Nena likes to tell me that I’m a man of a million great ideas…follow through is the problem. In my mind I’ve written numerous books, started several companies and completed numerous projects.

In the vein, I’m also big on making New Year’s resolutions, but I don’t always make them happen. I guess my resolve isn’t what it could be. But, I’m not one to give up…so I keep making them and keep trying to be better about following through. So, here are my food- and wine-related resolutions for 2007:

Eat Less Crappy Takeout. With all that is going on in the soon-to-be-growing Thompson family, we’ve started eating more takeout than in the past. This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if we had some decent places to get takeout close by. Why get crappy Chinese food when I can make better at home? Of course, with Baby Thompson’s arrival, cooking time might be non-existent for a while. This might be a delayed resolution until we adjust to our new lack of control over our own lives.

Cook Simpler, Quicker-to-Prepare Meals More.  Clearly, I love to cook, but Rachel Ray’s 30-minute meals are not my forte (nor do I want them to be). What I want to work on is making meals that I’m happy with that don’t take several days of planning and a full day of active cooking.

Become Good Friends with My Slow Cooker. This might well be the most under-utilized piece of kitchen equipment we have. And, with cooking time vanishing soon, I think it’s time that I put the ole slow cooker to use more often. Any recommendations or recipes?

Learn More Techniques. Will I have time? Who knows…but I want to expand my cooking knowledge. I want to learn more about braising. I want to do more roasting. And I want to make my own beer.

Eat Less, but Better. I love good food, but too often I find myself settling for less-than-fine food that has little nutritional value, is super-processed or just plain isn’t very tasty. This year, I want to try to force myself to only eat food that is actually good. Of course, doing all of the above resolutions will help this I think.

Spit More. I already spit a lot when I’m tasting wines, but I want to spit even more. I’m sure I get more than enough resveratol and maybe doing a little more spitting will shave a few centimeters off of my waist and take some pressure off of my liver.

Happy New Year everyone…and good luck with your own resolutions.