Challenge #2 was to cook a cream-based pasta dish. What originally started as pesto sauce came out to be what I’ll call Pasta with Turkey and Cream Cheese Sauce. =P I have a feeling that the best (or at least, most enjoyable) recipes are the ones that aren’t planned. I had a lot of mishaps this time (i.e. the bowl falling into the pan, me pouring A LOT of basil instead of just a dash), but those things just made round 2 a lot of fun. =P And oh, I also made a blueberry pie for my sweet tooth (again, instant, but hey, I’m baking!)

There have been some instances when I was able to whip up something miraculous out of the blue — none of those feats involve the kitchen, however. During team offsites, I’d rather be in charge of drinks instead of food, lest I want my friends to die from starvation (or worse, from food poisoning! Eep!).

This year, I resolved to take matters into my own hands, and I’ll be forcing myself to cook at least one decent dish per month (except for Feb, I have to cook 2 since I skipped January =P). And you know what? It was actually possible! I was able to come up with fusilli topped with some random ingredients (tomatoes, tuna, mushroom and cheese) without screwing anything up. I also wanted to try out a friend’s tip about baking (our oven’s busted but he told me that a turbo broiler does more or less the same thing), so I put a box of instant brownie mix to the test and, booyah, yummy dessert. =) The folks at home finished off their meals without collapsing, so I think it’s fair enough to say that round one has been officially conquered.

Yep, I know it’s still a longshot from warranting the respect of anyone culinarily-able, but at least I’m making baby steps.I am just so psyched right now. Whoopee! =)