So now that I am on summer vacation, I have all of this time on my hands. While I have used it to work on training for my half mary, let's face it, that doesn't take all day! I have done a few other things around the house like I said I would, but a new desire has fallen upon me. The desire to be...an awesome cook! Why you say? Well, my one SIL is known for baking these amazing chocolate cookies. Every time she makes them, people go CRAZY! And she seems to be the only one who can make them. She's giving out the recipe countless times, even showed people how she does it. But nobody can make them like she can! And then my other SIL is known for her sugar cookies. It isn't Christmas until she's made her cookies. The funny thing though is, she's not giving up her secret. She refuses to give out her secret recipe to anyone! But guess what -- I want a little glory too! I want to be known for cooking or baking something fabulous! Or even better, I just want to be known for being a great cook. Now if you know anything about my past experiences with cooking, you'll know what a stretch this has been / is going to be for me. Let me give you a few examples of my early ineptness...
While growing up, I was spoiled in the sense that I never really had to do anything! My mom cooked all meals for me and I was never really expected to help, so I really did NOT know my way around the kitchen. My Dad used to tease me about it all the time too. Anytime I would try to do something in the kitchen, he'd make such a big deal about it, I finally just stopped. It was a big joke and I was not going to give him the satisfaction at another laugh at my expense. So anyhow, when it came to me having to make my own food once I moved out at 18, I had about 3 things in my cooking repertoire -- PB & J sandwiches, tuna salad sandwiches, and Ramen noodle soup. Now, that'll get most college kids pretty far, so I was golden for awhile. Then I started dating this guy and he wanted to make dinner at home for once. We went really gourmet and decided on Hamburger Helper. We picked up some stuff from the store and brought it home. I still remember him throwing the ground beef into the skillet and telling me to start breaking it up to brown it. Can I just tell you -- I had never ever SEEN ground beef before! It freaked me out! I remember thinking that it looked like brains! I just kept poking at the mass of wiggly looking meat, pretending that I knew what I was doing. Thankfully, the rest of the cooking experience was pretty doable, as Hamburger Helper is. While eating that meal though, I just remember thinking, "Goodness gracious, what the hizeck am I going to do when he expects me to cook something real?!"
Well, as hard as I attempted to mask my complete ineptness in the kitchen, the BF caught on pretty fast and boy did he have fun teasing me about it. At first I just laughed, but then it started bugging me. He was just trying to be funny, but he made me feel really stupid. I think it bugged me more though because I hated knowing that there was something I was terrible at. Instead of learning how to cook better though, I just retaliated by refusing to do anything kitchen related. I showed him! (***Insert sarcasm here.***)
So anyhow, a few BFs later and I finally meet Mr. Right. I figure, this guy deserves to eat more than just PB&Js and Ramen Noodles, so I better get my act together. Unbeknownst to him, I secretly practice and try different recipes while we are dating. I only feed him the ones that actually turn out edible. It works! I landed the guy and proved to myself that I can learn to do something beyond opening a jar! (It probably helped though that Mr. Right would be perfectly satisfied eating PB&Js and Ramen Noodles! I also knew he was a keeper too because he never made me feel bad about what I could or couldn't do!)
So since I have met Mr. Right, I have come a long way in learning how to cook. Ground meet no longer frightens me! I've tackled things far more complicated! My DH even said yesterday that I was "a good cook". (The funny thing though is, I'll probably never believe him, but that's my issue.) But I WILL continue on my quest to being an awesome cook. I've been cruising one of my old fave forums, The Nest's What's Cooking and have gotten a lot of tips and recipes. I found some AWESOME blogs too. (If you're a foodie, you've got to check out Good Things Catered. The girl who writes it is super funny and down to earth, and her recipes AND PICS are drooliciuos!) So each day this week, I will be trying a new recipe. I will posting some of my successes, and yes, some of my failures too. I actually started this awhile ago. The whole Lemon Blossoms post was one my first adventures. While it wasn't a success, I still learned from it -- That's half the battle! I hope enjoy reading about my journey...oh, and if you work with my DH, you'll be tasting it too! Put in your requests!
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