Why am I learning cooking, an essential life skill, JUST NOW!?...AT AGE 29!? Well, growing up our parents always cooked so I guess I just figured, "oh they got it, okay once less thing to worry about". But now it’s like "Ok, Kenneth. You’re 30 in 3 months, you’re supposed to know stuff already. Get with it!” So I’m finally learning how to cook. It’s not that I ever was apprehensive or lacked the confidence to cook, it’s just our parents always did it so we just kind of left it to them.
But I like cooking. It’s fun and it usually tastes better because then you get to cook it the way YOU like it. Also due to emotional abuse from kids at school all throughout my formative years, I don't have a lot of love for myself. A pro on here actually wrote a blog entry that really resonated with me and gave me hope. You know who you are, and thank you again for that. I love other people, and care about them deeply, but I barely ever think about myself. So it’s important for me to express my independence and learn to love myself again. Cooking is a great way to do that and makes me more confidant in general. Cause its like 'well, at least I can cook for myself'. Hehe
Below are some pics of the first several things I learned to cook. First thing ever was eggs, which I never really ate before because my Mom always made em super dry and overdone, but since I can make em myself now, I eat eggs about twice a week now. I'd eat em more often but trying to cut down my cholesterol.
third or fourth ? time that I made eggs, I put some microwave sausage-patties with it...
Grilled cheese - for the first time ever! A bit burnt but I didn't care, I still ate it. Hehe 
Another time, I also did one with a provolone on a hoagie bun. I left it in there a bit too long, but it came out tasting like a pretzel which, with the provolone cheese, made it taste super awesome! Hehe. I made two, ate the first one then realized I forgot to take a picture, so that's why there's a giant grease stain next to it.
Then I did some burger buns one night when we had burgers for dinner. Came out perfect. Evenly toasted, nice golden-brown. So good! And yes, that's a bit of the butter I used Haha
Another time I made eggs for myself, then my Dad wanted breakfast so I made him some and left it for him to just eat it straight out of the pan. We're farming family so we eat like that sometimes. REAL country cookin' LOL He said it really hit the spot. Hehe And yes our stove top is really rusted, but we've had it since before I was even born! So that's why all the rust and corrosion.
Hamburger "Steak" and Eggs. Made this for breakfast today actually about 3 hours ago. I say "steak" because its actually just a hamburger patty. My sister and her boyfriend wanted to hangout and make burgers. But I declined, telling them I wanted to make burgers on my own my first, that way when I come over I'll already know what to do. They said that was fine. So to practice, I did a hamburger patty in the skillet, then put my eggs with it. I normally eat 3 eggs, but since I was having the hamburger too, I only did two eggs. It came out really great. Only took me about 15 minutes or so, if even that. It was really good.
Tomorrow I'm going to go to the store and get ingredients for stir-fry. I'm going to do a Szechwan Shredded Beef and Carrots, from a stir-fry cookbook I bought at the half-price book store awhile back. Its from Better Homes and Garden so it ought to be really great. Gonna make it for dinner tomorrow night and invite my grandma over, she lives just down the road from us. She's an amazing cook herself. Her mother was a cook for some rich family back in the day so that's where she learned to cook. But I think stir-fry would be good dish for my first actual MEAL cooking start to finish. Will post again to let y'all know how it turns out...