25 things I want to cook

I'm taking part in my friend Cookbook's cooking bloject, starting in January. Having very few people to cook for has made me a real slacker about trying new recipes (and posting them... I have two good ones sitting around right now that I haven't written about), so I'm looking forward to having a reason to keep cooking. A lot of these are Hungarian recipes from my childhood that I've never made and would like to learn while my grandmother is still able to teach me. Others are things I've wanted to make for ages, while still others are random recipes I came across today while attempting to round out this list.

1. lángos (Hungarian fried dough, i.e. the best thing ever. I might wait until I go home in the summer and cook this with my grandmother, because I don't really need my tiny apartment to smell like deep frying for a week.)

2. rakott krumpli (More Hungarian comfort food.)*

3. spaghetti sauce (My mom used to give me a huge tupperware full once a month, so I never bothered to make it. I haven't had it since I moved out of Cleveland.)*

4. biscuits (They just never come out right for me. Somebody give me a foolproof recipe?)

5. chowder (Of some sort.)

6. senegalese chicken peanut soup (My favorite soup place serves this sometimes but I want it all the time.)

7. forgasc fank (Fancy Hungarian pastries I haven't had since I was a kid.)

8. soufflé (I've never tried.)

9. whiskey punch (My friend Meaghen served some once that I still dream of.)

10. calzones (Mostly I want to make the dough from scratch.)

11. saag paneer (or similar) with naan (I did this once with my beloved Saira, but I've never tried on my own, and I've never made naan.)

12. butter (I have a friend who does this and I really, really want to try it.)

13. poached pears in red wine (I've come across these twice today, it's a sign.)

14. granita (I'll save this for July when the heat makes me suicidal.)

15. falafel (Because apparently it's not hard to make at home, and who doesn't want falafel all the time?)

16. challah bread (I like braiding things?)

17. pesto (I love it too much to keep buying it in jars.)

18. some fancier variation on bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, TBD (They are one of my party staples, I need to mix things up. I also need a tasty vegetarian version... thinking sun-dried tomatoes.)

19. something involving green tea rice that is not just green tea rice in a bowl with some almonds and currants when I'm in the middle of finals (It's too good to always be a last-minute meal.)

20. mushroom barley soup (I've been meaning to do this for months. I want it to be like the UC Arabica one.)

21. farina dumplings (One of my grandmother's old weekly dishes, usually eaten in her chicken soup. I haven't had them since I was fourteen, I miss them.)*

22. egg drop soup (It's a little gross, but I'm fascinated by the way it looks. And convinced it could be much less greasy than the restaurant versions.)

23. pumpkin soup with chili cran-apple relish (Just found this. Want it.)

24. a good whole-grain sandwich bread (I need to stop making soda bread, it is too crumbly.)

25. citromos szelet (Hungarian lemon pastries. True story: one time when I was four years old and had just gotten out of the hospital I ate nothing but my grandmother's lemon pastries for two weeks. Laura and I tried making them once but they didn't turn out at all.)

*made but not posted