Personal Narrative Essay: Alaskan King Salmon

I bought two pounds of Alaskan King Salmon today. To me, the most exciting thing about cooking salmon has to be making sure in getting the skin nice and crispy. Score, salt, pepper, cajun spice, oil….skin side down, a touch of butter. And that!...keeps the salmon so moist! One of my most favorite things to cook is a great succotash with fish. Just mindblowing! Start by caramelizing onions in the pan, add corn, red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers, zucchinis, and squash. The salmon is resting. My mind begins to wander as I use quick, jerking movements of the wrist to skillfully flip the succotash. Often I have been asked how I learned to cook. Growing up, cooking was viewed more as a chore by everyone in the family. You see, my mom worked a lot and I had two younger brothers. I did my fair share of the cooking. Generally simple stuff like boiled pasta with jarred sauce and maybe some added ground beef. We didn’t have any fancy appliances either. Just a simple cutting board, no decent chef’s knives, and steel pans.
I worked for tips and rent wasn’t cheap. I HAD to learn how to cook because I was utterly broke. I got good at budgeting nearly every penny and one day while shopping at costco (membership was a christmas gift), I spotted a wok and stir fry cookbook. I absolutely loved spicy Asian cuisine and there were so many recipes that looked good to eat! Bonus, I already owned a carbon steel wok. I sacrificed groceries that day to have enough to buy it. That book changed my life. I experimented with many different vegetables and learned to cook things that I was sure I didn’t