For the longest time, I've avoided learning how to cook. Part of the reason was because I'm just bad at cooking. I know for a fact that I was not born with culinary skills, and part of me has always been OK with that. The other reason I refused to learn how to cook was because I was scared that if I did somehow excel at cooking, I'd be expected to be a housewife someday who cooks and cleans and I wanted nothing more than to avoid it.

But as I got older and I started to think about all the important skills I wanted to have in life, cooking somehow made my list. I wanted to be able to cook a nice meal for myself, or maybe be able to host a fancy dinner party with all of my friends. The only way to do that was by learning how to cook. Plus, I had been watching a lot of "Chopped" and "Cupcake Wars," and I just had to learn how to cook and bake like the people on the TV shows.

So while I was home for spring break, I decided to ask my mom to teach me how to cook. She seemed really excited to be able to teach me, and I knew that I was making the right choice in ensuring that my mom was my cooking mentor. Her food is absolutely amazing, and I frankly believe she should become a chef.

My mom and I discussed the type of dish I would to try to cook up. After some discussion, we decided on a mushroom pasta dish with chicken in a cream sauce. It seemed easy enough to make, and I actually was excited to learn how to cook. We bought our ingredients and decided to cook our dinner on the Saturday night before spring break was over.

When Saturday afternoon rolled around, I was ready to start my cooking lesson. It was when it began that I realized cooking was going to take a lot more work than I planned.

My first roadblock was hit when I was dicing the mushrooms and the chicken. Both seemed to take forever to slice and cut, and when I was done with that step, I was ready to be done completely. I didn't realize that cooking a full meal involved numbers of steps and a lot of patience.

As I continued to learn how to cook, I started to realize how much work it actually was. When I had attempted to cook before, it was small, little dishes that usually involved some type of pasta, and maybe a cheese sauce I got from the store. When I was making everything from scratch (including the egg noodles), I realized how much work actually went into every meal I've eaten at every restaurant and every meal my mom has ever made.

I started to find a new appreciation for cooking, but not the love I wanted to find. I didn't fall in love with cooking, and that was OK with me by the end. I was able to finish the afternoon with my mom and make a delicious meal for the two of us.

We did create a marvelous dish in the end. I felt really proud of myself that I had learned so much about not just learning how to cook, but the art and patience of cooking too. It probably won't be my favorite activity, but I do love the final product.