Sebastian,15-years old, showing off the striped bass he caught and cooked for our dinner party.

Most of you know that I don’t cook. Never made a meal. Okay, maybe a few times but never had a strong desire to cook until this past week. We were visiting friends in Provincetown, MA., where they host dinner parties all the time. In four days, we were invited to three dinners and two brunches. My girlfriend’s 15-year old son, Sebastian, even made dinner for us one night after he arrived home with the squid and striped bass he caught that day. I marveled at everyone’s creations and wondered why they cook and I don’t.

It’s probably because I’m too lazy or afraid of failing. Maybe both. This may be another false start, but I’m going to give it a try. I asked my girlfriend Dawn, to help me by suggesting very easy recipes for appetizers. She is going to email me one or two very simple ones to start. Now I worry about shopping for the ingredients. How would I ever know where to locate some of the unusual ones in the supermarket? I don’t want anyone to accompany me to the market. This is my project,

Surprise, surprise. I just heard about a new service that Fresh Direct, an online fresh food grocer, offers that can help me get started. Fresh Direct and Foodily, a leading social recipe network, have created Popcart, a technology that automatically takes a recipe and does the shopping for you. Yes, the website determines the ingredients needed and delivers them right to your door. When I Googled the service, I found a great explanation on Engadget.

The press release both companies issued said, “Popcart allows consumers to browse any recipe – across more than 150+ million food websites and blogs – and seamlessly integrates the ingredients right into a shopping cart.”

I was told by friends in the food industry, that many other food service companies, including supermarkets and specialty shops, will offer this service as well next year. Popcart for FreshDirect is now only available in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia, and Delaware.

I promise that once I get the hang of it, I will do my own shopping. Till then, I need all the help I can get.