Repeat after me – I am not a quitter - I am not a quitter. Well I guess “life” happened since my last blog post, as I have blissfully ignored the fact I haven’t yet completed my list of lessons.

Ah, what was I thinking when I came up with the notion of writing about 52 lessons learned? One lesson per week of my challenge - that should be a piece of cake. Okay then maybe I just have a bad old case of writers block.

If you can’t visit southern California this winter, you’re best bet is to stock up on these oranges. It’s quite possibly the next best thing.

You can forget a lot, but you can always remember a good meal.

I love sprouts, but they don’t lend themselves to vivid and colorful descriptions. They are not sensual and they aren’t complicated. They’re green.

It won’t be long and that very last local apple will finally be eaten.

Walk through the bulk section at an Outpost and you’re likely to stand in awe of the dizzying array of food available in bulk. You can get lost if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

A new report is generating buzz in the natural foods industry. The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based advocacy group which pushes for sustainable and organic agriculture, tested a number of natural and organic cereal brands and found that many of the cereals labeled as natural contained evidence of genetically modified products (GMOs). Further, the report suggests that “natural” cereals may contain pesticide residues.

An article in USA Today about the declining number of independent grocery stores in small towns across the country is a compelling argument to buy local.

The Obama administration look set to approve a new genetically engineered corn, designed to better tolerate drought conditions, but you still have time to let the USDA know how you feel.

While I truly love to cook and bake and take on “never made before in my kitchen” kinda projects, prior to this I had never kept any kind of diary, especially not about my life in the kitchen.

Here’s a glimpse into my 52 weeks of inconvenience, primarily cooking or baking for just the two of us (although some food items became gifts, while others were served to our dinner guests.

There’s a routine I think I’ll miss, and other parts that I hope will stick, like the discipline I learned in planning out our food options each week. My year of inconvenience is technically over.

In our determination to lead a more refined life with actual meals we’ve decided to dress up those chips and salsa in a disguise that lets us keep our dignity.

I’m almost at the end of week 52 as I’m writing this post, and feeling a little sad that this adventure is almost over. Or is it? I mean once you start something like this does the adventure really ever end? It is food we’re talking about, and while I learned a lot about cooking from scratch over the past 52 weeks, there is still so much more to learn. So my question is, should I keep blogging? What do you think?

The inspiration I drew upon this week was a recipe we published from local chef Jan Kelly from the restaurant Meritage. We gave Jan a challenge of one ingredient that she needed to design a meal around, and that was kimchi. Jan of course even made the kimchi from scratch, so I figured, why don’t I try?

Passsover is coming, and with it the search for a good bottle of kosher wine that doesn't remind one of cough syrup. We've got one for you. In stores by the end of the week.

We began our adventure in Santa Fe at the local farmer’s market, with the purchase of red chili powder, fresh goat cheese with green chili, German butter potatoes, farm fresh eggs, a giant bunch of rainbow chard and multi-grain bread. I was having a blast.

A series of rallies demanding that foods containing Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) be labeled is planned for this coming weekend.

Pam showed you hers once, now we’ll show you ours. Pantry that is.