New Year's Resolutions and Stuff

Hello.

Surprised to see me here? I kind of am, too. I'm not even going to look at the date of my last post because it's been a long, long, time. And it's no coincidence that my first post in months (or is it years??) is in the first week of January because yes, it's one of my New Year's resolutions to get back to blogging. And I know what you're thinking, you're thinking, "Haha, EVERYONE makes New Year's resolutions and most people break them by January 2nd." Well, I'm here to say that it's January 2nd, and I haven't broken my resolution yet! Haha. Of course I might break it by January 3rd, but I'm really going to try hard not to.

So here's what I've been doing. I left 53 pounds of myself back in 2016, unless you count the two pounds I gained over the holidays but I'm trying not to. So I went from a size 16 to a size 6 in 8 months, and I have to say that I've tried about a million different diets and never actually found one that I could stick with until I reached my goal, so I'm feeling a pretty big sense of accomplishment. And even though this is not and never will be a diet and healthy eating blog, you know, if you want to know how I did it I'm happy to share.

But that's enough about that. There was also Disneyland, camping, obtaining a cat, the kids' endless school and after school activities, work, sleep and all that other stuff that people do. Oh and also I don't look hideous in a bathing suit anymore. But despite the crazy business of my life I really have to start making time for this blog. It's cathartic. It's a goal that I still haven't achieved. It's fun, and I've really missed it.

So the real question I've had to ask myself is how I can do the blog and still maintain my general good health (I mean, not gain back a bunch of weight from all those blog-related calories). And I've thought about that a lot. A lot of traditional food, after all, is high fat, high calorie. And I don't want to change this blog so that it's "Travel by Stove, but only if it's clean eating, low calorie and limited carbs." because that would be lame. So ...

I'm going to post at least weekly, but not every post will be a recipe post. I'm going to do some book reviews and some product reviews, I'll talk about culinary tradition and hope I can do all of that in an interesting way. And when I choose recipes, I'll favor healthier ones but only if they are truly representative of the culture. And I'll eat small portions.

So there you have it. My next blog meal is scheduled for Sunday, so you can look for a recipe post by the middle of next week. No, really. I hope.