Happy New Year!

Happy new year! I hope that you had a great time bringing in 2014, and wish all my readers all the very best for the year ahead. Perhaps one of your resolutions is to cook more, or to reduce your meat intake, or even to go vegetarian - if so, I can help! One of my resolutions is to continue to post regularly on this blog, and to continue to improve it in any way I can. I really enjoy writing it, and hope that you enjoy reading it and maybe trying out some of my recipes. Another, non-food related resolution for this year, is to conquer my fear of motorway driving - and my goal is to drive to a friend's wedding which is about 250 miles away, in the summer. I think it's always good to have a goal in mind along with your resolutions, so you can judge whether you have achieved what you set out to do.

Last year's resolutions included getting fitter, and I think I have kept to this one, as I am (fairly) good at going to one Body Attack class per week and going swimming once a week. And now I have changed jobs and walk to and from work every day, that is a help! 2014 should be even better for fitness, as one of my Christmas presents was the 10 Minute Solution Pilates for Beginners DVD, which I am loving so far. Just need to get into the habit of using it regularly. I love pilates (have been to a few classes in the past) but find it expensive and the teacher I really loved taught pretty far away from me....and then moved to another city altogether. So I think this DVD might be the way forward for me!

What new year's resolutions do you have, and how do you plan to keep to them? Do you have anything you would like me to blog about to help you? (Like maybe recipes that are suitable for allergy sufferers, or recipes containing your favourite veggie ingredient, to help inspire you?) If so, please do let me know!

I thought I would just finish my first post of the year by telling you about my last meal of 2013 (wow, sounds very final and dramatic when I put it like that!). My family and I went to The Lansdowne Bar and Kitchen,  a local west end bar with restaurant area, where we had a meal, then celebrated the new year with a few drinks. I have to say, it was one of the most delicious meals I have had in a long time (and I've had some really excellent ones recently, with all the Christmas dos I've been at). To start, I had vegetarian haggis, neeps and tatties. For those of you unfamiliar with Scottish cuisine, the neeps are mashed turnips and the tatties are mashed potatoes. The 'haggis' was really delicious and the portion size was large (I almost could have had this as a main and been full....though I do have a fairly small appetite). My main course was a mushroom wellington, and it was a-MAZ-ing! Every mouthful brought a new burst of flavour, and it was accompanied by some really tasty vegetables. For dessert I chose a sticky toffee pudding. This was tasty, but to me, the wellington was definitely the star of the meal, and even for someone with as sweet a tooth as me, no dessert could top it. The meal came with a lovely glass of prosecco, and was served by friendly waiting staff.

My only minor quibble about the whole night was that there was no countdown to the bells at midnight - music was playing, and more music, and then suddenly with no announcement, the music cut and we realised it was new year! So a slight disappointment in that respect. But food-wise, I would give The Lansdowne top marks. I have always loved it in the past, but last night really proved that even at busy times like Hogmanay (that's Scottish New Year's Eve), this place can really impress.

As I don't have any photos of the food last night, here is my parents' dog, Molly!