Post 6 – Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Author: Gretchen Rubin)

For Christmas, I made roasted rosemary and garlic red potatoes with sauteed onions and baby portobello mushrooms, and threw it together with olive oil, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  It was–if I do say so myself–completely de-lish.

Generally speaking, I love to cook.  I discovered this love only within the past few years.  I also realized that I’m rather decent at it, which was completely unbeknownst to me until recently. There’s no one thing in particular that I’d like to make if only I had more time.  Rather, I need to make time to cook, period.  Sure, there are some specific family recipes that take a good chunk of your Sunday that I would like to try to master.  On the Italian side, frazzini, my grandmother’s rum cake, fresh pasta and bread is what I’d like to tackle.  It’s the pierogi, sauerkraut and baranek (Easter cake) from my Polish heritage that means the most to me and I’ve yet to try.

Being someone that spends several hours of my day just commuting to work, I often use the excuse of being too tired to cook once I’m home.  But honestly, it’s something that I love doing and need to take the time to do it–not as a chore, but as something that is enjoyable to do.  Not only does cooking give me an opportunity to be creative and try my  hand at making different things, but it’s also something that can bring love and nourishment to those that mean most to me.  I view inviting others into your home and cooking for them as a rather intimate ritual we often take for granted. In 2010, I mastered many dishes on my own, but in 2011, I hope to do that cooking for friends and family, often and with love.