Blog #25: Cooking

I used to hate cooking. I hated it because I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know how because I hated it. Growing up, every time somebody asked me if I wanted to cook with them, I’d shrug them off with a “No thanks, I’m reading.”

My sister Mariel, on the other hand, cooked any chance she had. Now her skills are beyond measure, while I’ve had to slowly work my way up from toast. That was a rather disappointing turn of events on my part.

In spite of all of this, (and in spite of last night’s previously mentioned dal explosion), cooking has actually come to be a sort of therapeutic activity for me. I’m not sure why, but at the end of a long day, I often can’t wait to come home and spend a couple hours in the kitchen. Today, after completing a Skype interview, I was excited to unwind by cooking, as it’s become a relaxing and enjoyable experience for me! (Hey Mariel… is this normal for you?)

Although it seems fairly insignificant, this has reminded me to continue to be open-minded about things, especially those that I had decided at some point in the past were ‘not for me.’ If I had let myself keep believing that I hated cooking, I wouldn’t have this new stress-relieving hobby. Thinking about this, I wonder how many things I have decided in the past that I didn’t enjoy, that I actually would enjoy very much now. Who knows what else I could be missing out on? Perhaps I will spend some time this week reevaluating activities that I think I like/dislike, and see if that’s actually the case for me now.

I'm sorry Olive Garden, but my pasta put yours to shame.