The Background: My (non-existent) experience cooking

I have always been a picky eater. My childhood staples were pasta, bread, carrots (the only vegetable I consented to eating voluntarily), more bread, and chicken. It wasn't because I didn't have options - my Dad was an excellent cook (I mean excellent), who is fabulous at making both simple yet delicious meals as well as complex (often south-east asian inspired meals). I wasn't too interested in learning to cook when I lived at home because my Dad made amazing food every time (note - my mother doesn't cook, we don't let her in the kitchen except to bake). I could boil water and make pasta, but that was about it. 

When I went off to college, I ate the crap college food (cafeteria food, pizza, instant mac and cheese) and didn't have much interest in cooking. However, my sophomore year I went abroad and had to fend for myself for the first time - no Dad to cook amazing meals, no cafeteria or cheap and easy places to pick up a meal on the way to class. I was in London, where there is an emphasis of fresh food, and which was cheaper than anything processed (which was not cheap at all given the exchange rate at the time). This was my first time really having to cook consistently for myself. Not only that, I had to cook in the smallest kitchen known to man, sharing it with at least 30 other students. It had two pans, two pots and three utensils. That's it. My goal was to cook the food as quickly as possible (since it was always crowded), which pretty much means all I did was burn the food. 

The next few years I improved my skills in the kitchen and mastered the basics. I would make chicken, stir-frys, pesto sauce, and that's about as adventurous as I got. I finally got a kitchen I could actually cook in, with some counter space and storage. I got myself a food processor, a good-quality chef's knife, a crock-pot, a kitchen-aid (pink!!), and a couple of decent pots. I played around with come recipes, made some good and some-so-good food. However, I decided that I really wanted to take it to the next level. Thus, my project: learn to cook properly. More on that later.