I used to be one of those people ? you know, the ones who burn water. And yes, before you ask, it is quite possible to burn water, though less literally than you may think. That being said, I had long ago given up on the very idea of learning to cook, especially learning to cook on my own, mainly because anything that I have every tried to cook on my own ended up being disastrous. I was told that the root of all this is that I am also a person who easily gets distracted and who would forget about a lot of things ? to the point that I may end up doing something twice just in case I didn't do it already, which is not a very good idea when you're cooking. I once ended up with a very salty mass that was supposed to have been a pudding (don't ask for the details, please, it was a very painful event). Evidently, it would be much easier for me to stop even trying to pick up anything in the kitchen, and instead rely on either takeaways or my hordes of family and friends (they are, in fact, a horde) to keep me fed the right sorts of food. So far, it had worked, but I found little satisfaction in that.

Then, for my birthday, they gave me a surprise cooking party. Essentially, what they have done is hired a professional cook to teach us to make simple meals out of my very own kitchen. It was fantastic ? it's the very first time that I actually understood what I was doing wrong in the past, and because of this, I managed to find ways to correct it. By the end of the party, I had managed to create a rather simple but delicious vegetable meal that we all enjoyed.

So anyone out there, know this: if you feel like you've lost hope, don't be afraid to ask for help. Maybe that's all you need ? a few lessons. This is my new cooking mantra ? which is why I'm signing up for as we speak.