Description of the activity and experience :
Cooking is basically a survival skill and everybody should at least know some items which they can cook independently. I personally was very naive when it came to cooking because I was born with a silver spoon, a very well-settled family which is why cooking by myself was way off my set of life skills. While brainstorming for CAS experiences, I realized that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to take up cooking as an experience. During the covid situation, I learned how to cook quite a few items all by myself.
Learning outcome 1 :
I was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses :
Strengths
- I am very dedicated towards cooking which gave me a upper hand as I was always up for learning new items to cook and I could never get bored of cooking somethingg.
- I can follow a reciepe with perfection. I am very particular towards using the same porportions as told which makes it very rare for my item to be bland.
Weaknesses
- I always need approval from somebody else while I am cooking. I cannot trust my own gut because I feel like I might mess the dish up instead I rely on other’s opinion far more than my own opinion.
- I panic a lot while cooking, I cannot keep patience while cooking. I always need everything in a hurry which often makes the dish remain uncooked.
It is very important for us to know our strengths and weaknesses while doing any activity or pursuing any hobby. We know what is our forte and what is something we should work upon. It makes me feel well aware of myself now that I know all the areas I’ve to work on. Cooking is a long-term experience which is why I would definitely work upon my weaknesses so that I don’t mess up while cooking a dish for somebody.
Learning outcome 2 :
Cooking was a huge task for me in the beginning as I did not even know how to operate the gas differently through different dishes. From putting in spices to overcooking it, each and every step was very difficult. Also, I used to get very scared when any vessel was very hot, I could not touch it. Even after all the bickering, I learned how to cook and it’s been a journey. It took patience to finally overcome all the little challenges I had. Now that I have undertaken and overcame this challenge, I feel pretty proud of myself for being able to cook independently.
Final takeaway :
There are a bunch of things that I learned because of this CAS experience but the most important one of them is patience. I can now wait for the food to be cooked and not hurry all the time. Also, I got to learn how to take criticism. There were a lot of times when my family and friends didn’t quite like what I’d make but instead of getting offended, I took their advice in a better way and never made the same mess up again.
Evidences :
