Lizzy Cook's Senior Project: Learning to Cook

This month I planned to make a cookbook, develop my technical cooking skills and knowledge of flavor, and explore different culture’s foods. I am currently in the progress of assembling my cookbook, but once I finish that I will have successfully accomplished my goals. The first reason I chose this project was that I wanted to establish some cooking skills before I head off to college. Once I got into it though, the project became more about challenging myself and replicating the amazing flavor profiles I love so much. I made all sorts of food: chicken tikka masala, squid stir fry, gnocchi, baklava, and many others. I liked it so much I will definitely continue my senior project once or twice a week through the summer. I learned a lot of basic cooking techniques like how to properly dice an onion. I think the most valuable skill I got was the confidence and basic understanding of cooking I achieved from daily practice. Cooking is definitely a skill that you develop by doing over and ov...

This week I am blogging from Omaha Nebraska at Olympic Trials. I am swimming two events at this meet, but so far I have only swum one. I did the 200 fly which is a brutal event. All swimming events pose their own physical and mental challenge. In my opinion, the 200 fly is unique in the way it can cause you to seize up and feel like you cannot finish. For this reason, swimming in this race at the level of the Olympic Trials was very intimidating for me. The dinner before I swam I could not finish my meal and I became very concerned with how the next morning would go. I have been swimming a long time and at big meets I always get nervous, but I have never been this nervous before. In the morning I tried to eat my granola bar, but I could barely get one bite down.  At Olympic Trials they walk each heat out and show each swimmer on a big screen. I could feel my hands buzzing from the adrenaline. During the race, I was a bit too tense and by the last 50, I was hurting more than I wante...