For the Love of Cooking

There are a number of things I really like...sriracha sauce, cats on the internet, and this song. But my life without Keyboard Cat would still be life. My life without cooking and food would not be my life. It would be something else entirely, probably something fairly miserable I (hate to) imagine.

For me, discovering loving cooking and loving food wasn't something that just came to me one day. It was a slow progression of events and influences, which I can only hope will continue to build. While it's become something defining about who I am, I'd hate to think the adventure has, in any way, peaked.

To me, the start was more of a subconscious one, sort of sitting in the background and waiting to make its point sometime later. My mom was always a believer in home cooked meals and family dinners. I grew up believing this was normal and that eating out somewhere or getting pizza was a real treat. So as an adult, it just seemed normal to me to continue this pattern. It is still surprising to me that some people's families didn't really give them this type of experience, that their moms or dads didn't do much home cooking or baking, for whatever reason. But I'm thankful it was part of my family experience, and I'm so glad it's helped to bring me to where I am today.

Let's be clear, I did not start out as what I'd call a good cook. I didn't wake up one day and realize I had to cook my own meals and make an impressive home cooked meal at first attempt. It's definitely been a journey where I started small and became more intrigued and more curious the more I cooked. More than anything, it's a chain reaction of "Well I did that. So why not this?".

The satisfaction I feel from completing something successfully and my general curiosity for food is what continually drives me to cook new things. The failures are there (boy, are they there), but they've never discouraged me. If anything, they've made me more determined to do it again and get it right.

So what I'm getting at is if you feel to intimidated to cook, don't be. I certainly don't think I'm the best cook ever, but I think I do an alright job. I'm determined to get better, and it know the only way to get better is to read up, give things a try, be happy about my successes and learn from my failures. Everyone starts somewhere but you have to start. 

Start with something as easy as omelettes or tacos and learn from your experiences. Try new things. Build your confidence and don't get too discouraged if you burn something or under-season it. It happens to the best of us, I'm sure of it. Just don't give up. I'd love to hear how your adventure goes!