Yes to Failing First by Carla DuPont Huger

Cooking. UGH! Cooking has been the bane of my existence. Anyone who knows me
knows that I cannot cook. My mother’s mother passed away when she was nine and as a single mother who was very active in the community, we were rarely home for dinner. My father is a chef de jour, but when I visited him, he said I was on vacation. Either way, I didn’t get the gene or the lessons.

It never really appealed to me, the whole cooking thing. You slave over a hot stove for
what seems like hours and hours of stirring, mixing, chopping and seasoning. It seemed like too much. Then I had my son. I wanted to be able to cook for him, but could not even put together five meals. I tried a little bit, but the meat wouldn’t be cooked all the way and, of course the side dishes were always overdone. I gave up. To me, not being able to cook represented a huge failure; one I didn’t know how to overcome.

Having a conversation with my father one day, I admitted to him the reason I couldn’t
cook was because of my failures. He laughed and said, “I wish you knew how much food I messed up. The only way to learn is to try.” Hearing him say that as a caterer really lit my fire. From that moment on, I have been burning up something. I got a Pinterest board for recipes and cool movie night snacks to try with the kids. I try to think outside of the box so my family doesn’t get bored with breakfast or dinner. 

I am saying “YES” to being able to cook…or at least trying and not being afraid to put salt, ketchup and sriracha on the table when I’m done. Salt, ketchup and sriracha make
everything taste better.