By Kaitlyn Angeles
I remember the first time I learned how to cook, the way the smell of smoke attacked my nose, and how frustrated I was at the lack of success I was having at cooking. This was a daily occurrence, me trying to cook something that was at least edible while also burning it at the same time.
I remember the task was trying to cook simple things like eggs, soups, or something so easy that even a baby could do it, but the thing is I was absolutely awful at it. I couldn’t pay attention to the food when I was cooking it, my mind would just wander to something entirely different then cooking and when I would snap out of my thoughts the food would be already burnt. I somehow even managed to burn soup, and oh god the color was just hideous, burnt black with hints of dark brown covered the pot instead of the red I originally started with. Was cooking hard for me? Yes but that didn’t stop me from trying to cook because I know if I kept on trying I would get it right eventually.
The way I cooked started to change after a while of trying, I would pay more attention to the food then I would before. But there were a lot of times I would get so frustrated, how the way of the burnt smell of food would assault my nose, leaving me so unmotivated to even attempt to cook.
That wouldn’t stop me though, I continued to practice cooking things that were simple to do. The first thing I managed to cook was some sort of soup that had noodles in it, it was surprisingly good, and the noodles weren’t burnt which was a good start. I slowly started to cook more things that were harder to do like meatloaf and rice which turned out pretty good. I’m still learning how to cook more things and yes I still do get frustrated and sometimes even discouraged from trying to cook, but that won’t stop me from trying.
I wrote this story to show my problems with cooking and how often I would get discouraged, and I also wanted to write about my frustrations on paper (docs).
The title is “Burnt” by Kaitlyn Angeles.
In the story I wanted to show the main message of not giving up, and how even when frustrated you should keep on trying. Some details I added to make it more vivid was the part with the soup, in this phrase “ I somehow even managed to burn soup, and oh god the color was just hideous, burnt black with hints of dark brown covered the pot instead of the red I originally started with. “
I organized my piece by adding spaces in between paragraphs instead of keeping it bunched up. I began my piece with the first time I cooked and how frustrated I was with the lack of success I was having. The text structure I used was problem & solution because the problem was I couldn’t cook and the solution was to keep on trying. I ended my piece with still learning how to cook more things and getting frustrated, but not letting that stop me.
A phrase that’s important to my piece is “ Was cooking hard for me? Yes but that didn’t stop me from trying to cook because I know if I kept on trying I would get it right eventually. “ Because it showed even when I was frustrated I didn’t give up. One literary device I used was a simile, in the phrase “ I remember the task was trying to cook simple things like eggs, soups, or something so easy that even a baby could do it, but the thing is I was absolutely awful at it.” The tone of my piece is frustration because of my inability to cook, but still having some sort of hope of learning how to cook.
My purpose for writing this piece was to show my frustration and difficulties with cooking, and I chose to write about this because I wanted to get my problems with cooking on paper( or docs). My audience would be people who get easily frustrated with cooking, but wouldn’t let their failure get to them.
It shows that you want to get better at what you're trying to do, you never gave up on yourself. You started to pay more attention to your food which was a good step, I liked how you ask a question and gave a answer. You never gave up. The authors writing style felt as if it was personal, she gave us personal experiences. This piece made me think of how it really is learning how to cook, ups and downs.
--Jermaine Anderson