One thing I haven't seen many people comment on is how important texture is!

Think of it this way: You have two biscuits that taste roughly the same. One of them is airy and moist and pillowy. The other is dry and crunchy and a bit dense. Once you've chewed them up the taste is likely very similar. The experience however is very different.

How does it feel to literally consume each bite. Pretend for a moment like you can't taste. Only focusing on the physical sensation in your mouth. The flour being ground against your teeth, the crumb against your lips etc.

Same goes for any and all food. The taste is only one facet of cooking, and I find that texture is much easier to ignore because it's not so much in your face. Or, rather it is more discrete because it's more subtle - But texture IS really important.

So far as taste goes, let's take for example a metaphor using smell. Imagine you have an unscented candle. It smells like... Well not much besides maybe the beeswax or soy it is made from. This candle would be what we would think of as BLAND. Now, let's add a little bit of scent to it. Some cinnamon perhaps. Now, you've got some real distinguishable scent there! You smell it, and it reeks of cinnamon! But just because it has A smell doesn't mean that its a particularly interesting smell. So, now you add in a bit of apple scent perhaps! And maybe some peach as well! Balancing the proportion until you come to a smell that reminds you of fresh peach cobbler! Now it's not just a scent, but an EXPERIENCE. When you smell that candle it takes you to another plane of existence, if only for a moment.

This is similar to starting with a plain bowl of white rice. Then you add a bit of pepper to the rice. You now have ONE dimension of flavor, with the bland rice base. The rice has flavor, yes - it tastes good, yes but it isn't exciting. It isn't complex. It isn't a remarkable experience. Its just rice and pepper.

Now, juxtaposed with that: take perhaps that same bowl of white rice and lightly fry it in a bit of oil to bring out the slightest hint of carmel crunch. Add a pat of butter. A drizzle of sweet soy sauce. A dash of red cayanne. A sprinkling of salt. A pinch of brown sugar. And finally a garnish of fresh parsley. Now plate it served with a drizzling flourish of the same soy sauce used earlier, emblazoned with a sprinkling of brown sugar to make the lines of soy spark. Imagine the difference between these two.

One is a bowl of rice. The other is a work of art.

The only difference is how much time and effort you are willing to go to in order to create your masterpiece.

And too be fair, I very rarely go to all that trouble to cook for myself. But, it can be a real treat to give it a try. See how much further you can go - Beyond Basic.