MEMBER BLOG

Thank you, Duke.

Thank you so much for mentioning obscure games like “Personal Trainer Cooking” on the podcast. Yeah, it does seem kind of weird that the editor in chief of Game Revolution is a cooking fiend, but hey, to each their own. I do have to say though, if you never mentioned the DS title on the podcast, I would of brushed it off as another piece of shovelware on a Nintendo system.

Boy was I wrong.

I guess coming from a twenty-two year old that never took home-ec classes (I blame the catholic school system, damn St. Peters.) I can safely say my cooking skills are lacking. Hell, they are downright atrocious. If I try to pour a bowl of cornflakes they would spontaneously combust for all of my luck. I can barely make a grilled cheese sandwich, and that alone is sad.

But after the podcast where you mentioned “Personal Trainer Cooking” I decided to give it a shot. I shelled out $21.66 for the DS title (which I have to say, is selling rather well right now.) and gave it a whirl, and I was amazed as to how easy the menu’s were, how detailed the instructions are, and how simple it is to make dishes with the bare minimum of supplies.

While it is not a typical game, and therefore it really doesn’t get a review from me as I normally would, I do recommend the game for anyone who doesn’t know how to cook. It will teach you. I promise.

The first thing I did was learning a simple dish like rice. Yes, I even can’t make that on my own. Following the instructions and burning myself once or twice, it took me a good hour to conjure up the lovely white grains from the pot I put on the stove.  And you know what, they tasted damn good. Really good. It was not burnt, not soft either, but just right. And upon hearing the clapping coming from the audience in the DS speakers, a wave of accomplishment swept over me. I felt like I have done something I never thought I could do, something I could enjoy doing independently for myself, instead of relying on subway sandwiches or pre-made turkey breast. I felt like I could finally learn how to cook.

Hey, someone needs to start somewhere. And while a lot of the recipes in the game I will never even eat, mainly because I am a picky eater who hates the taste of read meat and hates eating soup, I will make sure to keep making the simple stuff before I graduate onto something bigger, some delicious morsel I can impress my friends and family with one night while they are out.

So thank you, Duke, for mentioning the game on the podcast. Sometimes, it’s the more obscure games that actually can teach you something tangible, or interest you in some way to expand your skill set, so to speak. I hope to see some review of it on the website (and of “What’s Cooking with Bobby Flay,” only for balances sake.) and more obscure games that the general gaming public may not know about, or even let alone care for.