Cooking is Fun

So, who was going to tell me that cooking was so fun? For the first 20 years of my life, I did not have to even think about cooking, as my mom never let my brothers and I stay hungry (which I am so thankful for), and 63’s and Linda’s were my go-to food joints in my underclassmen years. 

Now, living in an off-campus house has brought with it the challenge of cooking for myself. Yet I do not see it as a challenge, but a true blessing. 

I think I might actually be addicted to cooking to some degree. It started out simple, a bowl of pasta and sauce or even some oven- baked chicken. Now, every meal I have is a mental competition of how I can make an elegant dish out of something so simple. 

I am beginning to understand why Remy from Ratatouille loved cooking so much. Remember that scene where Remy combines the strawberry and the cheese in his mouth for a new taste? That is definitely my new mindset. Find new flavors out of old classics and run with it. 

Take, for instance, a bacon, egg and cheese. From Gordon Ramsey, I learned that you always cook the bacon before the eggs, so that you can cook the eggs with the grease of the bacon. Then you season your eggs generously with salt, pepper and my personal favorite seasoning, chipotle garlic from McCormack. Then you toast your bread, lay the egg and bacon in-between, and boom. You have a delicious sandwich to start your day. Cooking is fun. 

One of my favorite parts about cooking is the fact that you appreciate the meal a whole lot more when you are the person cooking it. I actually think it tastes a little better knowing you put all the work into it. There may be some bias to my self-critiquing, however. 

Another reason I enjoy cooking is because it is a way that I can be a giver. What I mean is that I can use cooking as an expression of gratitude. You had a bad day? Baked ziti. Stressed out? I’ll make you some burgers. It feels like a superpower. 

And just like in Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility. A discovery I have made is that one of the biggest parts of cooking has nothing to do with the food at all but has everything to do with cleaning. I always clean up the kitchen a little bit before I cook, then I load up any dishes I used to cook in the dishwasher. You have to think smarter, not harder. 

If you are ever hungry and don’t have the time to cook, just give me a call.