During this time under quarantine, many have decided to take up new hobbies. Personally, my new favorite hobby is cooking.

Up until this point in my life, I have never actually cooked for myself. The extent of my cooking experience before quarantine has been with microwavable mac and cheese and occasionally making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 

With all of my extra time though, I have started to watch YouTube cooking videos. I have watched these types of videos before, but I never actually followed through with cooking what I saw. I would typically see the food, crave it, then either ask my parents to cook it or drive to a restaurant to order it. But now that I am stuck at my house with loads of free time, I have started to actually follow through and cook.

The first food I began to make was paninis and breakfast sandwiches in my waffle maker. I made a sandwich everyday and experimented with a multitude of different breads, cheeses, meats, vegetables, spreads and some fruits as well. After I figured out the perfect combinations of each, I moved on to grilling meat.

My dad taught me how to grill steak, chicken and pork chops. I rewatched some videos on how to season the meat, and then I figured out which one appealed to me the most. I quickly learned that cooking each different cut to perfection would take time and practice, so I found tips online for each. Luckily, I did end up cooking each cut of meat well, which I thought would be the hardest part of it all.

As I continued to learn and grow as a chef, I began to become more aware of what ingredients I was putting in each dish and the impact it had on my health. This has led me to realize how much I actually like cooking at home because it is much easier to hold myself accountable to what foods I am putting in my body.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.