Ian shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

“Nobody just whips out a batch of home made tortillas! Even Mexicans buy their tortillas.”

I shrug. It’s really not that big a deal, making tortillas. Although…thinking back to twelve years ago, when I was a novice tortilla maker, I’m inclined to agree. Back then, making tortillas always involved tears and curses. The dough ripped, stuck to the kitchen counter, and stuck to my rolling pin. The pan was always too hot or too cold, either burning or drying out the tortillas. Why I continued to try making them, I don’t know.

But I did. Again and again I tweaked my recipe, changed my rolling technique, adjusted the heat under my pan. Somewhere along the line, making tortillas changed from a once-in-a-while-when-I’m-feeling-particularly-brave sort of dish to a standard part of my repertoire. It changed so dramatically, that once I made over 100 tortillas for a party, and did so without breaking a sweat.

How many other foods once seemed unfathomably difficult or complex? I can think of dozens: risotto (stir constantly?), pizza (such advance planning needed!), anything Indian (all those spices?!), quiche (crust, and filling, and custard?!)…

It’s good to remember, sometimes, how difficult these “easy” things seemed long ago. It’s good to remember that how difficult something is to do is often simply a measure of how much you’ve practiced doing it. A few weeks ago, having endured yet another fondant icing disaster (see The Desolation of Smaug), I privately decided that fondant was too hard, and I would stick to my buttercream icing in future. But maybe I just haven’t made enough fondant. I don’t know if “practice makes perfect”, but it does make it easier.