#94 - Cooking 08/25/18

It took me 34 years, but I'm slowly learning how to cook.

Growing up, I never had any interest in learning. I was pretty reliant on Kraft Dinner, fast food and my quick metabolism. As I get older, I don't have the budget for fast food every night, or the metabolism for Kraft Dinner every night. My girlfriend was always the primary cook in our house, but she works way longer hours than I do these days, and if you're home all day, and can't be bothered to make a meal for your spouse while they're at work, you're kind of lazy. 

"I don't know how to cook" isn't an excuse anymore, either. With the internet available on everything these days, it's really not hard to google "how to make ______", and if there's a step you don't understand, you can google that, too. For a while, we were signed up for this "meal delivered to your door" type service, and every week we would get the ingredients for three meals, along with pretty simple instructions dropped off at the house. That got me started, but it was pretty expensive, so we decided to cut ties. It gave me the confidence to try and keep learning, though.

I make dinner almost every night, now. It's not 5 star restaurant quality, but it isn't just frozen pizzas, either. Fresh salads, usually chicken or beef, it's fresh food. I'm not gonna be entering any cooking competitions anytime soon, but six months ago, I didn't know how to fry an egg. Seriously. I actually kind of like cooking, now. 

To tie it back to stand up, getting into comedy has given me the confidence to try other things. Cooking, podcasting, this blog; I'm learning that it's ok to suck at something and to put time into learning how to get better. When you learn how to be a comedian, you have to learn in front of a room full of strangers. If you can survive that, learning how to cook in the privacy of your own home is a piece of cake. 

So if you don't know how to do something, like cook for example, I really urge you to try. Just look up a simple recipe for something you like and give it a shot. It won't always turn out perfect, but it's really not as intimidating as it seems. And learning how to do something you never thought you'd figure out is a really empowering feeling. 

Thanks for reading this dumb thing.

Adam