Welcome, 2014!

Happy new year!

I've never been someone who gets sad around the end of the year but by January 1, I am ready to kick the holidays to the curb and move ahead. We took down our few decorations yesterday and put our Christmas tree out this morning. Our street is littered with them, waiting for pickup. Someone drew a chalk outline around one.

2013 was a good year. We were both gainfully employed and enjoyed good health. We went to Paris, which constituted our one major trip, but I also visited my sister in New Jersey, and we had a fantastic getaway to Santa Cruz in May for our 8th anniversary. We spent the end of the year in Kentucky with the husband's family and got a good dose of Southern life (and food: beer cheese! jam cake! bourbon balls and Hoppin' John!).

We also ate quite a bit, and quite well, at home. In fact, in looking through my iPhoto library, it seems I have a lot of new recipes I made in 2013 (and 2012, gulp!) that I never posted about. My posting frequency has dropped off rapidly over the years: 101 in 2009, 90 in 2010, 48 in 2011, 26 in 2012, and a measly 16 in 2013. My cooking hasn't dropped off, though, and there are a lot of things I've wanted to tell you about.

This chicken tagine, for example, is something I have been making for close to a year, at least once a month. You can find the original recipe here, and I recommend you do. It is absolutely delicious, studded with salty Castelvetrano olives and chewy prunes and finished with lemon juice and mint. We love it chez Hungry Dog. It's great with rice, mashed potatoes, or creamy polenta.

As for 2014, I'm not one for resolutions, but I do have some things I'm interested in doing this year. For one, I'd like to take another art class. I bought all those supplies last fall and they're sitting forlornly in the hall closet. I even have some brand new wood panels awaiting my clumsy brush strokes.

Also, I probably won't do this if history is any indication, but I really want to work on my French. The next time we go to France, I'd like to be a little better at conversing. Seeing how fast time flies, our next trip will be here before we know it.

Speaking of, we are planning two trips for the year: Hawaii in the spring, and possibly Spain, or a Spain/Portugal combo, in the fall. Stay tuned.

And finally, the husband and I have started to think, very seriously, of getting another dog.  So many sweet pups need homes, and I think Soph would like having a little dog friend.

We'll see where the year takes us. I'm sure at the very least, there will be some good food involved, and I'll try to be better about posting here at The Hungry Dog.

Cheers to you all for the new year!