Sometimes you just have to try

I have been cooking and baking since I was ten. I remember my first baking experience: Peanut Butter Cookies. My mother collected common baking items and placed them in my reach and I had my recipe that I was to follow. At this point in my baking career, I didn't realize the difference between baking soda and baking powder, so I only used baking soda. My cookies turned out flat and tasted horrible. Fast forward six years, I wanted to try making orange chicken. I had never heard of some of the ingredients that were required and was not able to locate them at the local grocery store, so I figured those ingredients must not be as important. Big mistake, the lack of those crucial ingredients (arrow root, is the one that sticks out most in my mind) yielded a disgusting orange chicken. Needless to say, as I have grown in my cooking and baking skills, I have realized the importance of following the recipe, but I have also developed my own recipes. Sometimes you just have to try!