3. Start up my own monthly blogging challenge (details to follow as soon as possible) and try and take part in as many others as possible.
4. Keep improving my food photography.
5. Go to Simpson’s Restaurant in Birmingham.
6. Go to BritMum’s Live and get sponsorship to attend.

That is it for my resolutions this year. Not as many as previous years but am hoping they are all achievable. I will be back as soon as possible with details of my new monthly blogging challenge.

Happy Cooking!