I’ve written about food plenty of times on this website. I share recipes when I can, and one of my favourite things is to hear about people using my recipes and loving them. I use food a lot to share a piece of myself; I really think there’s a connection between love and food, so when readers turn to my recipes as a place to feed their families, cravings and hearts as well, it thrills me.
However, I have talked to many people over the years who simply don’t like cooking. And I get that. I love cooking – when I love cooking. Otherwise, it’s a chore. I don’t like to be pressured, I don’t like to face a timeline (which is likely most week nights) and I don’t like to have to try and please a variety of taste buds. I like to experiment.
Luckily, my love for food and experimenting means that I typically enjoy cooking more than I don’t. There are times when I burn the cookies. And times when I try a recipe that just is not a keeper and that’s just all a part of the creative process.
When people tell me that I must be a good cook, I laugh. Because, yes, I have served some pretty awesome meals that I’m very proud of, but there have been plenty of times that I thought something was a disaster. I just try again.
This weekend I made a semi-frozen coconut lime cheesecake dessert. I called it semi-frozen, because it didn’t freeze all the way before I wanted to eat it. It was a pieced together by gathering ingredients I already had, with the craving for something I thought I wanted (key lime pie was the inspiration).
In the end, it turned out great. There are things I would change about it, but this was an experiment that was a winner. It was creative and fun to implement.
Are you creative in the kitchen? Do you love to experiment?
I am definitely an experimenter! I’m not the greatest at cooking, in fact, I couldn’t crack an egg or flip a pancake until I moved out. My lack of cooking skills was often a source of family jokes. But when I moved away, I had to learn to make do with my skills and what my student budget could afford. So I gradually got better and learned from every tasty mistake.
I find that with my failures (and there are plenty) I learn a lot – what not to do, what works, what doesn’t. That’s part of the fun! Although, I prefer there to be fewer failures 😉