whaaaat??!

For years now - decades even - I've been convinced I couldn't cook. I've bragged about it, complained about it, even blogged about it!

But today I made a discovery that I may forever refer to as life changing.

I can cook.

All these years I thought it was me. It turns out all I needed was new cookware!!

I'm sure none of you believe me. I mean, you've all heard the horror stories - or worse - tasted them. The last time I tried to make an omlette, it ended up looking like this:

Not exactly appetizing, I know. It looks a heck of a lot like messed up scrambled eggs.

But yesterday my friend and I were hanging out and she was giving me some healthy tips (since I'm such a health nut now - and getting nuttier by the day) and one of said tips was to eat protein before bed. Not right before bed, 'cause that's just gross - and counterproductive. But protein in your last meal of the day is apparently a good thing. More specifically, egg whites.

And here's something you might not know about me. I love egg white omlettes. Spinach and cheddar egg white omlettes. But I can only ever get those when I go out for breakfast (which is almost never). Because I didn't think I could cook, remember?

Anyway, skip ahead 24 hours to 8pm this evening when I was digging around my kitchen looking for the rumoured non-stick pan my mother keeps someplace hidden. Due to my awesome sleuthing skills, I found the non-stick pan and poured my concoction of egg whites (which you can apparently buy in supermarkets!! who knew??!) and cheddar (my fridge was all out of spinach and I'd already spent my life savings on the egg whites - I'm a student, what do you expect?) into the pan and stared at it.

I stared at it for a good five minutes. Worrying the whole time that it would burst into flames.

It didn't though.

Eventually my weird, slimy mixture started turning white. Another five minutes and it was almost completely solid.

And here comes the best part!!

Once the entire top of my omlette-to-be had solidified, I started carefully poking at the edges, making sure if I were to flip it, it wouldn't fall apart on me (like every other time I've tried to make an omlette). I then placed my flipper (I may be able to cook, but you can't expect me to know the lingo!) under my eggs and turned it over and it stayed together!!

Long story short - take a look at the final product:

I made that. I made that. I know, it's hard to believe. In fact, many of you may think I'm not telling the truth because of the stark difference between what I ate for dinner tonight and that previous picture of a more pathetic dinner I ate a few months ago. But alas, it's true. I made that glorious looking (and even better tasting) omlette.

Larissa Benfey can cook.

Dude, now I'm beyond convinced that literally anything is possible.

Keep it real!!