The great "TO MAKE" list

I have only just realised, very recently, that I am a sloooow cook. I love cooking, especially for other people and I do a decent amount of it whenever I can, but although I can make a whole bunch of stuff in any given month, it really does seem to take me a while in the kitchen to make any of the dishes I whip up. Maybe because I just like making stuff so much, who knows.

Anyway, I have decided to create here, in my own virtual repository, a "to make" list: some recipes or dishes I'm keen to make at some point soon-ish. Just so I don't forget, and to prod me into action whenever I'm in the grocery store or have half a day free:

Overnight French toast
I've wanted to do this for a while....mainly because it just looks SICK.

Puttanesca pasta sauce 
Something a good friend and a great cook once made for me. I've wanted to try my own ever since and I've missing eating as much fish as usual at the moment, too.


Super fish pie
Ditto the above about the current lack of fish in my life!! This is one of my favourite things we eat at home - think prawns, yellow and white fish, egg, peas, the works.

Scones
I want to do some traditional ones, although I follow a lot of recipe blogs and have seen ALL kinds of scones which seem to be more popular and maybe interesting to try, too. But I want to do some standard English ones for my boyfriend's mum, who seems to be a scone fan.

Turkish (lamb?) shanks 
Another family recipe, but I'm thinking of trying to use the DELISH sauce to do something meat-free.


Gyros/shawarma
My boyfriend LOVES these things and I really wanna try just making the whole lot from scratch - the meat, the bread (I'd probably do pitas from scratch), the tzatziki, everything. Mmmmmm.


Carrot cake
Okay, I need to just get over my fear of this cake. Carrot cake is, literally, my favourite EVER cake but I've only tried to make it the once. And I rarely have TOTAL baking fails but this for sure was one. Call it the lack of proper grater, or the non-existent blender or my terrible Japanese oven....I don't know. I just need to suck it up and try it again this year.


Some good, old fashioned ginger bread
Maybe in parkin form? Or maybe I can try a more North American recipe involving some molasses. 

Chinese sweet potato pies
These look like something I tried (and loved a LOT) in Japan and want to recreate here, there, and everywhere I am.


Ploughman's loaf
As seen on "The Great British Bake Off" (best cooking show EVER!!)



And I have a whole other "to make again" list of things which are recipes I've been working on that I really want to tweak or perfect over the next few months.


Look forward to lush photos of my tries at:
~ lemon yogurt cake 
~ butternut squash (pumpkin) pie
~ and yet MORE sticky toffee pudding (always a fave)
~ tasty, tasty fish curry
~ oreo cookies and cream cheesecake
~ all manner of Japanese dishes I may or may not be able to find the ingredients for these days


It's a good thing my other half is so good at taking deliciously good food snaps.


And the Oreo cookies and cream cheesecake? It looks something like this: