Okay, this piece may be weird and total curve ball, or maybe not, but I get so sad when I hear people say they can’t cook, or that they are too accident prone to cook, or that it scares them to cook. Here’s the thing NONE of us came out of the womb knowing how to cook. Maybe some of us had it in our genes but I guarantee, those of us who appear to know what we’re doing all started by making mistakes in the kitchen. I guess the first thing any hesitant chefs should do is design a kitchen you will love spending time in. Here are some amazing Luxury Kitchens in Birmingham that I’m certain will tempt into spending all day cooking!

No one is perfect. If they seem to like it, they’re hiding something and if you believe you’re perfect you’re wrong. We ALL have imperfections which are what make us, well, us. It’s a good thing (in my mind) to be imperfect. Same goes in the kitchen it’s how you find your flare and find what you like to make/eat/cook. Sometimes it better for people to enroll in a good cooking or baking class. If this is something that interests you then you can enroll in a good bakery course to learn how to make the perfect cakes and things here.

Make Mistakes in the Kitchen

One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give is to get in the kitchen and start cooking. I don’t care how bad or how good your first meal attempt is, you will never get better if you don’t try. Believe me I was not the best of cooks when I first started. I just TRIED. It’s like swimming, if you’ve never tried swimming before you’re not going to jump in the pool and look like Michael Phelps. Instead you’re probably going to look like a flailing monkey looking for a branch, or something like that. These days, there are so many bloggers, like Park Spotter Africa, who have advice and recipe suggestions for beginners that you will absolutely find something that makes you think “hmm, maybe I could do that!”. And now you have no excuse not to get in the kitchen.

Mistakes happen in the kitchen ALL.THE.TIME. Now, if you work for a top restaurant or god-forbid Gordon Ramsey, it is probably SUPER important that you don’t make mistakes. However, for the rest of us home cooks, making mistakes isn’t the end of the world. I can’t tell you how many fire alarms I’ve set off, how many things I’ve burned, how many ingredients I’ve forgotten and how many times I completely misread the instructions. It is these mistakes that helped me learn how to cook and how to use ingredients in many different ways.

My Mistake-Making Kitchen Journey

Speaking of making mistakes, I wanted to share with you guys my journey in hopes that it inspires you or at least makes you laugh. I use cooking & baking as a form of stress management but it wasn’t always this way. In fact, I used to be scared to go in the kitchen. My mom was such a good cook that I was nervous that I’d mess up the food. Oh, don’t worry I DID mess up the food. However, when many people look at my instagram posts & /or stories they assume that I’m just really good at cooking and never make mistakes. Let me tell you, I still make mistakes, I just know better now how to correct said mistakes or when it’s time to start over.

Some of most memorable kitchen mistakes:

• Once used baking powder instead of baking soda in ricotta cookies and they were inedible
• Undercooked rice for risotto in my college cooking class, ate it with a smile on my face so my teacher wouldn’t notice
• Sliced my hand open trying to cut an avocado the first time in McCormick’s test kitchen
• In that same test kitchen, I forgot an egg in the gingerbread, and it sunk so deep my boss made me throw it away and start over
• I once left a pizza in my friend’s oven and she forgot about it (I went home before it was done), another time I left taquitos in the oven, luckily my roommate was awake and hungry, and had a nice midnight snack
• I’ve left bacon in the oven more times than I can count and it’s black, crumbly and inedible because I forget to time everything
• My friend once poured ice cream all over my hair, luckily we salvaged the rest
• …and the list goes on…

I’m actually certain there are more mistakes but most of the time I laugh them off, make compromises and adjustments, or just plain start over. SH*T happens in the kitchen, it’s only normal. And I plan on making mistakes the rest of my life not just in life but also in my kitchen, and other peoples kitchens.

Here’s How to Get Started in the Kitchen

1. Get in the Kitchen and do something

That’s it! Haha Okay, but really if you want to get started and don’t know how, find a friend who can help you, sign up for a class, look at videos on youtube and find EASY beginner recipes. Don’t overcomplicate cooking. Learn the basics like how to boil eggs and the add skills from there! You’ll also want to make sure that you have the right kitchen equipment to help you improve your kitchen skills. Even simple things like getting the best kitchen sink faucets can have a huge impact on your cooking abilities.

The more you can cook for yourself the more control you have over your diet and your health. Not only that, the more fun you can have with food! Don’t be afraid of mistakes, they happen, instead get excited for the stories you’ll be able to tell of what you’ve done in the kitchen!

So, what I want to know, is what’s stopping you from cooking?! Is it the time? The space? The lack of knowledge? Lack of experience!? Lack of knowing what to cook?

I want to help so let me know!

xoxo,

Sassy