Scored some chicken of the woods mushrooms so I had to make “Chicken Nuggets”
served with homemade Ceasar dressing and a side salad
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Simplivore. Fresh Quinault River Chinook baked with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. 2024 Morgen Long “Black Label” riding shotgun.
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A day off so made breakfast an omelet for my wife (no photo) and the kung pao mixed with eggs and turned into a noodle pancake.
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I haven’t went through this thread in months really makes me wish I knew how to cook.
It’s truly never too late to start. I believe cooking is not an innate skill and anyone can learn. Sure, some people may have an easier time than others, but everyone can learn. My advice would be to pick a dish you really like, and try to learn to make it as well as you can, then pick a new dish and repeat. Pretty soon you’ll have a small repertoire of things that you really enjoy, so perhaps the motivation to cook will increase
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That is a fine-looking salad. What is in it?
Sauteed red dandelion ( a chicory ) with red onion, calamata olives, garlic and pine nuts. It’s relatively bitter yet pairs well with an oily fish like Atlantic mackerel
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I went back and forth on whether to post this, as I was plating in a hurry and took the steak I tied poorly (curled up and the string came off) for myself. I didn’t trim it up before the pic because there are few things worse than lukewarm, gummy polenta.
Needless to say, I’m cleaning out the freezer and made osso bucco. Used Giada’s recipe, substituting Cayuse Edith for the cooking wine, as it was a nice day for rose and I wanted a bottle of red with dinner. Almost time for a new cow!
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You might look for local cooking classes or cooking groups. My library has a “cook the book” potluck series, and the local community center holds a series of cooking classes. No experience needed. I’ve not participated (no time!) but have friends who have and who tell me it’s a lot of fun. Having someone show you proper knife skills and such is really helpful. Add a few cookbooks with recipes for things you like to eat for inspiration. Good food doesn’t have to be fancy or technique-intensive. (But knowing how to handle a knife is pretty important!) Think of learning how to cook as an investment in your well-being.
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I’d also suggest checking out America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Country on PBS and considering a subscription to americastestkitchen.com. The videos make it easy to pick up techniques, they include descriptions of why they are doing the things they do, and the recipe database is both broad and deep. Alton Brown’s Good Eats on Food Network’s website and his YouTube channel are also both entertaining and educational.
I can’t overstate how important PBS was in teaching me how to cook. Watching Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, the now-disgraced Frugal Gourmet, Natalie Dupree, and the various Great Chefs series, to name just some of the programs I watched regularly, taught me so much.
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@Steve_L_Gellman - I’d steer you a different direction. Pick a dish or two that you like and want to cook a couple of times a month and then double down on it. Look it up on Serious Eats and You Tube and have fun with it. Then do it again and again and again.
I probably watched 15 videos on how to cook a brisket (and fire control) before I rolled the dice with a $125 brisket… and then cooked 5 or 6 more over the course of the year, watching new videos every time. I did the same with cassoulet, rabbit in mustard sauce and home-smoked bacon.
Knife skills? I have none. Hell, knives… I hid them when Sarah and Jonathan came over so they wouldn’t see them 
Do what you love to do and the rest will follow.
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