Continuous practice; the shortcut to improving as an amateur.

“Recipes tell you nothing. Learning techniques is the key.”—Tom Colicchio

Everything about life is a process and the more we grow, the more we learn.

We all were once fetuses and here we are today all grown up. We have gone through different phases of life picking up knowledge that has helped us become good at things we had zero ideas about at the early stages of our lives.

There was a time we couldn't do anything for ourselves, we depended on our parents or guardians for everything. There was a time we were taught how to walk, there was a time we were corrected on how to wear our slippers before we mastered it, there was a time we couldn't spell properly but here we are today doing many of these things easily through the help of learning.

Learning is one thing we have done at every stage of our lives, it is a constant activity we must do to get better at everything we do in life.

Any human who refuses to learn will be stagnant and this doesn't necessarily have to do with school education. There are different ways in which we acquire knowledge and the goal should be about improving ourselves with the knowledge acquired.

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While growing up, I acquire different skills and knowledge. Some are still relevant today while I just abandoned some due to various reasons. I was once an amateur at those things and with time, I improved even though I can't boast to be very good at any of them because I am still learning.

I learned cooking, playing football, writing, designing, programming, playing musical instruments, drawing, and many others but I didn't get to improve on many of them. I think the reason is that I was trying to learn multiple things at the same time which slowed me down and I got tired in the end.

_{Yam porridge}
Cooking was one of the things I improved on very well and that's because I do it every day. If there is something below amateur, it should be used to qualify me before I found my way around the kitchen, I was terrible with anything that has to do with the kitchen.

My mom happened to be a strong woman and because all her kids are boys, she didn't bother teaching any of us how to cook or do any house chores.

My fixed house chore was sweeping while my brother washed the plate, she will end up doing them again by herself since we don't do them properly.

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I tried impressing her twice before I learned how to cook and it was a complete disaster.

The first time, I tried making eba with cassava flakes and I couldn't eat it after sweating like a goat in the kitchen. The Eba looked smooth on the surface but beneath that fantastic surface was lots of dried Garri and aside from me not turning it well, it was as strong as a rock.

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The second time, I prepared beans which was another disaster.
Normally, you don't add anything to your beans until it softens but I did the opposite. With excitement, I picked the beans and washed them all into the boiling water on the stove. I added all the ingredients immediately and after cooking for over 2hrs, the beans were not soft.

I wasted kerosene and that's what pissed her off the most. I ate the beans for three days with my brother, I was happy the punishment didn't exceed that.

I didn't have any cause to learn until my mom fell sick and was admitted to the hospital for over one week. We couldn't do anything at home so we moved to our supposed family friend's house and we ended up being starved despite going with abundant foodstuffs. They maltreated us and at that point, I knew it was time to learn. My mom returned home and I begged her to teach me.

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_{Plantain puffpuff}

We started with Puff Puff and I learned a lot after. I had got scars from frying, but I enjoyed doing it, it didn't take long before I started sharing my snacks with people just to get beautiful comments from them.

It went on from that to making proper meals, I felt butterflies in my belly the first day I made yam flour properly. I made countless mistakes before that happened but I was really eager to learn.

_{Yam, Fried egg, Basil leaves}

After knowing the basics, I began to explore. I tried different stuff myself, some came out great while some were horrible. I got the chance to go to work with my mom at events and I learned more as well, cooking for a lot of people is quite different from doing it for a few.

• Before gaining admission to school, I made snacks at a bus stop every morning to support the family.

• That one skill helped me a lot when I was in school, I barely add money to the one contributed by my roommates for cooking. I get to cook and even get fill my belly first.

• I also sold snacks after school because I couldn't get a job quickly. I did small chops for parties and also worked as a supporting caterer. I won people's hearts with my cooking, I have friends who just want to hang out at my place so they can eat egusi soup and I love doing it.

_{Efo riro}

• I became famous in the environment I was leaving in before because of cooking. I use to be the only guy in the kitchen with other women and whenever I tell them to do things differently, it surprises them, and many teased their husbands about not knowing how to cook.

I am still learning how to make some food, my Igbo friend has taught me a few and I hope to learn more. I don't have any ambition with cooking though, I just want to make good and healthy food for myself and my family.

_{Egusi and Semo}

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There are lots of things that I am still an amateur at, they include writing which I am working on to improve a lot. If cooking every day helped me get better, writing every day should help me as well.

I started learning the hatching of catfish, I have taken just one class yet and I hope I get to improve as I learn more.

Learning is a must for me as long as I am alive and aside from the things I am learning now, there will be other things I will pick interest in as I grow. There are lots more that I can improve on with time if I keep learning but to avoid getting tired because of combining everything again, I will just take them one after the other.

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Please note that all images in this article belong to me