Pickled Daikon, Carrot Muffins, Jicama Slaw. . . Do we detect a theme here?

This is a legitimate question.  While processing the end of a 25 pound bag of rainbow carrots (because, two weeks after picking up the 25 pound bag, we had about 8 pounds of new orange carrots) and making kimchi and daikon pickles from a 10 pound bag of daikon (and watching ice pellets fall from the sky), it occurred to me that I may have stumbled upon my resolution for the year: roots.

I have been hesitant to pick a resolution.  I feel very far from done with flowers.  The one thing that I really want to do in 2014 is to wear a sparkly dress to a sparkly dress occasion. And dance.  And sing. And surround myself with laughter and learning.  (And read great books, lose 15 pounds, survive the tenure process, teach my kids to swim, and so forth).  But when I thought that my resolution was to be "sparkle" it felt flat, forced, and, well, un-sparkly if not actually anti-sparkly.  Is sparkly really sparkly if it is not spontaneous?  True, wearing a sparkly dress to a sparkly dress occasion takes planning and forethought, but saying that I'm going to sparkle year-round feels like a bit too much obligation to throw some glitter on it, ("it" being most anything) and glitter makes me shudder.

The Mister and I just completed our ballroom dance class (I have demonstrative evidence in the form of certificates) and, knowing we were going to be taking it, I thought that I might make rhythm the theme of the year. But I can't spell "rhythm", and I'm dubious about any word with more syllables than vowels.  How can I gain an appreciation for rhythm if the very word doesn't follow the rules of lingustic rhythm in English?  Besides, beyond dance class, I hadn't managed to figure what I would do, as this is not my year to take up drumming.

So, that leaves us with roots.  I've liked roots because there are botanical and cooking literal approaches, as well as familial and literary figurative approaches.

I just started to type my hesitations, but I am being decisive (and, as it is a snow day, I need to attend to some toddlers and somehow get to campus-- tomorrow's lab doesn't care that it snowed last night and isn't going to prep itself).  Roots it is.

I've started roots with a bang.  In the last three days I've prepared carrot muffins; curried carrot, squash, and sweet potato soup; daikon kimchi; pickled daikon; and carrot, daikon, and broccoli stem slaw.  I have eaten a carrot or two a day for the last two weeks and I won't start on all the ginger preparations-- ginger's a rhizome after all.

What are your suggestions for the year of the roots?