Some people love to cook; some people hate to cook. But many people get into a habit of preparing the same dishes over and over.
Here's what I did to get out of my own personal cooking rut -- I took a cooking class. I enrolled in a class that met one night a week for about three months. We met at a local community college classroom/kitchen. There were about 12 students in the class and our instructor was an experienced chef from a local restaurant.
The class consisted of short lectures and in-class participation where we learned all about ingredients, cookware, bakeware, ovens, burners, common chef's tools and more. We learned about when to cook something on extreme high heat and when to only simmer other items, depending upon the outcome desired. We learned how to handle knives, how to chop correctly and how to prepare items as quickly as possible.
We also had weekly homework assignments where we had to prepare a main dish or a side dish at home. Homework was never this good in college.
The best thing that I got out of the class was that it took me out of my normal cooking routines. I prepared new dishes, purchased new spices, got a few new pans and upgraded my whisks, knives and other tools, plus I corrected old mistakes (I've been over-cooking my brocoli). Just adding a little variety to what I've been doing has made cooking, baking and preparing meals almost fun again.
One thing my class didn't get into was pastry making.
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