Cooking is something I actually only recently discovered in terms of things that I enjoy doing somewhat. As a college student, living in dorms or sharing a tiny tiny kitchen in an apartment, I cooked so that I would have food to consume at least twice a day. But now we have an actual apartment with a nice large kitchen (it has an island!) and lots of counter space and bowls and plates and burners that work and nice things like that. It enables me to dream bigger, now that I'm free to make a large pot of soup and not have to worry about eating all of it myself. (I'm sure it must be such a burden on my roommates to have to eat free food.)
As my experience increases, I seek to push the envelope a bit more, attempting to make more and more meals from scratch. The fewer canned goods I can get away with, the better. Not to mention, I'm notoriously difficult when it comes to eating the same meal within at least a two month period. It's gotten bad to the point that I can't even make the same kind of pasta within a certain time frame. If it's spaghetti and meatballs this week, it had better be lemon farfalle with chicken the next week and then something that isn't pasta at all the week after that. Did I make chowder in August? Well, I'd better not make it again until after December, and if I do make it before then, it had better be a new recipe.
This doesn't make it easy when I come up with great ideas for meals to bring home. I think, "Oh, I'd love to make this for my family!" Unfortunately, my father can be picky but in the exact opposite way from me. Routine is good. Also there must be meat (not always a requirement with me). And now I truly understand why my poor mother would get so frustrated with planning the weekly meals. Now that I have to take food interests of others into consideration, the fun starts to diminish a bit and the stress starts to hike.
It may go something like this: "I could make something with chicken. But I need to use thighs because Dad hates chicken breast. But I hate thighs. So both? Or maybe just do some other meat. Like what? Beef? Hamburger is boring, I don't want to do hamburger (hamburger is for people who are poor and on a tight schedule). But I don't like steak...unless it's filet. That's too expensive. What other kinds of beef are there that aren't too fatty and chewy but also aren't too dry so that Dad hates it?" I could go on. And to think this is what my mom does almost every weekend for 3-5 meals out of the week. No wonder cooking isn't any fun anymore!
Honestly, I'd love to get to the point where I could spice things up a bit while retaining that classic, local style quality that my brother and father prefer, while getting a bit of flavor variety that is slightly more dynamic than "shoyu-ey." Either way, I'm already brainstorming clever recipes to bring home to the family for the far-off summer, and hopefully, by that time, my skills will have increased to the point where I can improv a little bit and make up something special of my own.
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