If you really want to give yourself a gift this holiday season, then give yourself the gift of making "learning to cook" be near the top of your New Year's resolution list!  It's incredibly rewarding.  If you do, then take a page out of the books that fitness professionals recommend to their clients: peer group practice.

Knoxvillians love to get together.  Knoxvillians love food.  Put them together by making the get-togethers about the food, with the goal of making and sharing some great (even gourmet) food, and excellent things can happen, particularly in the learning-to-cook department.

Since you almost definitely have a few good friends, if you can talk them into the same resolution, then you can get together and encourage each other by having weekly or bi-weekly cooking get-togethers and parties.  Each person can be responsible for a type of dish each time, or you can plan themes.  This camaraderie works well for exercise and could work great for cooking as well because it increases your commitment via accountability, which is where the vast majority of New Year's resolutions fall apart.

If you happen to have a friend that is particularly good at cooking already, you can work him into the mix.  You can even offer up something like: "we'll buy the ingredients and/or the drinks if you teach us how to cook with them."  This will go over especially well if you're volunteering your help in the kitchen.  Most cooks like to have some help in the kitchen, and you'll get some awesome tips, techniques, and skills in the process -- besides strengthening your friendship.

Themed cuisines or ingredients, locally inspired challenges (cornbread-based not-just-cornbread recipes, anyone), and miniature friendly cooking contests all make for great themes.  In particular, they give great excuses to push your culinary boundaries, learn about your local food culture, and push each other while enjoying some great food and great company, respectively.  Play to your strengths, Knoxville: getting together and eating is definitely one of them!

This article is one in a series of New Year's Resolution articles about cooking, food, and drink by the Knoxville Gourmet Food Examiner. Click the link to read a central article containing links to all of the articles in this series.

For more great recipes and cooking ideas, follow the Knoxville Gourmet Food Examiner by subcribing at the top of the page. You can also read more on his personal cooking blog: The Untrained Gourmet.