Cooking during Quarantine

With all the COVID-19 stuff going on I haven’t had a whole lot on my mind besides school. However, to keep my mind off the fact that I may not be able to hang out with friends for potentially the whole summer, I try to cook. I love cooking, and as annoying as it was to have to make every meal for myself when I was in Ireland for 4 months, I still enjoyed eating my final products. My apartment was on the bottom floor and had a fairly large window in front of the kitchen, so generally people could see me whenever I made food. I always thought it was somewhat funny when people walking out of the quad would see what I was making, and I would often do the same if anyone else was cooking too. I think I started really cooking when I was in like 6th or 7th grade, and one of the first things I learned how to make was Chicken Piccata. My grandfather taught me it, and since then it’s been somewhat of a “specialty” of mine. I mostly make Italian food, but over the past few years I’ve branched out to different types. As long as I have a recipe I’ll pretty much cook anything from grilled steaks to pad thai. Cooking is very relaxing to me, and I don’t get distracted as easily doing it because I’m generally trying to manage more than one food at a time. I also had to get a lot better at meal prepping while abroad since the majority of the food in Ireland is more fresh, thus making it go bad faster. I would often cook vegetables ahead of time then freeze all my meats, then defrost whatever I would eat for lunch and dinner. I always found it very satisfying to eat a meal that I prepared myself, and before we left from Ireland, my friends and I cooked a few meals together with all the extra food we had to get rid of. Now that cooking at home is pretty much our only option besides takeout from certain restaurants, I’m remembering all the times I enjoyed cooking and finding new recipes. Especially since I have a lot more free time on my hands, it’s nice to have a hobby/something to keep my mind at ease. Even if I’m just making a side dish for dinner, it’s nice to have something to do besides homework. Although pretty soon, I’ll have to start cooking my own meals out of necessity rather than choice. Even if I don’t get sick of dining hall food by the end of college, I’ll have to start living on my own at some point, so it’s good that I actually enjoy cooking rather than thinking it’s more of a chore. Now washing dishes on the other hand...that’s a bit more of a pain.