Welcome to my Kitchen

The Kitchen Alchemist

I have always felt that there was something wonderfully creative and magical about cooking. It's the perfect cross-section between practicality and creativity. The most basic goal of cooking is to make nourishing food, to provide the body with the sustenance it needs to function properly. Of course, that can be accomplished with the most rudimentary of dishes: steamed rice, veggies, sandwiches, etc. There is no need for anything more. These foods will nourish the body as well as the most complex of dishes.
But it is the interjection of one's creativity into the kitchen that really brings the art alive. It takes cooking and raises it above being merely a task necessary for survival. It makes cooking fun, a challenge, and an excitement. The earth has supplied us with countless building blocks that can be cooked and combined in ways beyond the knowing. There are always new ingredients to try and even the old, familiar standbys can be made new if cooked differently.
I've always been a competent cook, feeding myself without any major mishaps. At the very least, I've never sent myself or anybody I've fed to the hospital. But it was always a chore. I cooked because I was hungry and I needed to eat. Dinners were basic. Reach into the freezer, pull out a piece of chicken breast, cook in fry pan with some spices, eat with a side of microwaved veggies. Or pasta with some cheese and store-bought tomato sauce. A veritable carnival in my kitchen. [insert sarcastic eye roll here].
I'm not sure when I decided to bring a little adventure into my kitchen. I think my decision to go vegetarian had something to do with it. It opened up my eyes to a world of culinary possibilities. No longer was my diet dominated by the basic meat courses of chicken or pork or beef. And, as much as I love pasta and bread, a woman can't survive on spaghetti and PB&J sandwiches alone.
Ever since then, I've tried to be a little more daring in my kitchen. Sometimes it turns out okay and I end up with a new recipe to add my book. Sometimes the failures are, well, epic. More often than not, I end up fed. And I still haven't sent myself to the hospital. But I've noticed a certain stagnancy to my cooking lately. I've relied more and more upon repetitive, easy odds and ends: fake chicken patties, eggs, microwavable steamed veggies, etc. Nothing wrong with these foods, but my kitchen is starting to get boring again and that, dear reader, is simply unacceptable.
My goal, then, is to make an effort to find that culinary gold, teased out the seemingly ordinary and ho-hum ingredients I've got available to me. To that end, I am going to try one new recipe a week from a cookbook and try to create one myself. Living alone, a recipe will feed me for three or four days. I want to try new ingredients, vegetables or fruits I've never tasted, spices I've always shunned, cooking styles that I've left untested.
Here's hoping I end up with gold!