I’m just
going to say it… I love New Year’s resolutions! Whether I keep them or not, I
love them. New Year’s resolutions motivate me to not only try to become a
better version of myself, but they also inspire me to keep dreaming and to
continue pursuing whatever my dream may be at that moment in time.
Every year
I compile a short list of resolutions (or goals) I hope to keep throughout the
new year and share it on my personal blog, La Casa de Leslie. While listing out
the things I want to do and accomplish in 2017, a lot of what I came up with
pertained specifically to my cocina blog, so I compiled a separate list of blogging resolutions/goals
just for La Cocina de Leslie.
Before
I share my blogging resolutions, I’m going to get a little personal and share a
bit of what last year was like and why I haven’t been as consistent with my
blogging. Cooking and sharing recipes here on La Cocina de
Leslie has always brought me great joy. I love cooking, in general, and I also
love sitting down to write about the recipes I share, the stories behind them,
and sharing why they mean so much to me. No other hobby of mine has ever made
me as happy as this little blog.
For the past
three and half years I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time as I would
have liked to my beloved cocina blog, because being a wife, mom, and full-time
caregiver were my top priorities. 2016 was a rather difficult year for us as a
family. We moved out of the rental house we had called home for 13 years and
moved into my suegro’s (father-in-law's) home, and my suegro’s health continued to rapidly
decrease as the months flew by culminating in his passing away in
mid-September.
My suegro's passing was devastating to us all, even though we knew it
was coming. After my suegra’s (mother-in-law's) sudden (and unexpected) passing in 2012, we foolishly
thought a prolonged illness might be less devastating, but in 2016 we learned
that it wasn’t. We´ve spent the remaining months of 2016 mourning the loss of Don
Chuy, who was such an integral part of our family. My family and I spent
every day with my suegro, caring for him, sharing each of our meals, listening
to his stories, and laughing with him. Even before we moved in with him, we
counted him as part of our family of seven.
We are still mourning his loss
and will for quite some time, but with the start of the new year we realize we
need to try to pick up the pieces and focus on the things that matter most and
make us happy. For me those things are my family and my writing.
This year I
want to get back to doing what I love most and that includes sharing recipes
here in my cocina.
My Blogging Resolutions/Goals for 2017:
- Blog consistently! One of my main goals is to post new recipes on a regular basis, like two or three a week. Because it's been a while and I'm a bit out of practice, we'll start with two new recipes per week and work our way up to three later in the year. I may not have blogged much in 2016, but I did cook and even managed to snap a few pics, and now I have quite a few recipes in my drafts folder just waiting to be shared.
- A to Z Challenge: Speaking of blogging consistently, in April I will be participating in the A to Z Challenge and posting a Mexican recipe for each letter of the alphabet. That's 26 new recipes! Ay, ay, ay!
- New monthly series: To help fill the void of the now defunct Secret Recipe Club, I’m starting a new monthly series here on my blog. I’m still working on a fun/cute name for my 2017 series which will focus on classic Mexican pan dulce (pastries). If you have any suggestions for series titles (all I’ve got so far is Pan Dulce 101) or pan dulce recipes you’d like to learn to make at home, let me know in the comments.
- Cookbook reviews: This also falls under the “new series” category, and is something I have been wanting to do for quite some time. I love cookbooks and I would love to share some of my favorites from the two shelves full of cookbooks in my bookcase and the dozens I also have on my Kindle. Because this blog’s main focus is Mexican food, I’m going to start with reviewing my favorite Mexican cookbooks (in no particular order) and then we’ll move on to other types of cookbooks. The plan is to review one cookbook a month. If you have suggestions of cookbooks you’d like me to review, let me know in the comments.
- A monthly round-up: When I started this blog back in 2009, I didn’t think anyone besides a handful of friends and family would ever read it. And I certainly never imagined that someday I would also be invited to share my recipes on other websites. I used to share links to those recipes via Facebook or Instagram, but it’s one of those things that got pushed to the back burner. Starting this month, I’m going to post a monthly round-up of any recipes I’ve shared on sites other than my cocina.
- Bringing She Made/Ella Hace back! My friend Heather (from All Roads Lead to the Kitchen) and I will be starting back up with our monthly She Made/Ella Hace series. Yay! (Insert happy dance here.) I’m not only excited to get back to blogging, I’m also super excited to get back to cooking with my dear amiga.
- Sharing about my cookbook. One of the good things to come out of 2016 is that one of my biggest dream came true... I wrote a cookbook! I still don't know how I managed to do it, but TaquerÃa Tacos was published in October of 2016. In the coming months I will be sharing an in-depth look at my cookbook along with some of the recipes, and I'll even be hosting a giveaway or two. So, stay tuned!
I really am
excited to get back into the swing of things, and hope you’ll come along for
the ride.
This post is part of the SOTB Blog Hop hosted over on my casa blog.
