Snowpeas

I discovered that I really like cooking. I think of it as an adventure; Like I'm an ambitious conquistador(a) to the unknown realms of culinary possibilities. Instead of a pointy, iron helmet, I wear the floppy chef's hat. Ok, not really. I thought of buying one, but threw that idea in the "ideas gone wrong" pile in the back of my mind that's slowly turning into a monstrous heap. I mean, Emeril doesn't even wear a hat. And he's ridiculous.

Anywho--One day, while I was shopping at Trader Joe's, I happened across some snow peas. Immediately my mind started reeling. Think of all the stir fry I could make! I didn't stop to think about the fact that I absolutely hate snowpeas. I guess it just slipped my mind. Or rather, my overzealousness for making stir fry pushed it violently away.

Tonight, I wanted to make shrimp stir-fry for dinner. So, I just...threw stuff together. Lime, garlic, butter, onions...shrimp and the snow peas, of course. I figured since I bought it, I thought I might as well use it. I don't tend to look up recipes. And that isn't because I'm "that" good. It's a pride issue, really. But I also like to surprise myself. It's better to just DO things sometimes and then learn from mistakes. I find that over-planning can be counterproductive. One can't plan for everything. Or you could look at it from the flipside: it's like I'm planning FOR mistakes. At least, that much I can expect from myself.

But my shrimp and snowpeas combo did not disappoint! The finished product:

I'm not going to deny that I feel a huge sense of accomplishment. My dad, who also loves to cook, would be so proud! And the snow peas actually wasn't so bad with the lime, butter and shrimp combo. You know, cooking is not so hard. And that isn't an attempt at false humility. Sure, it's daunting at first. Kind of overwhelming to think about. But once again, over-thinking can often create mental blocks that stops us from doing things that we just need to do. Cooking really is kind of like, going with the flow, doing what feels natural. It's knowing and being confident of what you think taste good and putting those things together. Simple as that. Remember what they say: When life hands you snowpeas, make stir-fry.