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Well, it’s 12/31 so I might as well check in on how I did with my resolutions for the year. So, here we go:

Project 52 – Made it through half the year but fizzled out. Planning a wedding and finding time to take artistic shots was much harder than I thought.

Lose 10 pounds – nope and it was a battle throughout the year to stay at a decent weight.

Get married – DONE and DONE

Travel to one new country – French Polynesia + Singapore!

More wine corks – Yes, a lot! Especially if you count wine from the wedding.

No gambling – no Vegas, no problem!

No raw denim – 2 pairs purchased. Oops!

Gmat prep course – post-wedding this definitely did not happen. Maybe 2012?

Expand my network – I was better about it, but there’s always room for improvement.

Looking back, I would say 2011 was a great year. Getting married and a wonderful honeymoon and trips to St. Louis, NYC, and Singapore/India made it a fantastic year and to top it off, we now have a dog! Although I didn’t take enough photos or bike enough, I’ve cooked a lot more and am thoroughly enjoying it. As I think about 2012, a definite theme will be frugality. 2011 was good, but 2012 should be better!

I realized I haven’t posted much lately. I am long overdue for an NYC update and life in general, but one things for sure. I’ve spent a fair amount of time cooking recently. Some good, some not so good, but still, mostly good! Thanks everyone for the wedding gifts I carefully put on our wedding registry! The Le Creuset Dutch Oven is by far the awesomest and most utilized item to date. Things made recently:

- Braised Beef Spare Ribs (from cooks.com – need subscription to view)

My sister originally made this for us. I put this together for Christmas Day dinner with the In-Laws. The trial run on Friday night wasn’t so great, but that’s because I started late and didn’t reduce the sauce as much as I should have. I also cooked the beef for too long. Recipe says 4-6 minutes per side. I had much better results from 1-2 minutes per side, especially with smaller pieces I had to debone. You have to have patience with this one. Took me nearly 4 hours to make. But, the results are amazing. The beef and sauce is delicious and the carrots are very soft and almost sweet. If I would change anything, I would double the amount of carrots.

- Bacon Garlic Mashed Potatoes (from Williams-Sonoma)

A mainstay thanks to Thanksgiving, this is my go to mashed potato recipe. Make sure you make the bacon crispy. It’s creamy but the bacon and garlic add a lot of flavor. You don’t even need gravy for this one.

These two were served for a nice Christmas dinner with Kolina’s family.

- Parchment Paper Salmon (from Food Network)

I borrowed this one from my Dad and swapped out fennel for shiitake mushrooms and added some Korean style BBQ sauce. The only problem here was presentation. I can’t wrap parchment paper very well and that’s what this recipe hinges on, it seems. Nonetheless, it was one of the first times I’ve really tried cooking fish and it went alright!

- Slow-cooked Lasagna (from Williams-Sonoma)

I was amazed by all the cheese that goes into this, but when you pile it on, it can’t go bad. I swapped the slow cooker for a 200 degree F oven and used the good old Dutch Oven. Delicious, but now I have a ton of leftovers!

I’ve also made pizzelles and brownies lately, and since I have 24 eggs to use, I’ll probably make madelines or lemon curd.

Maybe I should quit my day job and pursue my own Ratatouille? I’ll keep dreaming..

I lost 80% of my NYC photos due to a now fried SD card. Tons of Google searches and installation of somewhat sketchy SD card recovery programs did not work =(

Traveling light and not backing up my photos each day prevented me from saving a few days worth of photos. I should have done a daily backup like I have in the past! Sad! Luckily, I now can rely on Eric/Linda’s photos to remember a most amazing trip. Highlights forthcoming!

This thing is going off at midnight on the dot.

Day 10. Yikes.

Just so you know, I am doing this to raise awareness and money to support the Prostate Cancer Foundation, LIVESTRONG, and the Movember Foundation. Would love your support here.