What type of a cook are you ?

[Tasty]

CP - What a strange experience you had shopping today...

Well I am definitely by the book/recipe kind of cook. I try to clean as I go too due to limited space and I have no dishwasher too so I have to handwash which I detest doing but don't want a dishwasher at the same time. If I like a recipe, I usually try to type it up that day and attach a photo, as well as adding tweaks.

I would love to be the kind of cook that can throw things together however I just can't do it although I think I am learning a little. I just don't know what flavours go together - that's what my husband is good at and he makes some pretty nice stuff. He is happy to cook everyday whereas it is something I never liked however enjoy much more now that we menu plan and I am a stay at home mum with a little one.

I enjoy trying out new recipes and am learning to extend my palate slowly slowly, especially with the TMX.

I am also looking forward to teaching my little one how to cook from a young age...something that I never had as it was all done for me.

[andiesenji]

Tasty,
Cooking "free style" is something that happens as you get experience.  Fifty years ago, as a new bride, I usually followed recipes to the letter and sometimes they didn't turn out and that too was a lesson that added to my "book of food knowledge."

I've always been very outgoing and never afraid to approach strangers in grocery stores who were purchasing something with which I was unfamiliar.  In some cases I made life-long friends who had a similar interest in food.

I learned to cook many ethnic dishes in this manner and was introduced to some extraordinary people. 

Now, with the internet, this is so much easier and the immensely wider availability of "exotic" foods makes adventurous dining a wonderful possibility.