My earliest memory of cooking goes back to my school days. It was the summer vacations. Mom had made same old boring chapatis and some awful untouchable sabzi like Tindola* or Bhindi* or Baingan* or something. (I am sure it was very flavorful and tasty, but just not for me.)
So I went into the kitchen. There were some chopped up veggies in the fridge - Carrots, Potatoes, Onions, Green Peas, and Cauliflower. I had seen mom make sabzis before and had seen on TV as well (Sanjeev Kapoor, 'nuff said). I took a wok, put in oil, some mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and then threw in the veggies. Let them cook for some time. And voila! I had made my first stir fry veg without knowing what it was called!
Served it to everyone with great excitement only to realize it was missing salt and the veggies were not nearly cooked enough. Mom took the wok back and worked her magic on it. Have made it quite a few times after that till we all got utterly bored of it.
What lessons did I learn from it? Veggies don't get cooked in 30 seconds in real life. Sanjeev Kapoor does that on TV by editing out the waiting part.
I also learnt another thing, not from this first experience, but over time. I learnt what makes me happy in my heart of hearts. What makes me really happy is when I see others eating what I made and enjoying it. I enjoy the look on their faces when they have the first bite, close their eyes, and go hmm... Of course, I've got my fair share of ewws and yucks at that moment!