Maybe you've always wanted to learn to cook, or perhaps you're already pretty good at it.  Why not make a New Year's resolution this year to learn to cook or to get even better at cooking?  There are obviously many, many rewards to being a good cook.  Here, in fact, are some of the sweeter ones (pun intended!):

• You can make better, healthier foods than you can get in restaurants for less money;
• It can become a creative, artistic outlet for you;
• It can become a great opportunity to spend more time with your kids if you pass the knowledge on;
• It's very satisfying, in more ways than one;
• It's very attractive to members of the sex you're interested in to be able to cook like a gourmet chef (and you can probably get out of doing the dishes if you're married and work it right)!

So how can you go about learning to cook?  Here are a few ideas to help get you started:

1. Look for and take some cooking classes.  Particularly, watch the local colleges (University of Tennessee, Pellissippi State Community College, and Roane State Community College are all local to Knoxville and have community outreach and continuing education courses) when they publish their lists of not-for-credit courses -- click the links to the schools for their non-credit courses pages.  These are usually relatively inexpensive and great ways to get started with help.  The UT Culinary Institute is a longer program of this sort for those interested, and it provides certification.
2. Get some cookbooks or recipes online and just start.  Start simple and build up, and you can be self-taught.  Many cookbooks contain tidbits, hints, tips, and techniques, and the internet is a wealth of great recipes and information (you're reading this, after all!).  All that's stopping you now is trying.  Take your time, realize sometimes it won't turn out well, start with simple recipes and familiar ingredients, and try to follow them the best you can.  When you're comfortable, you can start to experiment a little and strengthen your skills.
3. Watch tv.  Normally, tv is mostly not worth watching unless you just want to kill some time with some almost-mindless entertainment, but you can learn to cook with your tv (I did) by watching a lot of the Food Network (like I did) -- and then getting into the kitchen to try things out.  Just like with the recipe books, you'll be largely self-taught this way, but you have the added advantage of having seen many of the techniques performed for you.  With TiVo you can even watch them again and again at will (something I didn't have)!  You really can become really good this way, and with the wide variety of celebrity "chefs" to choose from, you can pick specialties without even really having the know-how yet.

If you're already skilled, any of these recommendations can take you further.  The classes can be obvious: perhaps just improving your knifework or learning a completely new approach is possible.  Picking bold, challenging new recipes (and not fearing if you fail) can stretch your repertoire and build your confidence, plus it can give you tons of great new ideas.

Cooking is a skill that is worth its weight in gold, especially if you get good at it.  So why not get started today, Knoxville?

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.