When did you fall in love with cooking?

[mandy moore]

I know its suposed to be off-topic , But when did you actually fall in love with cooking ???

I remmember myself cooking at the age of 14 ..

My first dish was Spagitti ... it was fantastic !
After that i remmember having to do it again and and again til this day - {28 Years old} ... They told me, it was the best pasta ever . Dont know if my parents were encoureging me or just being hounest , but it gave me a push to love kitchen till this day .


I just remmemberd that kinda drew a smile on my face ...

 

[Scotch]

I was the youngest of three kids, so I ended up helping my mother in the kitchen quite often. One summer when I was about 10, a friend and I decided we wanted to make a cake, and she showed us how, using a packaged mix. That was great fun, and I started baking for enjoyment.

In the meantime, my dad taught me to grill, starting with how to build the fire. FIRE! FUN!

After that, it was Boy Scouts. My mom had taught me how to do simple things like fry an egg or make pancakes and stews, and I got my cooking merit badge when I was 11. After that, I taught the other guys how to cook -- mainly because I wanted to EAT! (I was a little porky by then.)

In my junior year of college, I moved off campus with three other guys, and it was cook or starve. We experimented a lot, and it was fun, plus we got to eat our experiments.

When I got married, my wife didn't know how to boil water, so we learned together. We both loved food and dining out (which we couldn't really afford then), so we just learned.

We now have over 1000 cookbooks, a large wine cellar, one of the best equipped kitchens of anyone I know, and we eat quite well. It's still fun!

 

[mandy moore]

I was the youngest of three kids, so I ended up helping my mother in the kitchen quite often. One summer when I was about 10, a friend and I decided we wanted to make a cake, and she showed us how, using a packaged mix. That was great fun, and I started baking for enjoyment.

In the meantime, my dad taught me to grill, starting with how to build the fire. FIRE! FUN!

After that, it was Boy Scouts. My mom had taught me how to do simple things like fry an egg or make pancakes and stews, and I got my cooking merit badge when I was 11. After that, I taught the other guys how to cook -- mainly because I wanted to EAT! (I was a little porky by then.)

In my junior year of college, I moved off campus with three other guys, and it was cook or starve. We experimented a lot, and it was fun, plus we got to eat our experiments.

When I got married, my wife didn't know how to boil water, so we learned together. We both loved food and dining out (which we couldn't really afford then), so we just learned.

We now have over 1000 cookbooks, a large wine cellar, one of the best equipped kitchens of anyone I know, and we eat quite well. It's still fun!

Very nice story ..................

 

[Silversage]

I was 10 when my mom got sick. As the oldest of 5 kids, it became my job to cook. For years, until I left home at 17, my father had to find a way to keep me motivated. It didn't matter what I made (roast beef, kraft dinner or anything in between) after dinner he would always say "Kathleen Marie, you've outdone yourself".

One year, when I was about 13, he invited all of the relatives to our house for Thanksgiving, and told them that I was cooking the turkey dinner. Well, I had never done it before, but he just kept telling me 'you can do it'. I spent the entire morning on the phone with my grandmother as she talked me through everything from cleaning the bird to making the stuffing. By the time she got there that afternoon with the pies, my turkey was nearly done, and I was so proud!!!

I guess I just always loved cooking because he always made me feel so proud of my accomplishment no matter what. To this day, I think you can teach a lot more with praise than you can with criticism. My father couldn't cook an egg, but he sure found a way to teach me!

 

[mandy moore]

I was 10 when my mom got sick. As the oldest of 5 kids, it became my job to cook. For years, until I left home at 17, my father had to find a way to keep me motivated. It didn't matter what I made (roast beef, kraft dinner or anything in between) after dinner he would always say "Kathleen Marie, you've outdone yourself".

One year, when I was about 13, he invited all of the relatives to our house for Thanksgiving, and told them that I was cooking the turkey dinner. Well, I had never done it before, but he just kept telling me 'you can do it'. I spent the entire morning on the phone with my grandmother as she talked me through everything from cleaning the bird to making the stuffing. By the time she got there that afternoon with the pies, my turkey was nearly done, and I was so proud!!!

I guess I just always loved cooking because he always made me feel so proud of my accomplishment no matter what. To this day, I think you can teach a lot more with praise than you can with criticism. My father couldn't cook an egg, but he sure found a way to teach me!

what a story .... you really have a special dad ... and a great talent as well ....

 

[luvs]

To this day, I think you can teach a lot more with praise than you can with criticism!

great to read your post. i love it!

as for the quote of yours i placed above, you're spot on! we get new Chef instructors each cycle. some can be very mean to students they don't like. swear at them, fling stuff across the room (not at the students, though! ), one called a student a bleeping idiot! that student really didn't belong in a kitchen, though- he would drink before school & reek. he left school. okay, on topic, luvs! point is, the terrible students were worse students when they were screamed at & critiscized. hm.....

 

[roadfix]

I wouldn't say I fell in love with cooking but I sure got 'interested' in cooking when I lit my first batch of charcoal on my little Smokey Joe grill many years ago....)

 

[Claire]

I always enjoyed helping Mom in the kitchen, and like some here, my mother got sick and I was fixing dinners myself (I have 3 younger sisters) at about 16. I left home to join the air force at 18 and one thing I always enjoyed was fixing dinners for fellow GIs. I knew I'd hit on something when the chief of the chow hall came to my office and sat with me to try to figure out how to make my egg foo yung recipe for the 40 or so young men he had to feed because the few guys I made it for raved so. He and I became great collaborators, and also our club's Filipino/Hawaiian cook. I'd always loved being in the kitchen as a child and teen at home, but I think realizing that I had a reputation among the hundred or so of us at this remote radar station really boosted my ego and made me want to learn more.