How to Boil Water: Five Years of Cooking

Over the weekend I hit my fifth year deciding I wanted to learn to cook. Although I have had a few bumps in the road while learning, I feel that I have gotten very comfortable in the kitchen. However, there are still some things I can't do. So since we are celebrating five years cooking, I'm going to talk about those things I still can't do. But make it my goal to get better at over this next year.

I should warn you, some of these things are pretty simple. So don't laugh....

ONE // Cook bacon. I seriously can't. It's either burnt or not crispy. I have tried every combination. I have tried cooking it on the stovetop. I have tried in the oven. I just can't seem to do it right. Luckily I hate the smell of bacon and therefore I'm not that interested in bacon normally but occasionally I come across a recipe that calls for it and I suck at it every single time. It is possibly one of the most frustrating thing I have tried to make because it seems so simple and yet I can't seem to ever get it right!

TWO // Make crispy homemade fries. I have watch dozens of cooking shows where they make fries and for the life of me I can't get them crispy. I have the flavors down but they are very rarely crispy. They are still delicious but I just don't have it down!

THREE // Make delicious and tasty meatballs. I still can't do it. I have tried several recipes and for whatever reasons I'm horrible to getting them full of flavor. And come to mention it I am no better at cooking them. Either I try them on the stove top and they fall part and I can't get them cooked evenly or I try them in the oven and they stick to whatever I put them on. I just can't get it together.

FOUR // Fried foods. I love fried chicken and I have never even taken it on because I can't seem to fry anything else. I'm not great at frying anything and getting it crispy and also cooked evenly.

FIVE // Steaks. I'm not great at cooking steaks. I don't get the flavors right nor am I very good at cooking them. Steak can be delicious but I just don't have it done yet.

I have truly come a long way in the five years since I first made the decision to start cooking. There are five things on this list but once upon a time there was pretty much everything on this list. I'm really proud of where I have come from in these five years. Everything I know now is something that I have taught myself. I watched a lot of cooking shows and read recipes and just figured it out as I went along.

I look forward to learning even more into my next year of cooking. And hopefully I will have gotten better at these things during the course of this next year and we can finally eat steaks and bacon and meatballs without being so dry and bland.

Four Years of Cooking --  How to Boil Water: Three Years -- How to Boil Water: One Year

xo, B