Cooking!

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Cooking. What does it actually mean?  Dictionary.com says that cooking is the 1. the act of a person or thing that cooks,  2. the art or practice of preparing food; cookery. Yes there is the actual definition; but I mean what does it mean to you. Cooking to me means blasting my Pandora radio and losing myself in the ingredients and food.
   I remember the first few times I actually cooked; they were with my Grandmother in my families little condo. My grandmother was showing my how to make chocolate chip cookies; showing how the Tsp and Tbsp were two very different measuring tools and to never get them confused (unfortunately I have multiple times!). Next she showed me how to measure brown sugar; I always thought that compressing the brown sugar was a waste of time, and lets just say there have been a dozen or so cookies that tasted a little less sweet. Cooking with my grandmother taught me that you need to spend the time to make perfection, but changing the recipe can make perfection as well.
     I have been cooking now for over 10 years, and its one of my hidden passions! I love making the comfort food, or those fast simple recipes that you have somehow memorized. One of my favorite dishes that I have had was an Italian/French dish. I was traveling through all of France last year, and when we were in Paris our first day it was nonstop touring; so by the time it was lunch we had gone to little Italian restaurant. The dish I chose was a pasta dish, it had sauteed carrots, zucchini, peppers, a garlic sauce, and fresh Parmesan and paprika on top. But every since last summer, I have tried to make that dish so many times, and I think I have perfected my version of it. If you would like my recipe for it, I can post it.
    Cooking is just a way I can express myself, I always wanted a way that would make me and the others around me happy; cooking was the key! Don't be afraid to express yourself, whether its through cooking or not. 

-Marissa