My Mom, her Mom and her Mom before her and several more generations back all cooked and are known for being great cooks. And now I cook. You would think with a line of wonderful cooks in my family that I pretty much would have been cooking all my life but I do have to say my Mom's kitchen is HER kitchen. And I don't think I just ever got "it" -- how enjoyable food was until I was an adult so I never asked her to teach me. My Mom can cook without thinking....it is just a part of her. And although I like to cook and have become a fairly good cook I am not a natural like my Mom.
It was a bumpy start to learning to cook. When I first started to cook when I was dating my ex-husband, I had frequent phone calls to my Mom. Or consulted Betty Crocker cookbook as it is GREAT for basic such as just cooking vegetables. After we were married, we moved and for a bit I became a housewife. And so I tried to have dinner on the table when he came home so that is really when I started to teach myself to cook. I still wasn't good cook but I was working past my fears of the kitchen. Up until then I was scared of the kitchen. Scared of messing up. But the more and more I used the kitchen - cooking and experimenting the more I enjoyed the process.
When I moved to Ohio, I became burnt out on cooking. And really this is going to sound very selfish but I hardly ever got feedback about what I cooked. If the person enjoyed, wanted it again, could have used more salt or whatever. And so I stopped cooking for a while. I mean I cooked at times but otherwise it was quick things not real meals. When I cooked for Michael - from the start he was all about telling me if he liked it or what it needed. And so I started to really like to cook again. We both enjoy food and so cooking and experimenting with new recipes is something Michael likes as well as I do.
I still don't feel I am a great cook like my Mom and Grandmother but I can cook. The food I cook is enjoyed. I go through phases where I experiment, play and create and then other times when I just pull out what is easy. But over all I like to cook.
(links to recipes over on my cooking blog - photos top to bottom: Chocolate Chip Scones, Maple Fudge, Cheddar Cheese Bread, Chicken and Dumplings)
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