My Kitchen Bucket List

Every cook has one:  the things she would like to learn to make someday.
In no particular order, here are some of mine:
paella
apple-cider donuts
empanadas
popovers
sandwich bread
shaped round rolls
cheesecake
corn muffins
Irish brown bread like the kind we had in Ireland when I was 15, and which is probably so mythologized in my mind that NOTHING will come close to it
General Tso's Chicken

And I'd like to start a sourdough starter and NOT kill it off after only a couple of weeks! (I'm a little lacking in the follow-through in the sourdough department).

In view of the kitchen goals I have, I requested a couple of baking pans for my birthday (hey, the kids asked...and these are not things I'd go out and buy for myself.)

My baking-pan cabinet is going to get out of control if I add anything more to it, but I have had these on my wish list for so long--and as soon as it gets a little cooler I'm going to be baking!  I asked for (and received) a donut pan and a Pullman loaf pan. This heavy-duty covered bread pan makes those square "sandwich" loaves. I've got 4 weeks to get that right before school starts.