Why I Gave Up on New Year's Resolutions

We've all made them:
"I will lose weight."
"I will be organized."
"I will be a better, kinder, gentler person."
"I will be more thrifty."
And on and on and on it goes, ad infinitum, of things we will do, should do, and have the best intentions of doing and never do. I'm breaking up with you NYE resolution. It's not you, it's me. The minute I promise myself I'm going to do something to improve my life, the self-destruct sequence starts counting down in my head. I self-sabotage, avoid, procrastinate, and ignore the promises I made to myself.

Not this year! Because I refuse to fall prey to the resolutions ploys of "it will be different this time," and "I'm a changed person."  Lies, all of them.  This year, I have projects.  They have deadlines, but they are relatively relaxed, and if I don't complete something within the timeline, it's ok. I can't use them as excuses to beat upon myself because they have absolutely nothing to do with my health, my finances, or my attitude (well, sort of).  They're fun. They're satisfying. And I have chosen my projects because they will feed me in ways that I know I am lacking.  I am not feeding my little feathered thing that perches in my soul very well, and it has turned evil and is plotting revolutions and mutinies on my well-being. It also has a potty-mouth when it comes to my self-confidence. I am rising up and cramming art and writing and creating down it's crabby little beak.

My first project involves all of them and it is a project in itself. And it's this. My blog. I have another blog, Eatie Gourmet that I was faithful to for a while and then it fell by the wayside. Then, I created one specifically for a particular NYE resolution and it had one post on it. ONE. So, obviously, you can see how that went. This project is to just commit to one blog, and write about everything in this one blog. So, your going to see the progression of some of my other projects within this blog (how meta).  It's also designed to keep me honest, and keep me going on the rest of my endeavors.  There will be a little bit of everything here: art, food, writing, personal journey, and libraryland stuff. So, if one of those things doesn't interest you, just skip it. Note that I presume that there will be people that will want to read this blog. How vain of me. It matters not. What matters is I have a place to put down my thoughts and feelings, my frustrations, my triumphs and failures, and hope that somewhere, somehow along the way I learn something. And if you want to follow along in my journey, because face it, humans are naturally voyeuristic, then do so. I promise you will at least find a couple worthwhile recipes in the flotsam and jetsam.

So, my other two major projects are:
1. Each month, I choose an artist, and by the end of the month I have to have at least created one piece that is inspired by that artist. Be it technique, medium, subject matter, or outright emulation, it will correspond to the artist in some way.  I will probably do research about the artist, because it's what I do, and for my own guidelines I'm insisting that the final piece be larger than 8x12. I am notorious for working small, and need to expand my size and get out of my habit of tight, precise art that I end up overworking or hating. My friend Pamela is doing a similar project, in fact, it was her idea, so credit where credit is due.  It's a brilliant idea.

2. I have an unnatural addiction to amateur cookbooks. You know the ones I'm talking about - the St. James Lutheran Church, the Ladies Garden Society, the Lutheran Women's Aid Society, the First Baptist Koffee Klatch.  So, I want to start cooking my way through some of the cookbooks I own and collect the best of the best.  I also would love to try and find some of the ladies that might have contributed to these cookbooks. When I read their recipes, I can't help but think about their lives. Were they Depression babies? Were they children of Depression babies? Did they survive multiple wars? The Dust Bowl?  The Farm Crisis?  Why did they choose this recipe above all the others?  Did they think it was the best tasting? The easiest? Or were there fond memories attached to this recipe?  In the process, I want to collect recipes from my Facebook friends and make a FB Friend cookbook that everyone can receive digitally.  But I'm going to ask for the stories behind them. Food is a powerful memory trigger for many of us, and I want to dig deep in that phenomenon, and have a cookbook that I can treasure and pass down to nephews and nieces someday.

So here's to keeping me honest.  And my projects.  And burning all those love letters that Resolution sent me.

Rumaki

                                          Evening Luau - Trevor Carlton

In 1934, a restaurant called Don the Beachcomber opened in Hollywood, California. The proprietor was a young man from Louisiana who had sailed through the South Pacific and was captured by the culture and exotic beauty of the region. His restaurant featured Cantonese food, but the decor was really what captured people's imaginations.  Rattan furniture, hibiscus prints, and torches and leis.  Then, in 1937, Victor Bergeron opened Trader Vic's and Tiki Culture was born. 

Tiki culture surged into popularity after World War II, and remained popular well into the 1970s, but truly the height of the tiki culture was the 1950's and became part of the defining iconic imagery of mid-century America.  Les Baxter, Arthur Lyman, and Martin Denny popularized tiki culture through jazz flavored with Polynesian, Asian, and Latin rhythms, and tiki art began to appear.  

Asian and Polynesian foods became popular at cocktail parties, but many of them were altered because of the lack of ingredients, or they were simply created. Rumaki is one of these dishes. There are some that attribute the invention of this appetizer to the Beachcomber, and some who claim that Trader Vic's is where the dish originated.  Either way, there is nothing Polynesian, Asian, Latin, Thai, or any other nationality in this dish.  It is 100% American.

Marinated chestnuts, chicken or duck liver and bacon comprise the whole of this simple, but delicious appetizer.  However, in the Midwest, strangely the chicken liver disappeared from the list of ingredients and it became solely bacon and water chestnuts. Nevertheless, when set before a group of friends on New Year's Eve, they didn't last long enough for me to snap pictures.  It is a simple, and surprisingly elegant appetizer, and it is no wonder that it had remained popular for so many years.  It is often included in the appetizer section of many of my local collected cookbooks, and I am disappointed in myself that I didn't try them sooner, because they truly would have been in my regular repertoire, as tasty and easy as they are. 

The recipe that I used is from a cookbook called Specialties of the House, of an unknown date, though it is most likely from the mid-60s. And, ironically enough, it is a cookbook not from the Midwest, but from Manhassett, Long Island.  It was a fundraising cookbook for Our Lady of Grace Montessori School.  I went to St. Bernard's Montessori, so I feel a little bit of a connection to this cookbook on a variety of levels.  

Rumaki 

1 C. soy sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1/8 ginger 
2 8 oz. cans water chestnuts, drained 
1/2 lb. bacon 

Mix soy sauce with sugar and ginger. Cut bacon slices in half. Wrap bacon around water chestnuts, secure each with a toothpick. Marinate 4 hours or longer, can be marinated overnight, in soy sauce mixture. Then broil at 425 degrees F.  If you like, serve with teriyaki sauce for dipping. Watch them disappear. 

Honestly, there is enough marinade that you could probably double the amount of water chestnuts and bacon. And believe me, you wouldn't go wrong having extras, because these probably won't last more than 10 minutes. You could also make these more high end and add the chicken or duck liver in these.  I'd be interested in trying prosciutto instead of bacon, but the high salt factor might be too overpowering for the sweet.  I also debated marinating the chicken or duck livers separate in Worcestershire and honey then assembling the rumaki.  

Enjoy!