1 year. 52 weeks. 52 dishes.

So it's the new year. As with all new years comes new year's resolutions. One of my resolution this year is to learn how to cook... well, it was my resolution last year as well, but it didn't go very far.. and I really want to fulfill this resolution this year and this is why I've set up this blog.

A friend of mine recently asked me to be his 'moderator' for his new year's resolutions. That means I am responsible for making sure he fulfills his resolutions, or at least most of them, where I reward him if he fulfills it, and he punishes himself by giving me incentives if he doesn't. I thought it was a pretty good idea as it's quite motivating. This blog will, in that sense, act as my 'moderator' to fulfill this resolution of mine. Never mind the others.

Anyway, I have almost zero skills in terms of cooking and while I was coming up with a plan on how to work this out, I drew inspiration from the movie Julie & Julia. Of course I'm not so crazy as to stop my life for a year. I decided  to start it slow and thus, this is gonna be my 2010 project: I'm gonna learn to cook a new dish every week of this year, and I will blog about my experiences and the dishes. I mean hey, at the end of the year, I'll be able to cook 52 dishes!

 Who is going to be my teacher? Mummy dearest of course! My mum has fed me well and my dad and I are suckers for her cooking. My mum is specialised more in chinese dishes though, and I do wanna pick up other cuisines like western and italian and japanese perhaps.. so I'll be experimenting those from cookbooks. I've already got one- The Basic Cookbook, edited by Gina Steer. Among all the cookbooks I've come across, I felt really connected to this one as it really is about cooking for idiots like me.

A word of caution to my readers though. I really have absolutely NO skills whatsoever. I could do anything that's prepacked and instant, put rice into the rice cooker, make a decent toast (not even French), but that's about it. So if I blog about a new found knowledge but it's supposed to be basic knowledge of anyone who knows how to cook, don't be surprised. I really AM quite clumsy in the kitchen. :( This blog is about charting my growth and progress of this resolution, and hopefully, my dear readers, if you have any tips to give me, feel free to comment. I could definitely learn from you too. :)

P.S: Guinea pigs who want to volunteer themselves for me are most welcome. :)