I cook breakfast and dinner for my family almost every day. Nothing fancy or too sophisticated, but it’s real food. And I enjoy doing it. After a day of work with not always a lot of tangible outcomes, it’s satisfying to come home and actually make something real.

Here’s a list of cooking tips that’s actually helpful I found linked from ToolsAndToys.net: 57 Things You Can Do to Be a Better Cook Right Now 

I learned a few new cooking tricks from that list, and it also confirmed that a lot of things I already do make sense for a reason.  

Cooking is such a fundamental, primal skill. There are so many resources available to help you learn some basics, and you don’t need a lot of tools to get started. A good chef’s knife, a cutting board, a skillet (cast iron is great)… 

Buy real food from the outer aisles of the grocery store and start making your own meals. 

I wish I had started taking cooking more seriously when I was 20-something. Host a dinner party. Invite friends over. Force yourself to start mastering your kitchen. 

(And it turns out that cooking might have been the X factor that made humans the Earth’s dominant species.)