TGIMonday!

Since I’ll be moving to an apartment in Kirkland in August, I’ve decided to start a new personal project to help better prepare me for this transition: I’m learning to cook!

Even though my Kraft’s ‘Mac & Cheese’ skills are unparalleled, (Don’t judge unless you’ve tried mine before.) I finally had to admit to myself that not only do I need do acquire the skill of cooking my own meals beyond what comes out of a box, but I also need to take action on that now before I leave.

The First Step:

Yesterday I took my first step forward and I learned how to prepare spaghetti and how to make the sauce. I know that isn’t a substantial feat, but hey, its something I didn’t know before and at least I wasn’t just heating up a can of Ragu. Even with being the pickiest eater known to humanity, I have to say I was well pleased with how it turned out! I even made extra portions so that I can have some later for -gasp- left overs! (another one of my many faults, I decline to preserve past meals in the act of coping with our negligence to appropriately prepare the amount of food to be consumed. i.e. I don’t eat left overs).

The Plan Forward:

I have 18 weeks until I move out, so think it’ll be cool if I cook at least one meal every week. I think cooking 18 dinners would be a nice training regime to not only learn recipes, but also to gain confidence in preparing these meals alone.

It is still a work in progress, but currently have 9 different meals I want to be able to prepare on my own. We’ll see if I actually follow this list, since I just grabbed the first nine off the top of my head that sounded appealing, but the convenient thing about having 9 is that it gives me one training meal and then an attempt to prepare based on my own notes and experience without guidance.

Here’s my initial list:

Spaghetti
Pasta Pronto
Tacos
Hamburger Gravy
Chicken Rice Casserole
Parmesan Chicken
Baked Chicken
Pizza
Salmon.

A Word of Encouragement:

Who knows, maybe by putting the effort to prepare my own meals will help me to reducing the amount of fast food and processed food from my diet? I’m exciting to become even more self-reliant and venturing into a realm that I have little or no previous experience in. It’s another reminder that our lives and who we are are not static. Just because you’ve never done something before, doesn’t mean you will never do it. Take small, un-intimidating steps forward towards change and before you know it, you’ll be running towards it with astonishment that you ever lived without it!
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—Grant X.

Currently reading:

“The Magic of Thinking Big” – David Schwartz
“John Adams” – David McCullough

Life verse: “But a generous man devises generous things and by his generosity he will stand.” -Isaiah 32:8

Life Mission Statement: To be intentionally focused on providing opportunity and adding value to others.