Before Thanksgiving I made almost all the recipes Julia Collins made at the Sur La Table because I am a giant, giant dork.

I made the Pan-Roasted Chicken Breasts with Sweet-Tart Red Wine Sauce, which was super easy and super delicious. I've quite mastered the pan sauce and yes, I am quite proud of myself.

And then the Steak au poivre with brandied cream sauce, which I'd been meaning to make for ages anyway but never had brandy and beef broth handy. But last week I did happen to have beef broth, and remembered that I could just buy an airline bottle of brandy at my local Beverages and More, and I was glad I did. Because man, is that brandied cream sauce good. I almost think mine was better than Julia Collins', but surely that was only because she was cooking for a crowd. I served the steaks with asparagus roasted with brown butter and pecorino and I overroasted the asparagus which turned out to be actually kind of a nice thing to do. The asparagus came out super crisp, like asparagus fries.

I also made the lemon pound cake, and that was my one disaster. It came out far too dry. Clearly, a kitchen scale must be my next big ticket kitchen item purchase (especially since my dad is sending me a fancy knife sharpening system). I wanted a ThermaPen more, but my meats almost always come out perfectly. My baked goods, on the other hand, occasionally need some help.