The Adventures of Cooking

I think I’ve had a new realization of just how much I’ve under appreciated my mother. I mean, don’t get me wrong, coming to college definitely helps you realize how absolutely incredible parents (especially Moms–no offense Dad!) can be. Learning to do my own laundry my freshman year was certainly an experience, and yes, when I’m at home I may or may not still ask my mom when I’m doing laundry as to whether whites go in hot or cold water! However, in terms of food, coming to campus this summer, I decided I would “rough it” and actually cook for myself, in a sort of preparation for my senior year, when I will finally have an apartment with my very own kitchen! Yes, I am very excited about this!

What this means, though, is that this summer is my trial by fire in terms of cooking, especially since I’ve been on a meal plan the past three school years and then had my darling mother to cook for me before that. Let me tell you, my mom is a great cook, something I’m now fully realizing that I’ve started preparing food myself. It’s definitely been interesting so far, my few attempts at cooking/preparing any food in general. I’ve always loved to bake, but I’ve just recently discovered that baking and cooking are two very different things. Basically, up until last night, I’d been sticking to fairly simple “meals”…aka, pouring lettuce out of a bag to make a salad, eating coldcuts, munching on frozen edamame, or maybe, if I’m ambitious, trying my hand at the wonderful creation beloved by college students, EasyMac.

However, last night I decided I was actually going to put the effort in and cook a REAL meal. Yet, as I was desperately trying to try to fry/cook/I don’t even know my salmon filet while also trying to stir fry my veggies and contemplate cooking the couscous I planned to make, it really hit me how totally amazing my mom really is. She always made it look so easy, preparing such yummy, well-balanced meals, with the meat and veggies and sides all so perfectly arrayed on my plate, and yet here I am sweating in the kitchen, dropping carrots, spilling soy sauce, and altogether making a royal mess out of my cooking adventure. Somehow, though, in the end, I managed to scrape together a fairly decent and tasty meal, much to my surprise. And just think, I can only go up from here…right? So yes, Mom, if you’re reading this, I will now totally say that you are the BEST! Now that that’s out there for the world to see, when you come this weekend, do you think you could bring me some food?