January 20, 2006
Culinary joys
I have been making some tentative forays into the kitchen, a move met with loud hurrays by other members of the household, including my nine-year-old nephew. In truth, their reaction sounded more like relief (that I’m finally venturing into that part of the house) than encouragement.
So get a grip of this: I have been cooking. I call it an experiment. I am happy to report that so far I haven’t burned down the house and in those times I have served lunch, no one choked on their food. Yesterday afternoon, my nephew happily wolfed down his share of Chicken Estofado. I took that as a good sign, especially that it was coming from someone whose food preferences are limited to chocolates and Koko Krunch.
Chop suey! The hard part is remembering how to do this all over again!
Besides the so-called joys of cooking, I am discovering something new about my family – that they don’t trust me holding a frying pan. Or frying anything! (Oh yeah, in this part of the world, we fry a lot food.) The first time I volunteered to cook, my father was looking over my shoulder at every stage of the cooking process. My mother thought watching me slice the vegetables was a slow and excruciating moment. I almost expected her to grab the knife from me and slice away everything in 10 seconds!
But like I said, the overall sentiment is relief. In the middle of my cooking endeavor, and almost on cue, my father would warn me about the chances of being returned by my husband upon discovery that I am useless in the kitchen. I suppose you can’t order a Happy Meal for the husband every single day. (Hmm… what about finding a husband who can cook? This brilliant idea was immediately shot down by my father, mind you.)
My friends are shocked. I am shocked that I am actually enjoying it. I guess I better start writing down recipes. And then I can hand them over to the husband so he could practice. Hey, that could work! Or not.
Posted by fleur at January 20, 2006 04:30 AM