Learning to Cook

I always wish that my mom would’ve spent more time with me in the kitchen.

But, by the time I had gotten to an appropriate age, she was divorced and working full time, and I was participating in quite a few extracurricular activities.

I learned how to cook by trial and error. When I was about 13, it became my responsibility to make dinner for the household. I would make simple things like tacos or hamburgers. My mom made it easy by buying a lot of pre-made meals, like lasagna, that I could just pop in the oven. I got pretty good at timing things to be done right when my mom got home from work.

However, my food wasn’t great. I really expanded my talents when I got married. My husband is a huge foodie, and he loves the fact that I can cook. I worked so hard to find recipes and ideas for great tasting meals. Now, I’m a really good cook. I love inviting people over for dinner, and I have people requesting snacks and baked goods from my husband’s work. It makes me feel good to know that people like my food, and I look forward to my children requesting their favorite meals. It will make me feel so good to hear them say that no one cooks a certain dish as well as I do.

And, speaking of kids, I will make that extra effort. I wish that I had gotten that time with my mom. So my kids will have that time. I look forward to giving them my favorite recipes and showing them all my tricks. They’ll be able to make really great pasta from scratch, and they’ll learn how to keep a chicken breast moist.

It will be a great way to spend some quality time together, and I’ll pass on a really great life skill. They’ll be glad they learned to cook, and they’ll savor the memories we make in the kitchen together.