Two Months Down, Some (Mini) Goals

It's been two months now, and have been musing that, rather than cooking aimlessly, I should have some things to work towards. There’s going to be no grandiose overarching schema – e.g. I don’t have an aim of being able to walk into the kitchen, look into the fridge, and spontaneously concoct something delicious. The only overall aim is just to get more comfortable in the kitchen.

But there are some mini-goals I’d like to achieve at some point during this year…

Things I want to make, in no particular order:

• A cake (frightening)
• A pie, with homemade pastry of course (terrifying)
• A soufflé (horrifying)
• A meringue (alarming, especially if combined with pie-making, e.g. lemon meringue pie)
• Some other desserts (we don’t normally eat dessert, through inertia rather than healthiness, so will need to make a special effort to include)
• Cookies (ditto)
• Salad dressing (very sad not to know how to do this)
• Gruyere cheese gougeres (I once had a very glamorous French roommate, who used to whip these up at a moment’s notice, and have never eaten them since; they were light and fluffy cheesy perfection, probably not to be achieved by me, but who knows?)

I’d also like to make a Thanksgiving/Xmas Dinner for Jack where I’ve actually made the stuffing, cranberry sauce, red cabbage, gravy, etc., myself, rather than opening cans and packets like a maniac.

And I’d like to have an actual dinner party, for maybe six people, with multiple courses, and appropriate side-dishes, all made by me, and produced without any visible panic or weeping.

Any other suggestions? They will be taken under advisement.