Adventures in being a grown up

I'm a pretty terrible cook. Or, perhaps more fairly to myself I'll say I'm a simple cook and I make stupid beginner mistakes. I have no idea how to spice things, when things are done cooking, how to chop a vegetable to save my life, the list goes on and on. You can't blame me though, it's not that I just never cared to learn, I just never had anyone to learn from. As a child my mother's favorite meal for dinner was a giant bowl of cereal. I cannot even recall how many times I ate Fruity Pebbles for dinner, there were too many times to count. My childhood food pyramid should have had a box of cereal at the very top. Another favorite was McDonalds, Hamburger Helper, and disgusting dishes like corned beef and stroganoff. I'd ask if we could buy fruit and my mom would usually deny me because I was the only one in the house who ate it, so it would go bad. I was so god damn lucky I had the most incredibly metabolism as a kid. So who can blame me for not knowing how to put together a meal?

So I've decided that my goal this summer is to learn how to cook better. To cook things that I'm not mortified to put in front of people, to be inventive, to make things that are delicious. My friend Emily grew up in a completely opposite household as I did, her mother taught cooking classes and she had the all-American family dinners every night. She is such a kick ass cook and I am completely embarrassed for her to even look at anything I've cooked. She is my cooking inspiration, for sure.

Something awesome I just stumbled upon is 101 Cookbooks, a recipe journal by a girl with a huge cookbook collection who blogs about her favorite recipes (largely vegetarian). I am so making this Baked Pasta Casserole(photo above) tonight. Sounds easy. Baby steps my friends, baby steps.