My Best Is What I Have Been Trying to Do

I have been learning to cook some new things.  I am presently at an about 40/60 "Good Job/Bad Job" ratio.

Good Job: I figured out how to make the thing where you toast bread in a skillet and then drop an egg in the hole?

Served with the toast-hole and a side of fried mushrooms, this is a breakfast I really like.  I should try it with fresh fruit!  That's what I should do.

Bad Job: I braised some beef in a soy-citrus sauce with garlic and ginger.

I cannot explain how or why, but it turned out horribly.  I could barely eat it (but I ate it).  These pictures give me upset stomach memories.  I think the problem is I've I made a sauce and I'm learning I should not make sauces.

Bad Job, Real Bad Job:  I tried slow poaching an egg, where you keep an egg in 145 degree water for 45 minutes and it's supposed to come out looking like the most beautiful poached egg ever.

Yeah . . . that did not happen.  As you can see here, I somehow created an egg with opaque, runny whites.

And a practically completely solid yolk.  Sheesh.  I blame the great difficulty I had in keeping a constant temperature in the pot.

Good Job: But then the other day I made sesame (peanut butter) noodles with chicken that I had brined for the occasion.  This one was tasty.

Bad Job: Unfortunately, the left over chicken inspired this creation: leftover chicken on rice with a soft boiled (quite different from a slow-poached) egg with an improvised octo vin sauce.  My stomach is still upset from this one.  Why?  Because of the sauce, I believe.  I need to stop trying to create sauces.