Learning to Cook

Cooking is an art. There are people who can effortlessly create something amazing with what seems only a flick of their finger, like a magical wand. Their love and passion is felt by eaters when it is tasted, the same way that it is felt by viewers of a painting, or readers of a story. 

Some people just have that talent. 

That doesn't mean though that those of us that don't can't cook, paint, or write! Everything can be done with practice. We might not be professionals but we can still create a nice piece of art for ourselves and family. 

My cooking has improved so much in the past three of years. I use to think of my cooking as something I did to survive. It was tasteless and completely unmotivated. There were times when I thought "Okay, this dish looks like it came out good, I followed the recipe" But then, I give it a taste test and it totally failed. 

Now I feel like it taste delicious. Especially since my discovery of spices I had not heard of before. Spices and herbs are EVERYTHING. I even deviate from the recipe a bit. I'll omit, add, or substitute with pretty good confidence. 

I enjoy cooking, but not as much as I would like to. 

I think part of the reason is because my son doesn't seem to enjoy the foods. When he was younger he did not usually choose to eat typical "kid" foods such as burgers, hot dogs, or mac n' cheese when it was available. He enjoyed refreshing dishes such as tuna salads, crab salads, as well as warm dishes like chicken soup or noodles soup. He was always that one kid who had to add cilantro and onions to his tacos, or lettuce and tomato to his burger (if he had any). It wasn't too difficult to please him, or to get him to eat his veggies (eventually).

Now that he is older he enjoys those kid foods (with the exception of mac n' cheese and PB&J.. I'm not sure why he never liked these) and he still eats a good amount of veggies. He doesn't seem to be very adventurous with food though, which is too bad because the main reason why I started learning how to cook better was because of him. 

I started learning more about healthy eating and cooking. I've always been interested in this, and always did the best with the knowledge that I had at any point in time. Now I feel more knowledgeable and always willing to learn, and with nutrition knowledge always comes healthy cooking and eating. I always try to make the dishes he enjoys but lately (I attribute it to the pandemic) he simply has been very picky.

My hope is that once everything goes back to normal and he returns to school, our eating pickiness and habits will improve. 

In the meantime I will continue to cook.

Do you enjoy cooking?

*Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay