Why doesn't everyone just cook normal food?

When Nate and I first got married, I overheard him talking to his mom on the phone. He said that everything was going great except I only made like 3 dinners and I kept repeating meals. I was a little embarrassed that he felt that way and since then have been trying to add variety in his dinners.

This proved to be more difficult than I thought. First of all, I was new to cooking. I had helped my mom growing up and heaven knows she tried to drill the skill into my head, but I really didn't pay much attention. I also hate trying new food. I like eating the same things over again because those are my favorites.

Well, two and a half years later and I am just starting to figure out a few things about food. "Normal" recipes are subjective. A friend recently gave me a new recipe and I tried it and hated it. Nate loved it, but I'll never cook that again! Then it dawned on me that only my mother knew what "normal" food was. After all, she's the one that trained me to think her food was normal. I got a bunch of recipes from her and still continue to ask her how to make things and it's been great.

Another thing I've been working on is a cookbook just for me. The 2 problems I hate with cookbooks are first, I don't know if I like the recipe until I make it, and Second, there doesn't seem to be a ton of recipe books with a picture for every recipe. It's very hard for me to make something new if I don't know how it's even suppose to look.

My recipe book is foods I've made that I love, and I take a picture the first time I make it and put it on the recipe. It's been a lot of fun because I'm more eager to try new things to see if it's book worthy. I have made about 8 new meals since I've started my project and only about half of them make the book. If I don't love it and want to make it always, it doesn't make it. This way, in a few years I should have loads of recipes all in one place with pictures of food that I love to eat! Then I get variety and good food. That's the plan anyway.