2020 In Review

        On July 1st, 2020, I decided to launch my cooking journey publicly by announcing that I had a goal to cook through every recipe in the cookbook Vegan for Everybody by America’s Test Kitchen. I wanted to finish every recipe in the cookbook by the end of 2020. I am happy to say that I have finished every single recipe in that cookbook. The year 2020 has really opened my eyes to an amazing world of food.

Throughout the year, a lot of things happened. There was political turmoil, environmental issues, social issues, and so much more making the headlines. Our lives were turned around by a pandemic that swept the globe. During all of this, my life began to change. I decided to use my energy to focus on myself and to improve my skills in the kitchen. I have always loved cooking and eating, but I decided to take it more seriously this year and to learn more about it. Eventually, I came up with the goal of starting my food blog.

Now that the year has come to a close and we have welcomed 2021 to the foreground, I find myself reflecting on everything that I have learned this past year. I have learned so much about being in the kitchen. I have learned how to dice an onion, how to roast the perfect squash steaks, how to whip aquafaba, and more. First and most importantly, I learned that “mise en place” is the most important part of cooking. This means that before starting to cook anything, it is important that you have a clean and organized work station with all of your products ready to use. I also learned that mistakes will be made and it is important that you learn from them. Since they are inevitable, why not lean into the mistakes and learn from them? If you ignore your mistakes, then it will all be for nothing. Lastly, I have learned how much good food can change your life. This may sound silly, but eating good food was one of the things that helped me to cope with the turmoil that we were experiencing across the US and the world. I would make my family a great meal and we would sit down to eat it together. While we were eating, that was the only thing that mattered--family time and good food.

I have learned so much this past year and I am so excited to see what 2021 has in store for me. There is so much that I want and need to learn. To keep myself accountable, I am going to note a few goals for the year here. My overarching goal of the year is to learn how to cook different things from the people around me.

1. I want to perfect the red pasta sauce from my family and from my husband’s family.

2. I want to learn how to use royal icing to decorate cookies.

3. I want to bake a wedding cake.

4. I want to work with different types of mushrooms other than baby bella and white mushrooms (like king oyster).

5. I want to make fondant potatoes.

6. I want to enhance my knife skills.

7. I want to find vegan alternatives to some of my favorite foods.

8. I want to learn how to perfectly cook rice.

9. I want to learn how to properly use salt.

10. I want to be more creative while cooking.

These are just a few of my goals for this year. I hope you will stick around and keep supporting my blog!