The Effort Issue

Though my mom is an amazing cook, her talents in the kitchen politely skipped right over me. Growing up, my cooking skills were following the instructions on the back of the Mac ’n Cheese box, and “improvising” on the Sunday dinner recipe. And while I’ve managed to survive till now, after having my own child, I’ve realized I can’t just cook quesadillas my whole life. 

And thus commences my latest project of learning to cook great food:

My scheme officially started when I tried a friend’s homemade hummus. One bite was all it took for me to stock our pantry with pounds of dried chickpeas. Nothing compares to a bowl of warm homemade hummus with your dinner. 

From there I started questioning which other traditionally store-bought foods I could make myself. I started easy with pickled vegetables like onions, carrots, garlic, and cucumbers. Our pickled vegetables perked up many of our meals and prevented produce from spoiling.

When we recently bought a mealy Walmart watermelon, rather than throw it out I made Watermelon Lime Juice. So good. And most recently, instead of the ultra-famous Costco rotisserie chicken, I decided to roast my own at home (it was surprisingly easy, and infinitely more delicious). I soon made it a habit to save leftover chicken bones for delicious homemade bone broth.

While we were dating, my husband and I would make sourdough bread every week. Years later, our habit faded and we relegated his dehydrated sourdough starter to a lonely spice bottle in the back of a cupboard. After recently reviving it and making our first loaf, we wondered what took us so long to pick up the habit again.

I guess it’s taken 26 years for me to view cooking as a creative space, rather than a chore (and dispense with the “I’m not much of a cook” mentality). While I love the convenience of an occasional ready-made meal, over time they rob you of the satisfaction that follows creating something yourself.

The meals I remember most are the ones where I was deeply involved in its creation: 

• Catching a fish, gutting it, frying it, and eating it.

• Picking apricots, cleaning them, removing the pits, boiling them, sealing them in jars, and spreading it on toast.

• Picking apples to make apple cider and fruit leather.

• That one time I made homemade fruit snacks.

  
  
  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  
  
  

Anyways, my new relationship to cooking looks something like this:

Try making something delicious this month, savoring the process just as much as the result.