Yikes! Did I use the wrong measuring cup?

     Throughout my school
life, I have tried multiple times to write a vivid and meaningful story and failed miserably. I still remember crying when my teacher back in China pretty much roasted me about my bland descriptions. To this day, I still think I have not grasped the way to write a compelling story. But after the heavy emphasis placed on our voice in storytelling, I think I finally stepped in the right direction to a great storyteller. For example, my first college essay draft I wrote was the same as my other attempts, bland and unenjoyable. However, after learning about this importance of voice, I realized that before I was too focused on how I need to follow a set of rules to write a professional essay, but the story I was writing in the college draft is supposed to be a reflection of myself and my growth. I allowed my mind to flow and just write what comes to my mind. As a result, the newer draft is way more interesting to read than the old and I was able to find my voice in that writing. This made me realize that to succeed in anything, it is essential to allow my own voice to be added to the product.

    The two things I am most passionate about (at least right now) are music and food. Since my college draft is already about music, I want to show how my voice can be added to cooking. As a beginner chef, I spent a lot of my free time looking at food. I love to look at people cook and eat. But as a cook, I was terrible. I try to follow the exact measurements in the recipes; I believed I needed to get everything exactly right to make it taste good. But that was not the case. The food I made was undercooked, burnt, too salty, too spicy, etc. It never tasted like how I wanted it to taste. As I sadly watch my mother cook, I noticed that she doesn't use measuring cups or scientific containers like I do. So I asked her "How did you memorize all these recipes?" Her response basically told me that recipes are only good for the first time, after that you need to adjust it based on how you want it. Everyone has a different taste. Now that I think about it, It is really like adding my voice to my cooking. The next day, I tried to make burgers for my family. I did not use a recipe and just followed my intuition It actually turned out really nicely. As of now, I have cooked/made a lot of great food like steaks, BBQ ribs, and lime pie. They tasted exactly the way I wanted them to.

    Now that I learned the importance of my voice in every activity I do, I will keep in mind when I start something new to follow the instructions and also apply my twist to it to make it unique and interesting.