Final thoughts/ Reflections

     I'm not going to say that I'm now an expert chef. I still have a lot of practicing to do before I would even say I can cook well. But at least I can now respond to the question, "Can you cook?", with an answer like "sort of" or "a little". Before, I would have laughed and responded with "not at all". I've learned a lot of the basics of cooking, as well as having the ability to go to the grocery store and not be completely clueless. I feel comfortable in reading a recipe and putting together a meal. I realize that everything I make isn't going to be perfect and that it takes time and practice to become better. I plan on continuing to learn more recipes and advancing the items I make to the next level. I'd like to create a recipe book and find cost-friendly, healthy recipes. Cooking is time-consuming and expensive though, which can make it hard to fit into a busy schedule. I hope to find ways to add it into my day, whether it be by meal planning ahead of time or by finding fast recipes.

     I've realized the importance of having people to help when testing out a new skill. My major sources turned out to be my mom, my sister, and my friend Sydney. I used my brothers a lot as taste testers for my food. I had a lot of good reviews on what I cooked, but I also had some bad reviews. My brothers are more picky, so things like cooked carrots and broccoli didn't go over well with them. 

     Overall, I really enjoyed this project. I would recommend to anyone learning basic cooking skills. My major problem I had with this project was remembering to document everything and post it to my blog. I immediately wrote things down in my notebook, because I'm more of a pencil/ paper type of person. I'm working on getting better at sharing my material online. My goal is to continue cooking and continue blogging. I want to have my students blog, so I want to continue to use technology to reflect in order to show them the importance of doing so.
     I've yet to get a group together to actually cook a 4-course dinner for, but am hoping to do so at some point soon. When I do get the chance to put together a dinner, I will make guacamole and corn salsa, a regular salad, shrimp tacos (probably chicken too, for those who don't like seafood), and apple crisp with ice cream for dessert.