[poincaraux]

This is really the way to go. I think I've posted about this before, so I'll keep this brief. In college, three of us had a genius-level idea: we convinced the school to give us money for the Gourmet Cooking Club. By the end of my senior year, we were getting $800/semester. 6-15 people per meal, a few meals per semester, we paid for the alcohol out of pocket. This turned many of us into very good cooks, and it makes going to fancy restaurants much more enjoyable/interesting.

A few tips:

1) Before you make a dish, read through the whole recipe again. Chop everything up in advance, etc. When you're starting out, you probably can't handle doing three or four thigns at once in the kitchen, so don't. Read the recipe again and think about what you'll be doing and when.

2) We went with themes, rather than working our way through a cookbook. We'd put one or two people in charge of each dish and other folks would help out. This was a good way to pair up good cooks with novices, etc. It also meant that we could make any dish that anyone wanted. By the end, we had the "novices" in charge of most dishes and the more experienced folks wandering around and helping with everything.

3) Spend some time talking to the folks at the wine store. Tell them your whole menu, how many people you have and what your price range is. Ask them what they recommend and why. Take notes. Do this at a good wine store. Moore Brothers was good to us.

4) Keep the cookbook open and keep looking at the recipe. As long as you're willing to do this, you can make just about everything. The exception, in our experience, was dessert. Things that involve melting sugar and candy thermometers can be a lot tricker than you might think, so either start simple or be willing to try a couple of times.

5) Write trip reports and post them.