Recipe for Fabulousness

Last week my staff members decided that they wanted to do a potluck. At 10 o'clock at night. Because that's how they roll. And that's why I love them. To show my love I wanted to make them something fabulous for our appetizer/dessert potluck so I pulled out a recipe my aunt gave me for caramel corn. It's sugary, it's buttery and it's mouth-meltingly sinful in its delicious-ness. And amazingly, it turned out the way it was meant to be, meaning I didn't burn or otherwise damage the fine ingredients (or myself or my lovely apartment) in the recipe. This brings the total number of things I can successfully whip up to a grand total of nine. Yes, nine. I am going to examine the nine culinary miracles that I have somehow managed to master despite my hopeless domestic disability.

1.) Pannakkakua. An old Finnish dish that consists of everything that people tell you is bad for you: butter, whole milk, eggs, and sugar whipped and frothed into an incredibly delicious breakfast food. My friends have stolen my mom's recipe and passed it off as their own, which is only alright because it really is that good and more people need to know about it.

2.) Fudge. My mom is famous for her fudge; she only makes it around the holidays and I'm pretty sure people would either throw gobs of money at her or kill other people to get a couple of tiny pieces. I finally understood why when I saw the ingrediant list and set out to make it with my friend. I follow the tradition and will only make it in December and only for my friends. If they're good.

3.) Stir-fry. One of the only transferrable skills I took from Home Ec was recalling how to make a delicious stir fry sans wok. (Though purchasing a wok might help things.) I feel healthy whenever I eat it, which is at least once or twice a week since it's one of the only things I can make.

4.) Fruit pizza. Ok, so this isn't the most difficult of recipes, but for some reason all of my friends love it when I make it. I think it's because the cream cheese "sauce" is ridiculously good. Sometimes I just make that and cut up fruit to bring to get-togethers. Yum.

5.) Taco salad. THE thing my mom is known for--she makes it at least once a month for church potlucks and ends up bringing double and triple batches to graduation, birthday and other various parties. The recipe makes a huge batch of it, so I always have to improvise and figure out how to halve it or gift it.

6.) Fondue. Both cheese AND chocolate--though not together. I've been obsessed with fondue since I went to The Melting Pot in 2004 for the first time. It's so freakin' good. Especially the cheese one that I make because it's a meal in itself. It's a good recipe to have on-hand when I want to do something celebratory and a little more special.

7.) Pesto. I decided out-of-the-blue to learn to make this one day and it astounded me how simple it was to make a seemingly gourmet meal from basil, olive oil and parmesan cheese. It's a fantastic summer staple and I love that chicken can easily be added to it.

8.) Baked brie. Another recipe I learned on a whim after forking over $10 to my favorite East Lansing restaurants too often for this appetizer. Everyone who loves cheese loves this. Paired with some good crackers and apple slices, it's a fantastic dish to bring to parties and it never fails to impress everyone.

Upon reviewing the list, I realize that many of the dishes and recipes are for sharing and/or not good meals. Yes. True. But I can cook meats and make salads so I'm not living off of fudge and cheese-based foods. But the listed items really are the only recipes I've ever been able to conquer. That should probably change. Then again, there's always take-out...