February 23, 2009

Have you seen the movie “The Bucket List” with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? If you haven't seen it, the idea is that Jack's character has a list of things that he wants to do before he kicks the bucket. He meets up with Morgan's character, who is terminally ill, and the two of them begin to live Jack's list, one adventure at a time.

The Bucket List (2007)

I was telling my coworker, SA, the other day that I had a list of things that I wanted to learn to cook or bake well, and she said that I should call it my “Cooking Bucket List”. I love the idea of having this list that I can always add to and work through one dish at a time. These bucket lists could also inspire people to cook more often too. These days, it's become normal for people to constantly buy food when they're out and about, but it's much healthier and cheaper to cook yourself. For those wanting to learn how to cook, it might be worth visiting the Prepared Cooks blog to read some tips that might come in handy. Hopefully, that sort of blog will help people to learn the basics, ready for them to complete a cooking bucket list.

Here's my Cooking Bucket List as of today. I want to learn to make these things, and make them well before I kick the bucket.

What other color would my bucket be?

Intimidating things I've never tried to do but really want to…

• Flour tortillas
• Vegetarian tamales
• Macarons – the French kind, not the coconut macaroon we commonly think of
• Mole sauce (vegetarian version)
• Bobby Flay's Goat Cheese Enchiladas

Things I've done once or twice, but want to work on and perfect…

• Pavlova – I made Nigella Lawson's basic recipe once and loved it, but her chocolate raspberry pavlova is calling to me
• Great pie dough – starting with the foolproof pie dough recipe from Cook's Illustrated with vodka
• Biscuits – finding the ideal “go-to” recipe, although I love a good biscuit SO much, I could gain 10 pounds working on this bucket list item
• Awesome bread – I think I need to get the book “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day“
• Delicious homemade pizza with fabulously thin crust like Fratelli's (not cracker-style like Pizza Hut, although it's good)
• Vegetarian “sushi” rolls – Veganomicon is a great place to start

Failures that I resolve to conquer…

• Chocolate Silk – a multi-layered dessert that was the signature dish of a former co-worker. I made it once, and every single layer failed to set up right. I will not be defeated!

I'll be posting from time to time as I work on my Cooking Bucket List. Meanwhile, I bet some of you have Cooking Bucket Lists. What's on your list? How about you, LilSis?

~BigSis