Sunday, March 1, 2009

I can cook!

It's taken a long time, but I finally feel like I can cook well. I made dinner last night from scratch without following a recipe. And it actually tasted good! This is the first time that's ever happened and is a huge accomplishment for me. 

Growing up, my mom always cooked. I occasionally baked, but never cooked. So when I went off to college I had very few skills. My first attempt at cooking, the chicken was dry and I misread the recipe, instead of 1 tsp cumin, I put in 1 tbsp curry. It was not good. At all. 

The first few years of college I basically ate at the dining hall, had cereal or a sandwich, or cooked chicken on the george foreman grill. Rarely did I attempt anything more complicated. Then I got married and there was no more dining hall. We ate out a lot. Probably, 3-4 times a week. When I cooked, it was by following a recipe to a T. Even then my attempts often failed. My husband was sweet enough about it, never really complaining. 

But finally after all this time, I can finally cook well. I've got that famed cooking instinct I feared I would never have. I know this is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things, but when you have to cook dinner every night, I want to make sure the people eating it actually enjoy it. 

What about you? Do you have any bad cooking stories? 

4 comments:

Colleen said...

What did you cook last night? I always like to hear what other people are cooking because I tend to fall into a rut and cook the same thing a lot. I like to make a menu of what we're going to have every night at the begginging of the week when I do my grocery shopping, but after a couple weeks I stop doing it because I just can't think of what we should eat.

I've just started using my crockpot a lot to save time, and it usually turns out really good too.

Jenn@ The Crazies said...

I went to hairdressing school and during that time I lived w/ dad & stepmom ( and grandfather who was staying there part time). My grandfather is old fashioned ITALIAN man but did a lot of cooking in his house. Every monday and wed night he would force me into sitting thru cooking lessons... but I tell ya what.. it paid off... I have been told I am a damn good cook! Thank god... lol

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx said...

Let's see. Two spoiled turkeys at two different Thanksgiving celebrations, cookies that after 40 minutes in the oven were more liquidy than they were going in, and setting off the fire alarm 4 times in three months in the new apartment.

Yeah ,I don't cook.

Kit Kat said...

iMommy: Lol! Thanks for sharing!
Colleen: for dinner that night I cooked cheesy chicken and bell peppers. I cubed the chicken, sprinkled with salt, pepper and paprika, and browned them in a saute pan with butter. When they were almost done I added in chopped bell peppers and then topped it all off with cheddar cheese. It was yummy.
Jenn: My mother-in-law is italian too and she's given me a bunch of good recipes that are always tasty. Yummm.