During my earlier working career when I had a young family I would try to get home in time to eat the evening meal with my children. This was however fairly basic because my children only liked egg and chips(fries), fish fingers and sausages. Obviously these sort of meals are easy to prepare and can be put on the table in a few minutes. Also you don’t need many culinary skills to produce them.
Fairly late on in my working experience(when I was 52) I was transferred to the US. My wife who was a teacher at the time had to stay behind in the UK to complete her 3 months required notice. I rented an apartment and soon found out that in order to eat I had to either eat out or cook for myself. I had very little prior experience of cooking but quite looked forward to the challenge. I could make tea and toast and cook bacon and egg!!
The apartment was fully equipped so the basics of utensils were to hand.
But what to cook was the first big hurdle to overcome so I bought a cookbook. I had seen Jamie Oliver on TV in his series “The Naked Chef” so I bought his book of the same name.
So each morning before going to work I would choose a recipe and then buy the ingredients on the way home. I would follow the recipe to the letter. This wasn’t always that easy because some of Jamie’s measurements are a bit vague. For example he use a “glug”of olive oil and a “handful”of spinach. But nevertheless I persevered and that got me interested.
Looking back presents some amusing incidents. I would make a meal for 4 and then throw a vast amount of leftovers away!! I would try to measure a pinch of salt!!
To start with the meals were barely edible but as time went on I grew in confidence and got better at it.
Now I regard myself as a mediocre cook and make meals at home for my wife and me at least three times a week.
I have a library of cookery books and subscribe to several magazines.
Please feel free to contact me at:
david@cooking4pleasure.com