Blog Challenge Day 19: A Talent of Mine

Greetings Humble Readers...

Today's been an unproductive day... my blood sugar tanked this morning because I slept through when I normally have a mid-morning snack.  When I woke up, I felt like total crap and I've spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing because I have felt so sluggish. 

The blog challenge assignment is to talk about a talent of mine.  Hmmm...

I have tried to think of something that I'm good at, but the only thing that comes to mind right now (other than having a memory for useless trivia) is cooking. 

I've always loved cooking. 

I started cooking for my family when I was 9 or 10 years old.  Not all the time, but regularly enough to start gaining some skills.  Mostly I would make easy stuff like pasta or Hamb.urger He.lper, but I always wanted to experiment with the basic recipes to make them my own.   By the time I was 12, I was cooking at least half the time for my bio-mom and I.  I got good at things like cooking rice, lasagna, fish and chicken. 

I was excited when, in 8th grade, I was able to start taking cooking classes in school.  I ended up being rather disappointed by the classes, though, because the majority of it was either beyond basic or so rigid that there was no opportunity to experiment. 

In the years after college, when I lived on my own, I didn't do much cooking because I don't like cooking for one.  But, when I moved back in with my parents several years later, I found my inspiration again.  And that's when I got addicted to the Food Network, cookbooks, and cooking magazines. 

I love trying new flavors, new ingredients, and new techniques.  I have my share of flops, but I don't think it's bragging to say that most of the time recipes come out the way I planned.  There are plenty of times when I think something needs to be added to, changed, or taken away... but it just makes me all the more excited to try again and make it better.  I just sometimes wish that my Beloved wasn't quite so easy to please... I would love to get some real feedback on some of my efforts. 

The one thing that I love about cooking is that there is always somewhere different to go with it, there's always something new to try.  I want to learn to cook thai food, and I want to experiment with quinoa.  I want to find a really good place for puttanesca so that I can get a good taste for it, and then copy it.  And I want to find some more interesting ways to do pork chops (a staple on our menu).  Even the dreaded GD has caused me to grow as a cook, and to think about how to adapt my palette. 

So, now that I've babbled on and on... tell me, what is the most recent new-to-you flavor or food or cooking technique you've tried?  Did you like it?  Is it something you'll have again?