As we move into the new year, I wanted to lay out some cooking goals I have for myself. Most of these involve trying new dishes whether it’s new dishes I have never had but associate with being a ‘good cook’ or just stuff I have been curious about.
You will notice a lot of ‘from scratch’ in my goal list. One of my major over-arching goals for the year is to continue cutting out processed foods from my diet.

Goals
1. Make fish once a week. Manatee and I love seafood yet we rarely make it. Why? Because it terrifies me. No rationale beyond it. I can handle salmon but everything else just seems foreign and out of reach. Hopefully we can work to take the mystique out.
2. Make Coq au Vin.
3. Make Boeuf Bourguignon a la Julia Child.
4. Make homemade macaroni and cheese. Do I like noodles? Not really. And I’m lactose intolerant so this really makes no sense other than I just have always wanted to do it. So there.
5. Make a real ragut sauce. I have several books on Italian cooking and I need to get cracking on them.
6. Have a formal dinner party.
7. Learn more about wine pairing.
8. Visit a winery.
9. Attend a wine tasting.
10. Make ‘real’ scalloped potatoes.
11. Cook lamb.
12. Cook/Roast a whole chicken. This is another strange thing that terrifies me. I prefer my chicken skinless and boneless.
13. Make an angel food cake from scratch.
14. Conquer my fears of making bread- no bread machine, just me and active yeast. I need to get over the unleavened bread disaster from this past summer.
15. Make pasta from scratch.
16. Master the art of making a double layer cake from scratch so that I can have an old reliable way of doing it.
17. Try making different rolls and biscuits until I find one that I can claim as a trademark.
18. Continue with ‘the plan’ or, if you haven’t been following, having a plan for every week.
19. Start cooking with dried beans, not canned.
20. Convince Manatee that goat cheese is awesome OR find a cheese that Manatee and I both love. There is no cheese I love more than goat cheese and there is no cheese Manatee hates more. I love it if I could find a way to prepare it that both of us would love or find a cheese we both like and I love as much as goat cheese, it would be a good thing. Suggestions anyone- on recipes for goat cheese or cheeses that would appeal to both palates?

I will monitor my progress on the blog. I am leaving it up to you to hold me accountable.