on bad habits and kitchen commitments

One of my most persistent flaws is a lack of organizational skills. Anyone who knows me well can attest to this. I’m kind of messy, I don’t keep a planner, and I’m not in the habit of making to-do lists. I suspect that my boss has picked up on this deficiency of mine, as she often says, “My motto is, if it’s not in writing, it doesn’t exist.” I think she made that motto up for me…

I once bought a stylish agenda as a sort of commitment device, but the only thing I ever used it for was to write down the details of overly ambitious dinner parties I wanted to throw and to make grocery lists. We are who we are.

However, in the spirit of this blog, and in the interest of feeding better meals to the people I love, I thought I would put down in writing some of the things I want to accomplish in my kitchen in the near future. As an aside, there are few things more satisfying to me than feeling like I’ve produced something I could proudly feed a friend.

Some of these I’ve yet to tackle — number 5 comes to mind whenever it goes below 50 degrees, but I always end up cheating — and others I’ve attempted a handful of times but have yet to achieve the desired result. Number 2, in particular, eludes me. Either way, I'm looking forward to working on these and sharing them with anyone who will have some.

Things to prepare...

1. Pasta from scratch
2. Perfectly seared scallops
3. Hand whisked mayonnaise
4. Crispy, matchstick French fries
5. Real, homemade chicken noodle soup
6. Infused olive oils and vinegars
7. Authentic tasting Indian dishes
8. The mother sauces

Skills to develop/habits to adopt...

1. Cook red meat with more confidence
2. Learn more about wine
3. Try one new recipe per week
4. Clean as I cook, not after

I'm not especially optimistic about that last one, but I'm going to try. Hopefully this blog serves as a more successful commitment device than that leather agenda. Time will tell.